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CHARDON.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

BY J. O. CONVERSE.

Geographically, the township of Chardon is known as number nine, in the eighth range of townships of the Western Reserve. It is bounded on the north by Concord, Lake county, east by Hambden, south by Munson, and west by Kirtland, Lake county. The village of Chardon, the county seat of Geauga county, is situated upon a most pleasant, healthful and sightly elevation, near the southeast corner of the township about four miles distant from the county line on the north, and four and one-half miles on the west. That old and popular summer resort, the Little Mountain, is in the northwest corner of the township, and its new and delightful rival, "Bass Lake," (formerly Munson pond,) is about three miles distant from the court house by road, in a south-westerly direction.

PIONEER HISTORY.

The pioneer history of Chardon, so far as furnished for this volume, is mostly embraced in a series of articles written by Mr. E. V. Canfield, and published in the Geauga Democrat (now Republican), in 1870-71. These are given below, with such notes and corrections as are necessary to show what deaths, changes of residence, etc., have since occurred.

Chardon's early history is gathered from papers and manuscripts that have come into my possession, and from conversation with those few who did pioneer duty here in olden time. My facts and dates will, I think, in the main, be found correct.

In 1808 Chardon township was unpeopled, for it was an unbroken wilderness. Within the present limits of Geauga county, there were, at that time, several settlements, the oldest and most important being in Burton, and Bondstown (now Hambden). The seat of justice for Geauga county was established in 1808. Peter Chardon Brooks, of Boston, a man of considerable wealth and liberality, was the original proprietor of the land, and, evidently, wishing to make his middle name immortal, proposed to the commissioners appointed to locate the county seat, to give them the use of the land now embraced in the town plat of Chardon, if they would call it by that name. Samuel W. Phelps was appointed director of Chardon town plat. It was nearly four years after this gift was made by Mr. Brooks, before any one took up his residence here. In 1811, Captain Edward Paine, then of Painesville, with the aid of Samuel W. Phelps, succeeded in getting most, or all, the timber chopped, on the public square. Gomer Bradley, for a long time a resident of Claridon, and Curtrs Wilmot, of Burton, did most of the axe work. So an opening was made in the heavy timber, the sunlight let in to warm the soil, and hastening the ripening of the farmer's crops, and the forests have gradually disappeared, to give place to grain, and meadow, and pasture.

In March, 1812, Norman Canfield erected a double log house upon the premises now occupied for a hotel by Benton & Co. This was the first building of any kind erected in Chardon, and the metropolis could boast one dwelling. In the same month, the family of Mr. Canfield came to occupy their new house, moving from Litchfield, New York, to Bondstown (now Hambden), in 1804, and from there here, as before stated. Mr. Canfield, soon after moving into his house, opened it for a hotel The building boasted of three rooms

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on the ground floor, and one very capacious chamber, accessible by a ladder from the outside, and through the gable end. Meager as were these accommodations, this tavern, as all such structures were then called, came to be quite a noted place of resort. In 1818 this tavern was torn down, and Mr. Canfield built a more commodious frame one. The most of that building is yet standing,* though entirely covered upon its shoulders the Mammoth hall, etc., built by D. W. Stocking.

Mr. Canfield and his family were the only inhabitants of Chardon until some time in the spring of 1812, when Captain Edward Paine, jr., came with his family, and erected a large log house near the present residence of D. W. Canfield. This building was built for a court-house, but Captain Paine occupied it for a dwelling-house until the fall of 1812. So Chardon had more than doubled its population, a thing that sometimes takes cities a long time to accomplish, for it had two families and a court-house. This court-house had but one door, and but one room. The fire-place had no jams. The chimney was made of split sticks laid in mortar. The floor was laid with wide, rough boards. There was one window in the east end, and for a while no floor overhead. The judges occupied a large, split log, or puncheon, supported by blocks, for a seat, and for a desk, for the lawyers, a. long, cross-legged table, belonging to Captain Paine, and the only table then owned by him. Of course, the witnesses, parties and spectators, were provided with very rude and uncouth seats. The jury retired to a large log for deliberations, but whether this fact ever caused them to get at loggerheads, and disagree, I am unable to say.

In the fall of 1812 Captain Paine built a log house near the present parsonage of the Congregational church. At that time it was called a princely affair, for it had two rooms on the ground floor, and the logs were hewn smooth on the inside. Chardon then had two families, two dwelling-houses, a court-house, and Norman Canfield had put up a log barn. During the summer of 1812 Captain Paine had caused to be cleared off about two acres of wood land, and Norman Canfield had made another such improvement.

In July, 1812, the family or Samuel King came to Chardon, from Long Meadow, Massachusetts. He started on June to, 1812, and reached this place July loth, being forty days in consummating the journey that now can be made in as many hours. His mode of conveyance was a strong lumber wagon, with two yoke of oxen and a horse to draw the possessions. Mr. King moved into the court-house before described (there being no other applicants for janitor). Subsequently, when he had built an addition to his house, he used the judges' seat, before mentioned, many years, for a door step. Hull having surrendered, Mr. King deemed it prudent to return east, which he did, in 1812, taking his family. Chardon had now but two families, and this was doubtless the darkest hour in its history, unless it may have been at the happening of some total eclipse.

Some time in the spring of 1813 Mr. King returned to Claridon, leaving his family in the State of New York; but he was accompanied by two hired men. Mr. King found no turnpiked roads between Buffalo and Chardon. The difficulties of such travel can be faintly appreciated by those of us who are unaccustomed to pioneer life, when we think of dense woods, with narrow wagon or bridle paths, no guide-boards, or finger-posts, save blazed trees; obliged to ford or swim streams, and settlements so scarce Its to require frequent campings out. Think, too, how modern are our railroad improvements. In 1842, we had, in the whole United States, only about five thousand miles of road. In 1836, it is said that Ohio had less than fifty miles of railroad; now, we have between three and

*Since destroyed by fire.

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four thousand miles. Each of the years 1869 and '70 will add as many miles as the entire amount of road in 1842.

Soon after Mr. King returned to Chardon, he took the job of building a new and more convenient court-house. The contract was to clear the lot on which the building was to be erected, and finish the structure for the sum of seven hundred and fifty dollars. He completed the undertaking in the fall of 1813, and a term of court was held in it soon after. This was the court-house until the south half of the brick one was completed; the one destroyed by fire in July, 1868. It stood upon the lot in the rear of the old brick academy, that stood until the fire of 1868, near the present drug-store of A. Cook. It was made of block or hewn timber to the top of the first story, and the second story was framed. The court-room was above, and the jail below. The court-room was warmed by a "Franklin" stove, purchased in Painesville, and was used for the purposes for which it was built, and also for religious meetings, school-house and ball-room.

The first regular dance ever held in Chardon, was in the court-room, on the Fourth of July, 1814. Simeon Root (since deceased), was the musician for the occasion, and the devotees of toe and heel, old and young, for miles around, joined in the dance, to the music of such inspiriting strains as "Old Rosin the Bow." The participants did not drive up, Jehu-like, in covered carriages, drawn by panting steeds, bedecked with plated harnesses. Tinseled finery, essenced exquisite and perfumed garments, were unknown to the pioneer life of Chardon. The company obtained their refreshments at the log tavern of Norman Canfield. The next Sunday, all who felt disposed, assembled at the court-room for worship, and the next day the court convened its regular session.

This court-house, at that time, was justly regarded as an ornament and honor to the place, and, all over northern Ohio, when remarked upon, was called a model building. After the south half of the brick court-house, before mentioned, was built, this rude structure was occupied many years by Judge Noah Hoyt for a barn, and, about 1850, went the way of all remains of a log-cabin, well-sweep, slow-coach age, being pulled down by Ira Webster, to give place to

a better building.

In June, 1813, the family of Mr. King returned to Chardon, and resumed the occupancy of the old court-house, their former home. His family consisted of himself, Hannah, his wife, and their children—Hannah, aged twelve years; Warren, eight years; John, four years, and Jabez, eighteen months.

In the spring of 1814, Captain Edward Paine, Samuel King, and Norman Canfield, logged off and cleared the present public square. They were to have for so doing the use of the land until such time as the public should require it for its designated use. They tilled it for two years, raising wheat, corn, potatoes, and such other crops as they saw fit.

Samuel King was the first adult person who died in Chardon. His disease was fever (typhus, perhaps), and his death occurred February 6, 1817, aged thirty-eight years. His death was an irreparable loss to his family and the town. He was universally lamented, for he was everywhere esteemed and respected. We must bear in mind that, in those days, neighbors had no such narrow, pent up meaning as compactly settled life gives it. Townships were as near then, in the sense of sharing each other's joys and calamities, as those living upon adjoining farms are now. Hannah, his eldest child, soon followed him in death. She died on the second of March, 1817, and on the seventh of April, Warren, the eldest son, fell a victim to the same disease. Thus, in a few short weeks, one-half this family were numbered with the tenants of the tomb.

Mr. King left some property, but little that was available. There were great difficulties in those days, in turning any property into money. Mrs. King, his

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widow, was a woman of great energy and fortitude, and, instead of sinking under her accumulation of bereavements, went bravely to work to provide for herself and the remaining friends of her family. On foot and alone, she started for Burton, driving a yoke of oxen, guided most of the way by marked trees, taking some articles to dispose of in order to raise money to pay the expenses of the sickness and burial of her husband and children. After the death of Mr. King, his widow had a daughter born, whom she named Lodica. She is now the wife of Benjamin Cowles, and they reside near the center of Chardon. Mrs. King remained a widow until 1835, when she married Aaron Canfield, with whom she lived till his death. The latter part of her life was mostly spent in the family of her son, Jabez King, residing in this village.

There are some incidents connected with clearing off the public square, that, perhaps, might have been more appropriately mentioned before, but which, I trust, are none the less interesting now. For a few years after the families previously mentioned in this narrative came to Chardon, the land on the east side of South street was unchopped and covered by a heavy growth of beech and maple, and Captain Paine had a large "sugar-bush," which he profitably used for a great number of years. Some of the original trees of his bush are yet standing upon the land of John Kissick and heirs of E. F. Phelps, that, for fifty years, almost consecutively, have been tapped, and as many times have ungrudgingly poured out their saccharine juices. So, on the west side of the same street, was another fine bush of Norman Canfield's, with a larger per cent. of maples, but of less extent. Where now are the residences of S. O. Converse, Henry Bartlett, D. F. Avery, J. F. Bruce, E. V. Canfield, Austin Canfield and others, and on the land back of them, the maples grew very numerous and, where the present cemetery is located, and in that vicinity, there had been, at some ancient time, a wind-fall, and, as a consequence, there had sprung' up another growth of tall, slim cherry and whitewood trees. The flat or low land just west of the village, was covered with black ash trees.

For a year or two after the square was called cleared off, there was left a tall elm near the corner brick store. For three or four months a hedge-hog, exercising his inalienable right of squatter sovereignty, pre-empted the top of this elm. As many as fifty shots were fired at him on different occasions, while he was domiciled in this tree, none of them taking effect. But the rifles used here then were flint lock, and the powder coarse and of an inferior quality. Near the present residence of Miss A. A. Benton, a man by the name of Wilmot was killed while cutting trees. He and another chopper, whose name I am unable to state, had chopped off a tree, but it lodged at the top in another. They cut the second one partly off, when the extra weight caused it to split and, in some manner, run back. Mr. Wilmot kept stepping back, but not fast enough, for he was hit by the tree, and made fast under it, lying upon the ground. His comrade, seeing his peril, laid hold of the fallen tree, and under other circumstances, by superhuman lifting, enabled the unfortunate man to extricate himself, but he soon died. The one who did the lifting, returned a day or two after, to show how it was done, but he could no more stir it than if it had been a pyramid of Egypt.

The first planting season after the public square was logged and burned off, there was some corn planted on it. This account I had from an eye-witness. It was not plowed that season, and was planted with a handspike. This ancient instrument of husbandry was flattened and sharpened at the point, and the planter, holding it at the proper angle, made an opening in the ground or sod; and, after depositing the proper number of kernels with the foot pressed down the ground above it. They had hoes that were cumbrous things, weighing three or four times as much as the present style, that could have been employed, but

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this mode was used, it is said, to more effectually prevent the ravages of the chipmuks, they being exceedingly troublesome and keen-scented, and this way of planting put them more off their guard while the corn was sprouting and coming up than when a hill was made to cover the seed. After the corn grew, it was not plowed out, nor hoed; it was kept as clear of weeds as possible, and yet the crop was not a failure.

Hambden, Burton, and Claridon were also settled before Chardon. I allude to them now more particularly, as the early settlement of these towns seemed to make the inhabitants more closely allied, for one reason, if for no other, that the roads first established ran north and south. A very early mail route was from Warren to Painesville, and the return trip. Claridon was once called Canton, and then Burlington; and, when Nathaniel Spencer moved into Claridon with his family, and settled near the present residence of his grand-son, W. E. Spencer, and old homestead of his son, Colonel E. Spencer.

Captain Edward Paine was the first postmaster in Chardon, but I am unable to give the date of his appointment. The mail was, for many years, carried on horse-back. A Mr. Rankin, who lived in Warren, had a contract for carrying the mail from that place to Painesville, once a week and return. He left Warren, and came as far as Captain Spencer's, and stayed all night, the next day finishing the trip to Painesville, then taking two days more to return. It cost twenty-five cents postage then on common letters, the price of an ordinary day laborer's work. Letters then were more like angels' visits, and, when one was received, the neighbors were informed, and gathered in, for the tidings from "away down East," had a value as intrinsic as meat, or drink, or raiment. Later, one of the Paines, for a short time, attempted an improvement on horseback transportation of mail matter, and had some sort of a wheeled vehicle on the route between Chardon and Parkman, and so novel was the character of this equipage that its first trips caused the inhabitants on the line of passage to forsake therr avocations, and give it as wondering a gaze as a new country now would a train of cars on its first appearance.

The fourth family that settled in town was the family of Antony Carter, consisting of himself and wife, Nancy. They were of African descent, and came from some part of the present county of Trumbull. A very small house had been built on the ground now occupied by. Wm. G. Munsell's cabinet shop, and used for a time for the county commissioners’ office, and into this structure the ebony couple moved in the fall of 1813. He soon purchased land north of the village, on the Painesville road, and built a very genteel log house near the present residence of Benjamin and Leonard Rider. " Black Antony," as he was familiarly called, was quite a character. He was industrious, quite capable, peaceable, and he and his wife are said to have been useful in numberless ways.

The fifth family that moved into Chardon was that of Jabez King, a brother of Samuel, and he moved into Samuel's house for a short time. He soon moved into the little house spoken of as the former residenee of Antony Carter, and again moved into a house that one Mr. Jordan had hastily erected east of the square, near the large spring that afterwards used to be called in the northeast corner of Cyrus Canfield's lower orchard. While occupying this house, Mrs. King, in the winter of 1813, became the mother of the first white child of an actual resident born in Chardon. Mrs. Mary Paine, Mrs. Susannah Canfield and Mrs. Hannah King were all the women in Chardon at the time of the birth of Mrs. King's child, except Mrs. Carter, the latter alone being uninvited. A Mrs. Bond and a Mrs. Brown, from Hambden, were over, and that made the slight of Mrs. Carter more noticeable. She, however, attempted to treat this violation of the "Fifteenth Amendment" with indifference ; but her husband could not smother the insult, and, black with rage, he soon after took his in-

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jured spouse and departed for the vicinity of Warren, with the intention of obviating the repetition of such an extravagant imposition. Mrs. King's child, being a girl, was in due time named Laura. She subsequently married Obed P. Hale, and they were recently living in Wisconsin. In the summer of 1814, Mr. Jabez King made a clearing and put up a log house near the present residence of John B. Teed*, into which house he moved in the fall of 1814. This was the first opening west of the Public square in Chardon. When Mr. King moved into town, his family consisted of himself and wife. If I am correctly informed, Mrs. King died a long time before her husband did, his death occurring in 1838. They were good, kind-hearted people, and well calculated to sustain the hardships and privations of frontier life.

The first jail ever built in Chardon was a little, eight-by-ten, low-roofed, unpretending structure of logs, attached to the west end of Norman Canfield's tavern. It had no stove in it, nor fire-place, but was used, perhaps, only one summer. It had one door that had some primitive mode of fastening. Its first and perhaps only inmate was one Hugh McDougal, belonging to the class of "never-do-wells," and the fraternity of trampers and vagabonds. He had contracted a debt with some man in Painesville, and, having become incorrigibly unmindful of his promise to pay, had been sentenced to this place of durance-vile for ten days on bread and water. This term would give him ample time for reflection, but the pent-up nature of his apartment gave him little room for meditation. It didn't need a writ of habeas corpus, in those days, for jail-delivery, because a little ingenuity and the use of the simplest tools would soon extricate the criminal. The second jail was the one in the frame and log courthouse built by Samuel King, before mentioned, that stood in rear of the south end of the present brick row. Near the time of the building of the south part of the brick court-house destroyed by fire in July, 1868, there was a one-story stone jail erected near the present brick one. This stone jail was thought to be, when built, a very formidable and safe place of imprisonment, but it proved far from being impregnable, for one morning showed, as the result of the cunning of its inmates, a great breach in its front wall, which made it well lighted and well ventilated. When the north part of the brick court-house before spoken of was built, the jail department was in the basement or under ground, with "Debtor's Room" above it, which was used till burned.

The well that is now used in front of the hotel barn of Benton & Co., was dug at an early day, while the premises were occupied by Norman Canfield, and was dug by a Mr. Thompson. As many as two previous attempts had been made to obtain water near this locality, which would have been either of them a success, had the persons in charge not been dissuaded from farther digging by the nonsensical art of witch-hazelry. One hole in the earth had been pushed to within ten or fifteen feet of the depth of the successful one, when one of these natural magicians, with his forked stick, supposed to be in league with the devil, or some other unseen or unknown agency, with a preponderance of ignorance rather than common sense, delivered himself of the oraculous opinion that, by shifting a few feet, all would be well. It is an art that any one can easily become skilled in, for it is a simple turn of the wrist. It is said a marked fatality resulted from digging all such wells. The man who dug this well, died in a few months after finishing the well. The well on the premises of J. 0. Worrallo was dug by a black man, and he did not live long after. There was no powder employed to blast the rock, but steady, persistent pecking, which required the laborer to stand and inhale the fine, flying atoms of rock, that, of course, made their way to the lungs. It was a great tax on the sense of labor

* Since deceased.

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and inconvenience upon the early settlers to get a proper supply of drinking water, for, until the present method of drilling wells was introduced, most of it had to be obtained from the springs near the base of the hill. But, thanks to the onward march of invention and improvement, we now have wells at our doors, and the buckets go rapidly down to Nature's inexhaustible reservoir, and come up, laden with water, so fresh, and cool that, with the purest of air and the brightest of sunshine, tends to make animal life enjoyable.

These five families were the only actual residents until about August, 1814, when Hosea Stebbins, and Patty, his wife, Benjamin Cadwell and his wife Olive, Jedediah Sanger and his wife, with such other members as they may have had in their families, came to town from Massachusetts. Hosea Stebbins put up a house just south of the present residence of J. 0. Worrallo, on South street, where he resided several years. He lived until recently, and died at the house of his son, Hosea Stebbins, jr., a short distance this side of Mitchell's mills. His wife, Patty, died in January, 1825. Mr. Cadwell purchased southwest of the village, where his widow, daughter Hannah, and Leonard Kilbourne now reside. He put up a house on the same premises. As just mentioned, his widow is yet living, but Mr. Cadwell died in 1846. Mr. Sanger built a house southwest of that of Mr. Cadwell, and he and his wife died many years ago. These were the first settlements in that vicinity, beyond the present limits of the corporation.

About August or September of the year 1814, Christopher Langdon and family came to Chardon. Mr. Langdon's family consisted of himself, Sarah, his wife, Lothop, Mary, now the widow of Hilen Canfield, deceased, Caroline, now the widow of Barna Stone, deceased; Sylvenus and Francis, their children. Mr. Langdon settled near Mr. Cadwell's, on the opposite side of the road. Daniel Hendryx and wife came to Chardon the same year Mr. Langdon did, or the next, and a year or two after moved on to the farm where he died many years ago, about three miles north of Chardon village, on the Painesville road. Mrs. Hendryx died but a few years since, at the residence of her son, on the old homestead.

In the fall of 1814, October, perhaps, Aaron Canfield and family, consisting of his wife, Lydia, and children—Platt, Hilen, Orrin, and Cyrus, came to Chardon from Massachusetts. Platt was then married, and his family was Polly, his wife, and Aaron B., their son. Aaron Canfield stopped for a time with his brother Norman. He had traded land east for land here. Mr. Horace Peck and wife, Mr. Peck's sister, Mrs. Peck's brother, Lucius Smith and his son Lorrin, came in company, or near the time that Mr. Aaron Canfield did. Lorrin Smith remained here while Lucius Smith returned east for his family. With his family he came the following spring, and soon after took up land on what is called King street, and the two Smiths resided there until they died. Christopher Langdon came from South Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He was forty-six days in coming, or the party were, and they had horse and ox teams. So bad were the roads that some days the party made but from three to five miles advance. A daughter of Mr. Langdon has informed me that there were but a few houses then in Painesville; she thinks there was a house or two at Wilson's corners, in Concord, and no other until they reached the house of Anthony Carter, near the present residence of L. S. Rider, and then one about one-half mile north of the present village, where Stephen Bond lived. The memory of others is, however, that Mr. Bond did not come to Chardon until the next year, 1815, and that Joseph Bond lived there. My informant says that most of the way from Painesville there was scarcely any road, and in some places it required the utmost care and watchfulness, and much hard labor on the men's part, to prevent the wagons overturning. Mr. Samuel King having heard of the near

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approach of Mr. Langdon's party, met him on the Painesville road, to assist him in the last few miles of his toilsome journey. Mr. Langdon moved into the Jordan house, east of the square, which house, I am now satisfied, was built at an earlier day than the date indicated in a former article. Mr. Langdon had always been a miller by occupation, and, after he moved southwest of the village, as before mentioned, built a saw-mill some rods back of Mr. Cadwell's residence. He afterwards built the grist- and saw-mills in Munson, subsequently called Hager's and Bosley's mills.

Mr. Horace Peck took up land or built a log house on King street, and it is said to have been the first house built on that street, in that vicinity. Mrs. Peck is dead. Mr. Peck now lives in Geneva, Ohio. He visited this town soon after the destructive fire of 1868, and again in the fall of 1870. He is over eighty years of age. His early hopes and noonday aspirations are but dreams of the past. He feels that he is a connecting link between the mortal and the immortal, and when his life's sun is set, will joyfully meet the Master's summons, whose word will one day bring to nought the last of all created things. Old age sits lightly upon him and, though his eye is a little dim, and the once lithe limbs a little stiffened, he is as straight as a cedar that has withstood the blasts of most a century; and, when I stood by his side, I felt, in age, as a little hill might be supposed to feel, by the side of a snow-capped mountain.

Mr. John Roper and wife came in company with Mr. Langdon. Their children, who came with them, were Almena, John, jr., Marcena, and Emeline. Rodolphus was born while they lived in Chardon, and is living in Willoughby, Lake county. Almena is the widow of N. H. Parks, and lives in this village. John, jr., has been dead several years. Emeline married Dr. S. Griffith, and is dead. It is not known by friends here whether Marcena is living or not. Mr. Roper's family moved into the Jordan house, or houses, which were a sort of catch-all or omnibus for new corners. About 1818 Mr. Roper built a sawmill, and afterwards a grist-mill, on Big Creek, in the northeast part of Chardon township. He died in Painesville about 1840, and his wife died a year or two after.

Mr. Lucius Smith built a log house near the present residence of his son, L. A. Smith, on King street, a little east of the house of Hoiace Peck, spoken of before, as being the first one on that street. Mr. Smith, after his settlement, continued to reside there until his death, which, I am informed, occurred in 1849. One of those terrible calamities happened to Mr. Smith's family, which forcibly portray the dangers and sufferings of pioneer life. A son of his, in gorng from the house to where his father was at work in the woods, missed the way. The inmates of the house supposed him to be with his father, until he came to supper without him. Search was, of course, immediately commenced, and continued till late in the night. The next day, and days following, the men and boys of all the surrounding country searched the woods far and near, but their labors were unavailing. Language is too tame to express the anguish of the grief-tom hearts of the parents when the search had to be abandoned. The following spring, some remnants of clothing, some buttons and locks of hair, sufficient to make proof of the identity, were all the traces ever discovered of the missing one. He was about fifteen years of age.

Platt Canfield built a log house near the present residence of O. C. Smith, on King street. He afterwards built one farther east, near the present residence of S. H. Sawyer, which was also built by Mr. Canfield. He died in 1841. Polly, his wife, died in 1860.

Aaron Canfield, soon after his arrival, commenced putting up log house near the spot where now stands the Town hall. It was soon completed, and was then called the largest, most expensive and comfortable dwelling house in the

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county. It was converted into a tavern in 1816, perhaps, and until Norman Canfield built his frame tavern, in t818, was called a first-class institution.

All your readers will, after a moment's thought, see the impossibility, at this stage of this history, of following connectedly, or in order of arrival, the course of each settler or family, the list having become so numerous. These early settlers, and those who followed, were of a class well calculated to sustain the duties of frontier life. They opened roads, cleared the land, built houses, which have given place to the more modern, more costly, more comfortable dwellings of the present time. I confess to feeling much more interest in the pursuit of this history than the outset warranted. In conversing with the aged, old memories seem to brighten as their lives reach the "golden prime." Go about our village, or upon the streets leading into the township, and ask the present dwellers who were its old-time occupants, and not one in a hundred can tell. There was history enough for volumes in those low-roofed log houses. What steady patience under poverty: What resignation under adversity and cheated hopes: How few live to tell of the holy tears shed by mothers, and the sighs uttered by the fathers, when their little ones sickened and died, the flowers of the hearth and home, like the daisies of the hillside, that droop so quickly when the heavens are stingy with their dews and rains. But in spite of all this, "marrying and giving in marriage," births and christenings have prospered; single houses have become villages; villages, towns; towns, cities; and some cities marvels of growth in trade and power, and still reveling in expanding energy.

About the year 1814, Joseph Bond and family moved to Chardon, from Bondstown (now Hambden). He settled on the premises at present owned by J. E. Stephenson, esq., where he lived for many years. His wife, Deborah, was a true helpmeet, and this pioneer couple, "Uncle Joe" and "Aunt Debby," as they were familiarly called, stood well in the estimation of the first and later settlers, for their generous acts of self denial and tender consideration of neighbors distresses and for the other numberless ways they helped to swell the sum total of essential good feeling and comfort. Mrs. Bond died, in Chardon, a little more than twenty years ago. Mr. Bond lived several years later, most of the time with his children, and died in the family of his daughter, Mrs. Joel Braddish, in Girard, Pennsylvania.

In 1815, Stephen and Eli Bond came to Chardon, from Hambden, and settled a short distance north of Joseph Bond. Stephen Bond removed to Illinois many years ago, and it is not known whether he is living, or what members of his family survive. Eli Bond was never married. He died in 1843, aged sixty years, then living in the family of Mr. Waldo.

In 1812, Timothy B. Robinson came from the State of New York to Chardon. He came in company with one John Fox, who stopped in Hambden. They traveled on foot, and carried knapsacks on ther backs. The necessary outfit for traveling "west," in those days, consisted of but few articles, and a catalogue or inventory of them could have been quickly made. The mammoth trunks for men, and the "Saratogas" for women, that now meet with so little favor at the hands of the railroad baggage-smashers, were then uninvented. Mr. Robinson prospected for a while, then returned to the State of New York; came back, in 1817, and hired out to Norman Canfield for a year. He did valiant service in chopping down the woods, hewing timber, and tilling the soil, where now are our thickest residences. In 1817, Mr. Robinson was married to Betsey Bushnell, daughter of Truman Bushnell, and soon, settled where he now resides. He is apparently remarkably free from the infirmities of age, and, to myself, seems no older than he was twenty years ago. He is now (1870) in his eighty-second year, and his wife is about ten years younger.

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In the spring of 1815, Zadok King, George King, Samuel and Edward Collins came to Chardon. Edward Collins did not remain here long, but went to Burton. George King and Samuel Collins were married one Sunday evening, and the next day, with their wives, started for Ohio. They encountered the usual hardships, vicissitudes and impediments of a journey to Ohio. They paid as high as a dollar per bushel for oats for horse feed on the way. From Painesville to Chardon it required four horses to draw one wagon, and then one or more of them got down in the mud, and the harness had to be cut to extricate them from their underground predicament. The horses' legs, for some distance above the hoofs, were bare of hair and hide, being so sore from daily travel in the mud. Part of this company, on arrival, proceeded to seek out and prepare future habitations, but Mr. Zadok King first took two or more horses to Trumbull county to sell, not needing them all, or perhaps trading them for oxen. He also bought five or six bushels of potatoes, all he could obtain, paying a great price, and the eyes or sprouts from the seed ends were removed with all the carefulness of a surgical operation, so that nothing be wasted.

Zadok King was married to Fanny Collins a few years before he moved to Ohio, and they had two children when they came—Granger and Roderick. Granger died October 7, 1815, and it is said by some that he was the first white child that died in Chardon. Roderick, in after years, married Miss Julia Merrill, of Chardon, and when he died, several years ago, was the owner of a very fine farm in Munson. Wm. King was born in 1816, and he will be remembered by many present residents of Chardon as- a medical practitioner here. He is now in California. Zadok King is living upon the farm where he first settled, having many years ago married his present (second) wife. Mr. King is nearly eighty years old, and this venerable couple are not only frequent but regular attendants at church two miles from their residence. No pen or tongue of mine can add any lustre to their long-lived career of strict uprightness. [Since dead.]

George King's first wife, who accompanied him to Chardon, was Nancy Gillot. He settled on the farm where he died, the present residence of his son, L. G. King. I am not in possession of facts or dates that enable me to state when Mr. George King was married the second time, or when he died. He died at his residence, after many years of high estimation by the entire community in which he was permitted to behold the forests fall like grass before the scythe, towns spring up, and hundreds dwell where once civilized footsteps had never ventured.

Samuel Collins married Anna King, and, as previously stated, started for Ohio the day after their marriage. They settled on King street, near Zadok King's, and remained there till John King, sr., came to occupy the premises, in 1816 or '17, when Mr. Collins moved on to the farm taken up by Horace Peck. Mr. Collins raised a large family of children, one of whom is J. W. Collins, of Bainbridge, one of the board of commissioners of Geauga county. Samuel Collins died in Chagrin Falls, two or three years ago, and his wife is yet living there, over eighty years old.

In 1815 Nathaniel H. Parks left Suffield, Connecticut, about the middle of May, and reached Chardon about the last of June. He came in company with Jonathan Allen and Hezekiah Stocking, they settling in Hambden. Mr. Parks did not then live all the time in Chardon, for in 1817 he voted in Hambden, and the thirty-two voters who participated in that election are all dead except Mr. Parks.

The 4th day of July, 1815, there was a "bee" or voluntary gathering to chop off the corner where Samuel Smith's tavern was afterwards built (the present "Burnett House"), Mr. Parks taking a part. It may not be generally known to your readers that about 1820 and '21 Mr. Parks carried on a wool carding

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machine on the northeast corner of the Public square, or where Mr. D. Kirk now lives. The driving or moving power of this machine was not water or steam, but two faithful horses, that, by persistent circling in the ground story, caused the machinery to move in the second story. The machinery was made in Painesville, by Marvin Huntington and Daniel Olds, and was afterwards used in Claridon by Nathaniel Spencer for similar purposes. Mr. and Mrs. Parks are now living in this village. They have been faithful workers and estimable citizens. Mr. Parks is in his seventy-eighth year, and now acting as constable, and, if they live a few months longer, they will celebrate their "golden wedding." All who know them will join in the wish that "heaven's great monarch" may give this ancient couple length of days, unclouded minds and unwithered hearts to enjoy this rare felicity. Fifty years! Half a century! How unimportant in the world's history, but how eventful and full of meaning when measuring human life!

Mr. and Mrs. Parks lived to celebrate their golden wedding, but she alone is now living.

For a number of years after Chardon was settled, and after its inhabitants began to raise grain, it was a great tax to get grinding or milling done. The best and nearest grist-mill was in Painesville, or in that township. Punderson's mill, in Newbury, I am informed, was built at an early day. A trip to either of these mills was a two days' undertaking. There was an abundance of water, but the machinery and water-wheels, everything in fact, was very far behind the present age. A saw-mill was built in 1814 or '15 (as previously mentioned), by Mr. Langdon, back of the residence of B. Cadwell. Portions of almost decayed timbers can yet be seen that once composed its frame-work. The banks of the ditch, or race, are yet to be seen that were thrown up by hand to conduct water to this mill, on the farm of Thomas Rush. Mr. Langdon one spring sawed about one hundred thousand feet of lumber in this mill, and the next season about twenty thousand feet, but the water kept failing, and the mill was forsaken. Now the stream has just sufficient water in it to launch a flock of geese. A grist-and saw-mill was built at an early day in Hambden, two miles east of this town, by a Mr. Higby. He sold it to Mr. Isaac Pease, and Mr. Merrick Pease perhaps owned it afterwards. This mill, it is said, when first built, would grind about ten bushels of grain between daylight and dark. A laughable anecdote is told of its strength and capacity. Some one had taken a grist there, and as everybody worked in those days, the miller couldn't spend the time to watch the slow progress. So he filled the hopper with grain and went out doors to work. A large hog, having an "eye to business," and obeying the injunction, "Never put of till to-morrow what can be done to-day," walked into the mill, and in its eager haste to have a full meal so disturbed the "spill," or apparatus for discharging the grain below the hopper, that the increased quantity stopped the mill. It has been said poetically, that

" The mills of the gods grind stow;"

but the mills of our ancestors would, in the one respect of velocity, furnish a fitting parallel.

There was one of the first settlers of Chardon, a frequent and generally welcome guest or inmate in all households. Previous historians of Chardon, as far as I have ever learned, have given his history the go-by. He was one of a large family, but I am unable to give exact information of his parentage or birth, but the recollections of the "oldest inhabitant" are that he was of Indian extraction. It is a difficult matter to faithfully delineate his character, it was so fickle and varying. He may reasonably be presumed to have always been a bachelor, for at times he was sour, and again crusty, and, in the company of ladies, was apt

288 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

to be mealy-mouthed. However, he was by no manner of means to be dreaded, and all over town old and young called him by the familiar name of Jonny Cake. He was related to the Hoe Cake and Griddle Cake families, and he had a half-sister in town, who, "for short," they called Mush.

Some time in the year 1815, Ariel Benton, with a friend by the name of Dimock, joined fortunes in a small stock of wares suitable for peddling in a new country, and turned their faces westward. Their plodding perseverance at last landed them in Chardon. They went, with their goods, into the towns of Claridon, Burton, Middlefield, and Windsor. When in Burton once, a snow storm came in the night, so deep as to cover up the road to Chardon, and all trace of it. The next day they started for Chardon, and got lost; for, after they had traveled, as they thought, long enough and far enough to reach this place, they came to a log house, and inquired how far it was to Chardon, and were told "nine miles." They had wandered into Newbury or Chester. They soon after returned east.

Early in June, 1816, Zadok Benton, his wife, and one child, about eighteen months old (afterwards Mrs. William Wilber), Ariel Benton and wife, Lucinda and Otis Benton (then not married), started for Ohio. They were drawn by a yoke of oxen, with a span of horses on the lead. Simon Gager and family, Roswell Eaton and his wife, Sally, came with the Bentons. They had a team of two yoke of oxen, though. Mr. Eaton owned one of the horses in the Benton team. Mr. Gager settled in Claridon. When this party was journeying to Ohio, and was in the State of New York, near the Mohawk river, the teams slipped on the ice that had formed, one June night, around the watering places. If I am not misinformed, this year (18x6) was the year that frosts appeared every month in it. This party paid as high as two dollars per bushel for corn, and, in some localities, oats could not be obtained. Arriving in Painesville early in July, they tried all through the village to buy some flour, but could get none. The Bentons, however, bought a barrel of pork and paid thirty dollars for it; and truth compels me to say that when it was opened, as many as three whole pig's heads were found in the barrel, that had been put in by some small-souled pig-my men. After arriving in Chardon, they could buy no flour for several days, but Captain Paine gave them a pailfull, and made no charge for it. In a few days after coming here, they heard of a teamster who had stopped in Bondstown (now Hambden) with a load of flour, and they went over and purchased a barrel for sixteen dollars, that had no pigs' heads in it. Mr. Ariel Benton was detailed to go on a butter-hunting expedition, and at last got a pailfull, of Timothy Wells, in Claridon. They were frequently told of the scarcity of provisions, but Mr. Eaton declared he would kill and eat his horse before he would go back east or starve. The Bentons lived in a log house that Ariel Benton ,had purchased of John Hunt, in the fall of 1815. It stood near the present "Burnett house," on. the northwest corner of the public square.

In July, 1816, Zadok, Ariel and Otis Benton commenced to chop and clear off about five acres of land, one mile north of town, which they sowed to wheat in the fall. In 1817, the day after they finished harvesting their wheat, they put up a log barn twenty by thirty-four feet. and the next day put on the roof, and, on the third day, at night, there was wheat enough in it to thresh out one hundred and fifty bushels; but part of it came from Mr. Kinsley's field, who lived where L. S. Rider now does. Their wheat averaged about twenty bushels per acre. Roswell Eaton was married to Sally Gager at the same time that Ariel Benton married Lucinda Dimock. Mrs. Eaton did not live long after coming to Ohio, her death occurring in 1817, aged twenty-eight. Mr. Eaton was again married, and his second wife has been dead a number of years. Mr. Eaton died September 14, 1852, aged fifty-eight years.

In 1817 Zadok Benton, sr., Lydia, his wife, Orrin, Elihu, Lydia and Nancy,

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their children, and Warren Benton, cousin of these children, came to Chardon. The family lived in a double log house about a mile north of town.. During their stay there, nine of them were, at one time, under the care of Drs, Harmon and Mathews, of Painesville. It took about a saddle-bag full of medicine every day to go around in this family; for doctoring in those days, was not infinitesimal pastime, but meant business. It will be impossible for me to give in detail the history of this worthy and numerous family. It must suffice to say that Zadok Benton, sr., and Zadok, jr., and their wives, are dead. Lydia Benton, the daughter, died soon after their arrival. Warren Benton died at his residence some two miles north of town, and while living, he and his estimable wife (now married to J. S. Center), were foremost in doing good as they had opportunity. Elihu Benton and wife are living in the west part of the town. Otis, now widower, is living in Cleveland. Nancy has twice been widowed, and is now deceased. Orrin is living in this village, over eighty years of age, but his wives are dead. Ariel Benton and his wife are living in this village, after passing most three score years of happy wedded life. The marriage tie, with them, has proved no yoke of bondage. They have together witnessed the comings and goings of many summers' heat and winters' cold, and the long years that have wheeled away into the dim past, have left them far beyond the morning and noon of life, and now they calmly sit in the gentler twilight.*

The first school ever opened in Chardon was in the summer of 1815, in the little building spoken of in a former article, that was built for a commissioners' office, and stood near the cabinet shop of W. G. Munsell. It was taught by Miss Mehitable Hall, of Claridon, afterwards Mrs. Orrin Spencer. She had about half a score of youthful seekers after alphabetical wisdom, and, among the number, were Sedley and Ellen Paine, John King, Austin and Eliza Canfield, and Ann Martin, a girl who either came with the family of Norman Canfield from Hambden, or else came to live in the family after settling here. The first winter school ever taught in Chardon, was by Levi Edson, in the winter of a and 't7, perhaps. Mr. Edson came to Chardon in 1815, and afterwards settled in the southwest part of the town, near the Chagrin river.. His school-house was a little west of the stone building, on the northwest corner of the public square. It was made of logs, and had a mud and stick chimney, no brick having then been used in town. Mr. Edison was regarded as a first-rate teacher.. He had many estimable qualities of head and heart, but it was a foundation doctrine in his creed not to hurry or worry, and he sought his own ease and comfort just as naturally as a duck takes to water. He always provided himself with two long, tapering " gads," or sticks, which he called his " Boy-stick" and " Girl-stick." The boy-stick was the largest and longest, indicating the coarser and stouter nature of the sex, and, with these badges or signs, he could reach all over the small room without leaving his chair, and give the most convincing of all proof of his authority, that of personal application. However, he was not harsh or austere, but was, on the contrary, rather sparing of the rod. In this school-house there was a rough floor over head, and a ladder was used to go into the loft. It became necessary quite often to go above, for, when the mud was well dried in the chimney, the sticks would take fire, and two or three boys would be detailed to stop the conflagration. One of the fun-loving boys who attended his school has often related his experience to me, while a member of this " Fire Brigade." After going into the chamber, with water-pail and cup, and the fire sufficiently subdued to quiet alarm, he would take a dipper of water, and, standing over the teacher, pour it through a large, gaping crack, that all must guess would thoroughly irrigate his poor, defenceless head. This "water-

*Mrs. Ariel Benton, since deceased.

290 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

cure" treatment would cause him to exclaim, " Be careful with the water, boys!" he not knowing how careful they had been. Mr. Edson commenced a second winter term, but taught less than a week, for the chimney took fire, and communicating rapidly with other parts of the house (and the fire department of the town being in just the same condition that fifty years later finds it), the devouring element soon leveled this rude log structure with the ground. Schools were afterwards held in the court house, that stood upon land that Ira Webster subsequently occupied; also, in another building that stood near, or west of Mr. Webster's house, taught by a Mr. Hulburt. Schools were held in the "Academy" building, that stood where A. Cook's drug store is now. This building was of brick, and built in 1826.

Many years ago, the present school district was divided. The "West District," as it was called, had a school-house near the present residence of S. W. Brewster, but on the cross road, the eastern line of that district, I think, extended far enough to embrace Mr. Parks, and, perhaps, Mr. Teed, on Water street, and Samuel McGonigal, esq., on the center street. As many as thirty years ago there was a school-house, near the present residence of J. H. Converse. J. D. Worrallo taught there a long time, with great .profit to his pupils, and satisfaction to parents. For many years, select, or graded schools, were held in the basement of the Methodist church, and similar ones in the high-school building, which stood on the corner where John Strohl now lives. Very many will remember the "Old Red School-house," east of South street, that was purchased by L. J. Randall, and used for a barn and carriage-house, when the present one was obtained, that stands upon the east side of the Public square.

I have mentioned the name of John Hunt, but I am unable to say where he came from, and what became of him. He was in Chardon as early as 1814 or '15, and was the first blacksmith in town. His list of tools is said to have been very comprehensive, though his skill is supposed to have been good enough for all drains upon it. The mechanic arts were in a much ruder state fifty years ago, and the workers in the coarser metals were unable to turn out such wondrous works of hand-craft as we now behold. Running the risk of telling a little story that may have no appropriate meaning, to show the advanced improvement of the present time, but only the boasted capability of human Yankee genius, I will mention that, not long ago, I saw in a city a long-geared "Down- Easter" traveling around mending umbrellas, sharpening razors, shears, etc. He was loudly proclaiming his ability, when a bystander, thinking he had found a "flat," unwittingly asked him if he could "make a whistle of a pig's tail." He promptly answered "No," but that he could take a dog's tail, that had been cut off twenty-four hours, and "soft-soder" it to the fitting part, "without pain," as good as new, and not "singe a hair."

The first couple ever married, in Chardon, was Martin Langdon and Phebe Sanger, by Hosea King, esq., of Hambden, on the twenty-fourth day of October, 1815.

The first few years of Chardon's settlement, prices of necessaries of life ruled very high. Common cotton cloth was fifty and seventy-cents per yard. Best calico from fifty cents to one dollar per yard. Flour and salt each sold from fifteen to twenty dollars a barrel. Mr. C. Langdon went to Painesville after a barrel of salt, taking him two days, and paid for it nineteen silver dollars. Tea was worth three and four dollars a pound, and so poor that it took great perseverance and fortitude on the part of the housewife to "steep" it till it got strong enough to run out of the tea-pot.

Previous mention was made that the families of Norman Canfield and Capt. Edward Paine, jr., were, respectively, the first arrivals in Chardon. As these two men spent the residue of their days here, it is only reasonable to conclude

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that they may have had more or less influence in early times; depending, in extent, upon the manner and means of their usefulness, and upon the places of west or responsibilities their fellow townsmen may have invested them with. It would be improper to convey the impression that the two men were at all alike in position and influence, but they were united in a certain political struggle, of which an account will soon be given. It has also been said that Aaron Canfield

(brother of Norman), came to Chardon in October, 1814. For a time he lived with Norman, but soon commenced building where now stands the town hall.

Some difficulty having arisen between these two brothers about the settlement of their father's estate, they soon became so estranged in feeling as to have no more intercourse (save of a hostile nature), than two mile stones or a couple of telegraph poles would have with each other. I have no inclination to lug into this history any narration of family quarrels, or what some might think had better quietly rest under the dust of generations; memories that are so soon to die out with the few living witnesses of those days; but so interwoven was the conflict with all features of Chardon's early history, that I am constrained to think the only breach of propriety would be in omitting to mention it. As soon as 1816, I think, it became best or necessary to have a judicial dignitary, called "Justice of the Peace," to rightfully determine the legal "metes and bounds" of all the inhabitants of his district. The proper authority was obtained to order the election. Parties were not then organized as now, but the same political animosities, the same low, groveling propensities of ill-timed heat, hate and prejudice, were then as fully exhibrted (according to numbers), as have ever been since. The Paine party and the anti-Paine party contended for the reign and rule in this election. Norman Canfield was the candidate of the Paine party, and Aaron Canfield of the "Antis." Each of the candidates kept liquor taverns, and it was well kown before the election that the contest was at least to be a spirited one. Well, the notable day came, and, towards night, the unequal admixture of patriotism and " old rye" caused the same noisy, blustering bravado that it has in later times. In due course, the result was declared, the "Antis" were triumphant, and Aaron Canfield was declared duly elected. The supposed invincible Paine party was beaten, but, as the sequel will show, not conquered. They repaired to the tavern of Norman Canfield, and amidst a magnificent flow of "whiskey punch," set about the sorrowful task of counting the dead, numbering the missing, and comforting the wounded. The victorious party assembled at Aaron Canfield's tavern, and his election was honored with many flowing bumpers and bouncing "ox-swallows," which, it is needless to say, were not slow in performing their missions of excitement. The Paine party felt that something must be done to reclaim its trailing political fortune, and permission was obtained to contest the election, or hold a second one. In advertised time the contest came off, and Norman Canfield was elected, and so bitter was the stirfe, and to such misguided and indecent lengths did his supporters go, that they made an effigy, calling it "Aaron," which they hung upon a high pole in the Public square, and most of one day busied themselves with shooting and stoning it, and finally took it down and burned it at a stake. These proceedings poisoned and embittered all the relations of these brothers in future years, till death severed the earthly relation.

So Norman Canfield was the first justice of the peace in Chardon who assumed the duties of the office. Christopher Langdon, esq. (heretofore mentioned), was elected justice of the peace as early as 1817. Eleazer Paine, esq., who came to Chardon with Captain Edward Paine, jr., or soon after, was justice of the peace as early as 1819, and so was George King, esq., lived and died on King street, in Chardon. Hilen Canfield, esq., was elected as early as 1824, and served several years.

292 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

As previously stated, the family of Aaron Canfield, when settling in Chardon, consisted of himself, Lydia, his wife, Platt, Hilen, Orrin and Cyrus, his sons. Mention has been previously made of the dates when Platt and his wife died. Aaron Canfield died February 22, 1838, aged sixty-six years. His first wife died December 19, 1834, aged sixty-four years. Cyrus Canfield died November 27, 1850, aged fifty years. Orrin died about the year 1863 or 1864. Hilen died January 25, 1850, aged fifty-six years. He settled on the northeast corner of the public square, and perhaps the first large fire occurred on his premises of any spot in Chardon. He had built a log house in which the family resided. He had fitted the frame building that had been used for a carding machine works, into one suitable for a dwelling, and was intended to move into it in a few days, but a fire spoiled all his plans and reduced both log and frame house to ashes. This occurred in January, 1823, and was supposed to be the work of an incendiary. They saved but few household goods, and Mrs. Canfield escaped with her two children, one under each arm. The oldest one's name was Edwin, aged about three years, who was sick at the time of the fire, and died the next month. The youngest one's name was Milton, aged about two years, and he survived this unfortunate episode in pioneer life, and was afterwards very extensively known in this community as Judge M. C. Canfield. This is supposed to have been the tightest place the judge was ever in, for he bare-ly escaped, but everybody excused him at the time, on account of his youth and unfamilrarity with the "rough and tumble" life of a new country. The widows of the brothers, Cyrus, Orrin and Hilen, are all deceased.

The family of Norman Canfield consisted of his wife, Susannah, and children —Austin, Sherman B., Eliza, and Amanda. Mrs. Canfield died in June, 1821. Mr. Canfield died in November, 1824. Austin Canfield is living in Chardon, upon the premises he has occupied for nearly half a century, and is almost sixty-seven years of age, and in very good health. Sherman B, is now residing in Syracuse, and is known as S. B. Canfield, D, D.* He is considered an eloquent and efficient divine, and has always stood deservedly popular with the churches he has labored with. Eliza married Bradley Squire, and died in 1832. Amanda married Orson Post, and is now living in Vernon, Michigan.

The family of Captain Edward Paine, jr., consisted of his wife, Mary, and children—Ellen, Sedley, Seth, and Edward. Captain Paine was appointed county clerk at or near the first organization of the county. The first courts were held at New Market, on Grand river, near its mouth, and then in Champion (now Painesville), and, as soon after the seat of justice was established at Chardon as practicable, he moved here, and, as before stated, came in the spring of 1812.

The events of the war of 1812, and the struggles on our then northwestern frontier, are familiar as matters of history to all. It will be remembered, too, that, in the campaign of 1813, each of the hostile parties was striving for the naval mastery of Lake Erie, and that Commodore Perry had fitted for service an American squadron, and on the tenth of September the ever-memorable and decisive victory was won over our foes. The cannonading was distinctly heard in Chardon, and at the first was supposed to be thunder, but the regularity and character of the sounds soon convinced all that a battle had been commenced or ended. The disaster of General Hull's surrender, of the previous year, at Detroit, was not forgotten, and painful apprehensions of future greater evils were uppermost in the minds of all. Captain Paine took what few county records there were (for in those days he performed the duties of nearly all the county officers), and carried them to the "Rocky Cellar," northeast of town, on the

* Since deceased.

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farm now owned by J. F. Howard, and hid them there, thinking it the safest place of concealment in this vicinity. The records remained hid a week or ten days, while Captain Paine pushed on towards Cleveland, to ascertain the result or position of war matters. I am unable to state how far from the lake reports of, cannon firing were heard, but they caused great consternation. A member of Captain Spencer's family, then living in Claridon, has informed me that they filled a chest with household valuables, and hid it in a brush-heap some distance from the house. Everyone was fearful that the British and their dusky, treacherous allies, the Indians, would overrun this territory and gobble up everything worthy of consideration. But as their fears proved to be groundless, quiet was soon restored.

It has been stated that Captain Paine wrote some details of his early life, but none such can now be found. Colbert Huntington, esq., of Painesville, who married Captain Paine's daughter Ellen, writes me that no such memoranda have come into his hands. He finds an old account-book, and in it are the following charges:

" Norman Canfield Dr. Nov. 30th, 1812 To 75 lbs. venison @ 30 1/2 cts. per lb.

" Nathaniel King Dr. Nov. 11th, 1813, To 50 lbs. elk beef, as agreed, $ 1.00."

In 1812 he charges S. W. Phelps for recording deed of "Chardon town plat." Captain Paine was made agent for the sale of a good deal of land in this county and adjoining ones, and in time became owner of a good deal. He was very efficient in giving aid and comfort to new-corners, and in assisting them to locate. He was very fond of hunting and fishing, and one old settler, now living here, says that he killed five deer one morning, soon after daylight, just east of the village. His son Sedley was more famous still as a hunter and trapper, and if .all his exploits were narrated the history would make quite a volume. Another old settler informs me that in 1817 they had a "big hunt" near Munson pond. Captain Paine was chosen commander of the expedition, and, for a plume or .sign of this distinction, he wore a deer's tail in his hat.

June 4, 1806, Captain Paine was appointed clerk of the board of commissioners of Geauga county. At the June meeting of the commissioners, in 1812, it was

"Resolved, That the rate of bounty to be paid out of the county treasury for the scalps of wolves over six months old, killed in this county, shall be two dollars, and for those under six months old, one dollar, for the ensuing year."

It is stated that in 1808 or 1809, Mrs. Captain Paine, then living in Painesville, went to the State of New York, with a small party of women, to visit the homes and friends of childhood, and each went on horseback. Mrs. Paine took' her son, Sedley, then a mere child, in her lap, and, in due time, returned, neither of them any the worse for the journey.

Captain Paine was the first postmaster in Chardon, and served a great many years, till Judge B. F. Avery was appointed. He also served as clerk of courts until about 1828, when Judge D. D. Aiken succeeded him. Captain Paine died November 29, 1848, aged seventy-two years. His wife died September 8, i846, aged sixty-four years. Sedley died in May, 1829,"aged twenty-two years. Seth died many years ago. Ellen married Colbert Huntington, and they are living in :Painesville. Edward is living in the family of Mr. Huntington.

OLD PERSONS IN CHARDON.

We are indebted to our venerable friend, N. H. Parks, for the following list of persons residing in Chardon, seventy years old, and over. Those marked with a * have died since the list was prepared :

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VILLAGE

Nancy Carlton - 70

Mary A. Warren - 75

Levi Patchin - 74

George Parsons - 74

Persis Parsons - 72

John Collins - 76

Olive Collins - 73

John B. Teed - 78

William Young - 84

Daniel Wheelock - 76

Horace Merrill - 80

Deborah Merrill - 81

Hiram Westcott - 70

Thomas Metcalf - 72

Lucy Chapin - 72

Mel Benton - 78

Mary Canfield - 72

Lucinda Benton - 79

Abby Huntington - 79

Orrin Benton - 82

Hannah Bronson - 79

Sally Hastings - 84

Elijah P. Allen - 73

Manning Shumway - 72

Hannah Shumway - 70

John Kelley - 82

Betsey Avery - 76

* Rufus Rider - 75

Ira Webster - 75

Sybil Smith - 80

James McClaren - 87

N H. Parks - 77

Harvey King - 73

TOWNSHIP

Harriet Pitkin - 82

Olive Cadwell - 82

Alanson Knowles - 71

John Thwing - 70

John 0. Granger - 73 

Mary King - 76

Josiah Bail - 81

Zodok King - 79

Anna Bail - 76

Bathsheba King - 72

Benjamin Rider - 778

Edgar West - 71

Augustin Collins - 71

Abigail Hostadt - 76

Elihu Benton - 70

Margaret West - 72 

Hannah Witter - 84 

Isaac Heath - 77

Timothy B. Robinson - 80

Allen Maltby - 81

Betsey Robinson - 70

Orrin Todd - 77

Almira Searls - 73 

Miranda Todd - 77

* Lois Hendricks - 87

Mary Armstrong - 74

William Callow - 75.

Mary Caltow - 80

Julius Bixby - 75

Nancy Hayden - 83

Horace Hosford - 85

Almon Booth - 73

Timothy Griswold - 71

Moses Hayden - 86

Lucas Watros  - 74

Salmon Carver - 79

[Since the above was written, nearly all the persons named have since died.]

A capital hunt, or considered so at the time, occurred at Munson pond. Captain Edward Paine was commander of the enterprise, as stated. Previous to the day of the hunt, the township of Munson, nearly the whole of it, was encircled by a line of blazed trees. At this line, the forces were to meet and form; Chardon on the north line of the township (Munson), Chester on the west, Newbury on the south, and Claridon on the east. Burton, Troy, and Kirtland participated, assisting on the different lines. Nine o'clock, A. M., I think, was the time for forming the lines, which were composed of men and boys, some with guns, some with pitchforks, some with old bayonets fastened on sticks, some with clubs, and some with tin-horns. The signal for indicating that the lines were formed was the sounding of the tin-horns, which commenced at the northeast corner of the township (Munson), and was taken up by the first horn on the left, and thus continued around the lines to the place of commencement. Then a second sounding in the same manner was the signal for starting towards the central part of the township, where was another very conspicuous blazed line at the base of a considerable eminence enclosing some eight or ten acres of ground, where all were to halt, and send in careful and accurate marksmen to shoot the game, taking special care not to fire into any of the lines.

The principal object of the hunt was to destroy the wolves, which, at that time, were very troublesome; and there was a goodly number of them, as well as bears, inclosed. As the lines were converging, they were seen running from side to side to escape, but, coming in contact with men on every side, they would wheel and run in the opposite direction. Orders were most strict against any person firing his gun in the advancing line. But the bears and wolves all escaped through a break in the lines purposely made by some hunters, who

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 295

were opposed to killing off the deer in such a wholesale manner. All the game that was taken was a few deer and one elk. Samuel Hopson had just moved into Munson, and his family were the only inhabitants.

Many laughable events loccurred in the early practice before magistrates, one of which I will here relate. It is said that it takes two to make a bargain, and it also requires that number, or a greater, to make a lawsuit. Two Chardon neighbors had got into a dispute about some dollar-and-cent transaction, and, not being able to settle it themselves by words, concluded to try what virtue there was in law. So the justice issued the proper paper requiring the defendant to appear on a certain day; but, by a slip of the pen, made the hour of appearance at one o'clock A. M., or in the forenoon. The defendant said nothing, but, about the midnight, or an hour before the time set for trial, arose and dressed himself, lit his lantern, and, at one o'clock, was promptly at the house of the, justice. Observing that no preparations were being made for the trial, he awoke his honor from a refreshing nap, and urged the importance of punctuality, and that he open court. Of course, mutual explanations followed, and it had the effect to finally dispose of the case without any legal contest.

It is said that a Mr. Hurlbut was the first lawyer that became a resident practitioner in Chardon. He had but little, if any, practice, and died about the time when business opened in his profession.

In the fall of 1816, one Dr. George Emery located in Chardon, to practice medicine. Whether he was a graduate or not is unknown, but he assumed the right to bleed, puke, purge and saw bones. If he hung out a sign that read on it, "Prescriptions carefully compounded," it ought to have been changed to "Prescriptions carelessly confounded." In those days everybody had to be bled, and especially in the spring of the year. The medical practice of those days, for the human family, was just about as rational as the practice for doctoring cattle is now; for, when a cow is taken sick, the first act of surgery is to cut off part of her tail, and then bore her horns, for the practitioner knows that the disease must be somewhere between those two points.

I am unable to say who was the first resident minister in Chardon. Services were held here at an early day, but by those clergymen who were doing missionary or itinerant labor. Lorenzo Dow held occasional services, one season, in the bar-room of Norman Canfield. Elder Hanks (Baptist), Ezra Booth, John Norris and Ira Eddy (Methodists), and Luther Humphrey (Presbyterian), preached here occasionally. Ezra Booth came here in 1818, and established the Methodist church, or class of ten members. But the long list of Conspicuous dignitaries who have since figured in the schools of divinity, law and medicine, and the growing magnitude of those professions, require a more extended notice, which will be given in some future article.

Among the early settlers, was James Bronson, coming from Suffield, Connecticut. Mr. Bronson came, without his family, in 1814. He was looking for a location, and, when he left home, intended to buy at or near Cleveland, but was induced not to buy there on account of the representations of its unhealthiness. In 1815 Mr. Bronson sent for his wife, Hannah, and daughter, Lois H., who was then about two years old. They moved into a log house that stood a few rods west of the present store of Kelley Brothers, upon land that Mr. Bronson had purchased. In about three years he built and moved into a frame house near the same spot, and afterwards built and lived in another one further east, that stood upon the present west side of the public square. Mr. Bronson made two or three unsuccessful attempts to obtain well water on his premises, but his energy was at last rewarded, for Mr. Holt put down a drilled dwell, the first of its kind in town, and one of the best. It is the well now in the basement of Kelley Brothers' store. Many laughed at Mr. Bronson for his rashness in think-

296 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

ing to obtain water in that way, and, after the job was finished, some thought the water would ooze away into the crevices of the rock. Judge D. D. Aiken had one drilled immediately upon his premises, the second one in town. Mr. Bronson was county treasurer for a number of years, and, by his foresight, economy and industry, secured a handsome competence. He died in Chardon April to, 186o, aged sixty-six years. Mrs. Hannah Bronson, his respected and venerable widow, aged seventy-nine, is living with her widowed daughter, Mrs. Lois H, Newcomb. Mrs. Bronson is since deceased.

Jonathan Bestor came to Chardon, in 1815, from Stafford, Connecticut. His family was composed of his wife, Hannah, and children: Polly, aged about thirteen years; Jonathan, jr., aged about ten years; Alanson, aged nearly nine years ; Hannah, aged about six years; Daniel, aged nearly five years; and Sally, aged about two and one-half years. They had a daughter born soon after their arrival who they named. Mary.

They came with two yoke of oxen and a horse, and were about six weeks on the road. Mr. Bestor traded teams two or three times, and got a large, long-bodied yoke of oxen, that he wanted for wheel-oxen, but the wagon-tongue was so short, or the cattle so long, that, in order to prevent the wagon running on to them on a down grade, he had a harness, or breeching, made of leather, that extended from the yoke to the rear of the animals. This rude ox-toggery is now preserved in the chamber of Mr. Jonathan Bestor.

The family first moved into the " Hoyt court-house," as it was called, and staid in it a few weeks. Jabez King had cleared about two acres of land, and planted it to corn, where Mr. Bestor afterwards settled. He soon built a log house, near the present residence of the son, Jonathan. Mr. Bestor lived only about two years after coming to Chardon. He died September ro, 1817, aged about forty-two years. He had an apoplectic fit while coming from Langdon's mill with a load of lumber. Mr. Bestor had partly cleared quite a number of acres of woodland before he died, and Mrs. Nestor and the little boys finished it, and she sowed it to wheat, and had a good crop. The next spring she planted corn and sowed flax on two acres, and sowed oats on five acres. In 1816, Mr. Bestor went to Mantua and purchased a barrel of pork, for which he paid forty-two dollars.

Mrs. Bestor was married in 1818, August 6^th to Crosby Rider. The children of the second marriage were Rosetta and Emily. The latter died when about two years old. Rosetta is now living with her brother, Jonathan, on the old homestead. Mr. Rider died many years ago. Mrs. Rider died in Chardon, June 13, 1868, aged eighty-seven years. Polly Bestor married Charles Burr. He is dead; but she is living in Madison, Lake county, Ohio. Jonathan, as just stated, is living west of town on the old homestead. Alanson died March 21, 1856. Hannah was married, in 1844, to Luther Thwing. She is living in Chardon. Mr. Thwing died in September, 1863. Daniel is living in Chardon, upon the first farm west of Jonathan. He has raised a large family. Some of the sons and daughters are married, and, in their pursuit of homes and fortunes, have become widely separated.

Some time in 1816, Simeon Corbin and Julius C. Sheldon opened the first store in Chardon, under the firm name of Corbin & Sheldon. The store was on the east side Of the public square, upon the premises formerly owned by Mr. C. A. Bisbee. Their stock consisted of the commonest articles for necessary every day use, and could not have been very comprehensive, for, in the year following (1817), I find they were taxed on county duplicate only ninety cents. They did not continue to trade in company long, for Mr. Sheldon had a severe -fit of sickness, and, as soon as he had recovered sufficiently, turned his face to the east, and bid good-bye to this wilderness town. Early in 1818, it is said,

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 297

Mr. Corbin built a frame dwelling house upon the same premises, which was the first frame dwelling erected in Chardon. With a new covering, it now forms a pan of Mr. Bisbee's homestead.

To show how little aristocracy of wealth there was in the early days, it may be said that, in 1817, the total tax paid in Chardon, on county duplicate, was thirty-nine dollars, thirty-one cents and nine mills. The largest tax paid by one man was five dollars and ninety-four cents, and the smallest, ten cents. All taxable bead of cattle were ten cents each, and taxable horses thirty cents each. There were six horses listed that year, for taxation, in the township, and ninety-three head of cattle. Many of the latter were work oxen. Farming lands were not then taxed for county purposes, only village lots, and such personal property as has been mentioned. Covered carriages, pianos, and gold watches were rare visitants in this part in those days. The wealth mostly flowed in the veins of those stalwart pioneers; for they generally possessed clear heads, warm hearts, willing feet, and strong arms, that made enduring impressions upon "mother earth," causing. it in time "to bud and blossom as the rose."

In 1816, Benjamin Rider, sr., and Crosby, his eldest son, left Hampshire county, Massachusetts, for the " Far West," Whether some land speculator in "corner lots" misinformed or misdirected them as to the exact location of the goodly country, and " promised land" for adventurous fortune seekers, is not now known; but the year just mentioned found them in Chardon, purchasing land, falling trees, rolling up a log house, clearing off timber, and sowing wheat, the usual pioneer movements in preparing a home. Their first clearing was made on the southwest corner of the Judd farm, just north of the farm where Mr. T. Pitkin now lives. When these three or four acres of wheat were properly sown, its owner, trusting to quickening rain, sun, dew, and to God, who alone could give the promised increase, returned to Massachusetts for his numerous family. Crosby, the oldest son, remained here, and, in June, 1817, Mr. B. Rider, sr., returned to Chardon with all the other members of the family (ten in number), and located where he had taken up land, as previously mentioned. The family was composed of Sarah, his wife, and sons, Benjamin, jr., Rufus, Isaiah, Samuel; and daughters, Polly, Nancy, Hannah, and Lucy.

Benjamin Rider, jr., was first married August 12, 1819, to Chloe Stebbins, widow of Flavel Stebbins. She died in 1826, aged about thirty-two years. He married Chloe Robinson for his second wife. She is now about seventy-four years of age. Mr. Rider is nearly eighty, and in good health. He lives with his sons, one mile and a half north of town, and, a short time since, walked from his home to my office, and furnished me the family history. He remarked that he walked for fear that, if he rode, " he might take cold." Rufus married Diana. Hathaway before coming to Ohio. For the past few years they lived in this village, until they died. Mrs. Rider died November 3o, 1869, aged seventy- two years. Mr. Rider has since died, aged nearly seventy-six years. Isaiah Rider married Sarah Hathaway* and they are living in Painesville. , He is (1871) about seventy-two years old; yet spry and vigorous, and a minister of the Baptist denomination, and preaches occasionally. Samuel married a Miss Cook who died here. He returned to Massachusetts, after a residence of about twelve years. Polly married a Mr. Marshall, who died twenty years ago. She moved to Michigan, and died last August, aged about seventy-eight years. Nancy never married, and died in 1817. Hannah is about sixty-eight years old; lives in Claridon, the widow of Lewis Gorman. Lucy is living at Mr. Grant's, in Hambden; was never married; is aged about sixty-two years, and, for fifteen years or more, has been deranged.

* Mrs. Isaiah Rider is since deceased.

298 - HISTORY OF GRAUGA COUNTY, OHIO

Benjamin Rider, sr., died in March, 1854, in Painesville, aged ninety-one. Mrs. Rider died there, in September, 1860, aged ninety-six. It is said that some of the ancestors of this family lived to extreme old age, and the longevity of most of the descendants makes it very probable. All of us who have been residents of Chardon for twenty-five years or more, will never forget the venerable couple; their pillows were smoothed by kind friends in the last of their journeyings to the tomb, and they remembered that the scriptures had brought to them the light and knowledge of immortality.

Mr. B. Rider, jr., states that he once took a full wagon-load of oats (twenty-eight bushels), to Painesville, and traded them all for one barrel of salt. At one time he took a bushel and a half of wheat on his back to Langdon's mill, in Munson, and returned with the grist in the same manner. At another time he put all the grain on the back of a horse that the animal could carry, and then led it to Punderson's mill, in Newbury, and back, a distance of eleven miles or more. His brother, Crosby, paid Captain Spencer twenty-five cents a pound for dried mutton hams, in the winter of 1816 and '17.

I trust it will not be out of place to refer to statements that are often made, but unsupported by facts and figures; that men and women do not live to as great age now, as in the first years of our country's history, or several generations ago. It will be remembered that, a few weeks since, our aged townsman, N. H. Parks, published a list of the persons in Chardon township, over seventy years of age, and the list numbered about seventy, just in a territory of five miles square. About twenty of them were four score years and over. Now, take the early presidents of our country, who, from their commanding influence and position, might be presumed to understand the laws of life, and could command the best of medical attendance in cases of sickness. Washington died at sixty-eight; John Adams reached ninety-one; Jefferson, eighty-three; Madison, eighty-five; Monroe, seventy-two; J. Q. Adams, eighty-one; Jackson, seventy-eight; Harrison, sixty-nine. Take these cases, with everything that distinction, popularity, power and wealth could command, and the exemption from extra hazards of laborious out-door pursuits, and the comparison will favor our position. Instances might be cited of authors, tradesmen, mechanics, or in the professions so called, and the same result will be obtained. But perhaps this is not a proper place to pursue this matter further.

There are other families of the early settlers in Chardon, of whom mention ought now to be made, but there is, in their cases, difficulty in getting the proper information and reliable dates. It is hoped that the facts wanted can soon be supplied. The Clough, Clark, Twing, and Bushnell families are of the number.

In my last article I spoke of the first ministers of the gospel, and the first religious services in town, and promised to pursue that branch of history farther. Perhaps the remainder of this article can be properly devoted to it; or the work performed by the Methodists, as they led off in church organization, and built the first house of worship. It has been mentioned before that Lorenzo Dow preached here occasionally one season, in the bar-room of Norman Canfield. He was one of the most remarkable men of his age. He was a native of Coventry, Connecticut. He traveled very extensively in England and Ireland, and visited almost every portion of the United States. His eccentric dress and peculiar style of preaching attracted great attention. He was a Methodist in principle, though it is said he was not in connection with that society. He died in Georgetown, District of Columbia, in February, 1834.

It is said that the first Methodist society formed on the Western Reserve was in Vernon, Trumbull county, Ohio, by Rev. Obed Crosby, in 1801. He came from Connecticut, by the way of Pittsburgh, in an open wagon drawn by oxen,

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 299

and, soon after he left Pittsburgh, one of the Oxen died, and he yoked in a cow, compelling her to do extra duty the rest of the journey. In 1815 there were very few traveling Methodist ministers on the Western Reserve, perhaps James MacMahon and Lemuel Lane. In 1818 Ezra Booth came here, formed a class of ten members. The class consisted of Lydia, Ariel, Lucinda, Zadok, Polly and Otis Benton, David and Esther Gray, and Gideon and Ruth Morgan. Ariel Benton, and his wife, Lucinda, Otis Benton and David Gray are the only ones who survive of the ten who, more than fifty-two years ago, gave their names for membership. The missing christian pilgrims who

have "gone before" have no doubt found that "heavenly country" which their survivors so earnestly seek.

Arrangements were made to have Sunday services every two weeks, and in the years 1819 and 182o, Ira Eddy was preacher at this charge. In 1821, Philip Green was here; in 1822, Alfred Bronson and Henry Knapp. John Norris, of Windsor, it ought to be said, was the first Methodist preacher in Chardon, holding service occasionally in the fall of 1816, but that was before any society was formed. Meetings were held in the court house, private houses, and the brick academy, until a house of worship was built. The building was commenced in 1833, but most of the work was done in 1834, by Ezekiel Rider, Joseph P. Cowles, and Samuel McGonigal. Ariel and Zadok Benton, and William Wilber were the committeemen to see to its construction. Peter Chardon Brooks, of Boston, had, years before, promised to donate a bell to be put upon the first church structure erected by any denomination. When reminded of his promise, true to his large-hearted liberality, he wrote that he would be pleased to send one that weighed fifteen hundred pounds, if the building was correspondingly suitable. A moderate-sized one was soon forwarded by him, and hoisted into the belfry in the fall of 1834. It was first tolled to announce the death and age of Mrs. Aaron Canfield, December 20, 1834. The second time it was for Zadok Benton, January 3, 1835—one of the building committee. The many hundred times it and its successors have performed similar mournful duties it is impossible to tell. Its language, on all such occasions, has been one unvarying story—the wail of lonely, aching, throbbing hearts multiplying undying memories; telling that a parent's all-embracing love has been suddenly extinguished; or that the heavenly ordained relation of husband and wife has been sundered; or the sunshine of the household has been eclipsed, because one is gone, whose infantile cheeks can never again be caressingly pressed against those of its parents; or that the "joyous gush of laughter and the tread of tiny feet" have forever ceased; in short, teaching us how fast we are exchanging this earthly "show of things" for the realities that are to last forever.

In 1823, one William Brown, or "Billy Brown," as he was familiarly called, moved to Ohio, and preached in Chardon many times. He was odd in action, and queer in ideas, making many gestures with his tongue. He died suddenly ; in 1850. Elder Ira Eddy was born in Vermont in 1796, and is now about seventy-five years old; lives in Baconsburg, Ohio, and yet preaches with accustomed zeal and earnestness. He was made an elder of his church in 1821. His history is familiar to so many in this vicinity that it would be useless to give farther details of it. His purity of life, erect form, and white, silvery hair, give him almost a sacred or patriarchal appearance.

Early in the spring, before the war of 1812, as it is called, a party of Indians, numbering about seventy, encamped in the south part of Hambden, in Geauga 1county, and stayed there till fall. My information has not been obtained from the "reliable gentleman," nor the "intelligent contraband," who was so well posted during the war of the Rebellion, but from one now living in this village, who was a frequent visitor at their camp, to gratify his boyish curiosity. This

300 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

lodge was ruled by a "Big Indian," as was customary,. but, to be more definite, this dusky dignitary was styled a "chief." His clothing and conduct gave evidence of his distinction and superiority over his fellow "squatters" on untitled lands, who revolved around him as so many satellites at his pleasure. This chieftain had a helpmate, vulgarly called a "squaw," and when the encampment was visited and interviewed by white visitors, she arrayed herself in all the tinseled finery and gaudy decorations found in the Indian wardrobe. Fortunately, she lived and died before the study of fashions was so much of a science or business. She was happily spared the complicated miseries and tangled mysteries of fashionable life, and, instead of having a morning dress, and another for dinner, and another for balls or evening, with all the bias and box-pleated ruffles, and sacques, and basques and ulnas, she had but one way of costuming herself on all state occasions. The fashion plates of our giddy monthlies, and the elaborate publications of Madame Demorest and Harper's Bazar, with all their patterns, that are to the uninitiated about as intelligible as Mark Twain's war map, are comparatively of modern creation. The article of dress that this Mrs. Squaw mostly relied upon to give additional lustre to her charms, was a deer-skin cape, close fitting at the throat, and reaching down about the waist. It was ingeniously worked with beads and porcupine quills, forming strange Indian devices. There were hundreds of little brooches, like round buckles with tongues crossing their diameters, fastened on it. She wore ornamented moccasins, and the rest of her attire was a sort of cross between the Flora Mc- Flimsy style of "nothing to wear" and the "Bloomer costume."

A Dr. Bond resided in Hambden when these Indians were there, and one of them was taken sick, and the doctor gave him medicine and cured him, which made him a noted "medicine man," and after that, every sick Indian was anxious to secure the services of the doctor. It is strange that the absurb notion should be tolerated a moment that the Indians have unfailing remedies for diseases, and when a medical man bases his professional ability upon some secrets obtained from aboriginal practice, he may safely be classed with out-and-out knaves, or ranked as brevet fool.

As the sugar-making season is near at hand, it may not be amiss to mention the manner, or what sort of utensils the Indians had for catching sap. The proper sized trees were selected, and, after being felled, were cut into logs of desired length, and split in the middle, and the bark taken off each section, and thinly shaved at each end, and turned up at each end higher than the depth of the trough, and fastened by fine, fibrous strings of bark. Captain Edward Paine, jr., once made some sap-troughs here in Chardon, after the Indian fashion. It is said that, when the. Indians boiled sap, they put in meat to boil, or anything else they wished. If this be so, "Indian sugar" must not be quite as pleasant and romantic as "Indian Summer."

This encampment in Hambden broke up in the fall and went to Canada, and it is said that the arms-bearing portion joined the British against the Americans, in the war soon following. After the war, very few ventured to return to this section. Perhaps, five or six came within the township limits of Chardon, but they were regarded with no more favor than wolves or mad dogs. Mr. Harrington and Mr. Burlingame are said to have each done duty in preparing hasty ways for Indian exit. No inquests were. ever held to inquire after the manner of death, however sudden. Crows and vultures were the self-constituted officials who alone performed the last acts of coroner and scavenger, too.

There were other pioneer settlers here, cotemporaries of the Indians, or rather tenants in common, that we ought not to pass unmentioned. They were beart, wolves arid deer, and other wild animals. As mentioned before, this ter- ritory 'we now occupy was anciently considered choice hunting ground. When

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this town was first settled, and for several years after, deer were very plenty, and, as late as 1830, would occasionally come from the woods to the cleared fields, but were very shy and cautious. It is needless to say that, at the proper season, they made excellent eating. The settlers made traps for bears and wolves, constructed something like a log house, though only large enough to accommodate one animal at a time. These traps were four-sided, and of suitable sized logs for the required strength, pinned at the ends. One side was detached, or so made that it formed a sliding door, and could be raised high enough, and fastened by a spring pole or baited attachment, so that, when the animal was far enough inside, and disturbed the tempting bait, and the door would descend, and Mr. Wolf or Mr. Bruin was the property of the trapper; being forced to quit all further pretensions to leading itinerant life. Bears were also considered good eating, and cub-meat was quite a palate-tickler and would almost have been "legal tender" for debts private, if not public. For a number of years after Chardon's first settlement, the few who kept sheep, were obliged to yard or stable them at night, so great was the danger from attacks by wolves. Bears were not a whit behind in greedy rapacity, and one informant said, "they did have such a master appetite for pigs." Many a skirmish has occurred in a pigpen, between Mr, Bruin determined to "go the whole hog," and some unlucky porkship, and fortunate it was for the latter, if, by high-toned, uproarious squealing, he could call some one to his rescue before Bruin, who does no tender hugging, had stifled his outcry.

One of the early settlers, now living in town, says that a party composed of three or four went with Captain Paine to the southwest part of town, to look at some land. When ready to return, Captain Paine took another route home, having a gun, and, while the others were coming home, they heard a noise, and, looking, saw four or five black bears coming down a cucumber tree. Their mode of descent attracted their attention. They would seem to slide hastily, or almost drop, for a few feet, and then, seemingly for fear the weight of their bodies and increased velocity might be hazardous claw tightly on to the trees, thus "shutting down the brakes," and then, "letting on more steam," pursue their head-long course. Nearer home, they saw another trio, but none of them showed fight.

My father informs me that, when he was about thirteen or fourteen years old, in 1817 or '18, he had eighteen sheep. He usually guarded them at night, but, one afternoon, the family had company, and the sheep were seen near the barn so late that risk was run, and they were left out. That night, the wolves attacked the flock, and killed three or four outright, and wounded others, so that, in time, nine died—one-half the flock. It was then a serious loss, for sheep were valuable, though their wool was coarse and bodies small. Great pains were taken to raise them, and, for many years, they were not taxed. The wolves did not eat them badly, but snapped and bit their throats for blood, as a sheep-killing dog does. Occasionally, when quite hungry, they would devour most of the meat of a carcass, or tear it open for the tallow. The sheep were killed but a short distance east and south of the cemetery. I have before me the county auditor's printed statement of the receipts and expenditures of Geauga county for the year ending June T, 1835, and one of the items of expense is "Paid wolf scalp" one dollar and seventy-frve cents. So you will see it was a long time before these vexatious pests to sheep-raising were entirely exterminated. It is said, but I cannot tell with what per cent. of truth, that, in early times, or after they were numerous enough to run in the woods for mast and shack, the hogs, when attacked, would form in a circle, heads pointing outwards, with the young pigs inside the circle, and make the best fight possible. This. may have been so, because hogs then were of the alligator breed, "as long as a rail," mad their

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noses were so extended and sharp-pointed that they effectually prevented the attacking foe from getting within harm-doing distance.

Soon after the first settlement of Chardon village, which formed a nucleus or headquarters for further settlements in the township, land was bought or articled, and improvements made in all portions of it. Mention has been previously made of many of the pioneers who settled on King street, and on the north street, leading to Painesville. Those who settled in the southwest, northwest, and central parts of the township are, of course, entitled to as early and honorable mention as others, and the seeming neglect has been solely the result of inability to obtain correct and sufficient information. The desired information might have been looked up before this, had not a daily round of duties, that could not be postponed, forced the further publication of this history into the background.

In 1813 or 1814, Amasa Clough, and Jare, his son, came to Bondstown (now Hambden), and frow there to Chardon, in search of a home in the, then, far west. It seems that, for a night or two, and a day, these travelers were the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel King, who entertained them with all the cordiality consistent with their limited log cabin accommodations. At meal-times, the frugal housewife spread the economical repast upon a chest that had been brought from the east, and then was obliged to do double duty—for table and packing purposes. Mr. and Mrs. King were short of chairs on this occasion, and, as a substitute, they used some pumpkins, arranged alphabetically, or wheeled into line around the chest. Pumpkins then, as now, had eyes and stems, but no legs, and the occupant had need of all circumspection, lest his seat should become vacant. Of the quality of their lodgings we have no information, but no doubt they slept as soundly as if in a palace chamber and on a bed of down. Mrs. King used to speak of this occurrence often afterwards, and how it mortified her for fear her eastern visitors would think she had acted unwisely in leaving home comforts, and accepting the discomforts of pioneer life. The sacrifices involved by such changes were greater than we can now easily imagine. As an appropriate instance, let me here mention an item received too late for insertion in connection with the family history to which it belongs: Zadok King, George King, and Samuel Collins, with their wives, came to Chardon in 1815. Zadok King and his wife, Fanny, had two children with them, aged respectively three years, and one year. They moved into a log house (the three families), just built by Platt Canfield, about two miles west of the village. The house had not been "chinked" between the logs, and had only a floor of loose boards. A light snow was drifting through the cracks, and, as the women sat down upon the loose, hard floor, though they had strong hearts, and willing, loving husbands, it is needless to say that, when they thought of all they once possessed, the tears ran down their faces, and notes of lamentation reached each other's cars.

The two Mr. Cloughs went back to York State, intending to return soon, but sickness prevented the fulfilment of all their expectations. Amasa Clough died in York State, and his wife was so sick that no hopes were entertained of her recovery, and the friends prepared all her burial clothes; but she did recover, and in 1818, perhaps, came to Chardon; and, five or six years after, died, and was clad in the grave clothes made for her years before. Of course, the hasty and

premature preparation of this clothing was not exactly a dead loss, but obliged the one for whom it was intended to lay out of the use of it for a number of years.

In 1818, Jare Clough and Eunice, his wife, came to Chardon from York State. They came to Norman Canfield's hotel and staid over night. The next day, they went as far as Truman Bushnell's, and the day following, to the farm now occupied by Ambrose Clough. Chester Clough, an unmarried man, had come to Chardon, in 1817, and made a clearing on this same farm. The roads then

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were almost entirely untraveled and unmarked; and, to show the family of Jare Clough where the road "forked," to go the clearing of Chester Clough, the latter had dug up a little tree by the roots, chopped off the top, and turned the lower portion, roots up, by the side of a larger tree, for a guide-board. The children of Mr. Clough were: Olive (afterwards Mrs. Elam Sawin), Daniel, Emily, Lovica, Ephriam, Ambrose, and William. Mrs. Sawin is now living in this town, active and intelligent. [Mrs. Sawin has since died). Her husband died several years ago. Daniel died in Chardon, aged about nineteen years. Emily married William Bushnel and died about 1857. Lovica married Lewis Thompson, and died about the time that Emily did. Ephriam now lives in Minnesota. Ambrose lives on the old homestead, is a good farmer, and respected by all. William is dead. Jare Clough died July 8, 1853, aged sixty-nine years. His wife died September 15, 1869, aged eighty-three years. So these two pioneers have gone to their last account, full of years and good deeds.

Chester Clough was married to Maria Sanger, June 10, 1819, by George King, esq. Mrs. Clough died, I am unable to say when, and Mr. Clough married, for his second wife, Amy Gates. They are now living in Bazetta, Trumbull county, Ohio. Mr. Clough has seen much sorrow and sickness in his life, and it is said he is now, in his old age, quite feeble and helpless. [He has since died].

In the summer of 1815 or 1816, Abijah Sawin and his wife, Polly, came from Connecticut to Chardon, and settled on King street, where Mrs. McBride now resides. Their children were: Elam, Horace, and Chester. Mr. Sawin died in August, 1818. His wife afterwards married a Mr. Allen, and died in Wisconsin, five or six years ago. Elam died several years since. Horace moved to Illinois, and is supposed to be living. Chester is said to be living in Wisconsin. Not very much that is reliable or interesting can be obtained of the history of this family, on account of the early death or removal of most of its members.

To me, there are some interesting items of history, pertaining more particularly to the early settlement of the village; and, thinking their narration may be entertaining to all who favor these articles with a perusal, they are herewith given. It may not be known or remembered by all that Samuel W. Phelps was appointed director of the town plat of Chardon, and held the directorship from t8o8 to 1826, a term of eighteen years. I have before me the original contract entered into between Simon Perkins, agent for Peter Chardon Brooks, with Mr. Phelps, and it reads as follows:

"The subscriber, Simon Perkins, of Warren, in the county of Trumbull, and State of Ohio, attorney to Peter Chardon Brooks, of Boston, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby agree to sell to Samuel W. Phelps, esq., director appointed for the purpose by the court of common pleas of Geauga county, two hundred acres of land, to be located on or about the place selected by the commissioners appointed to fix a place for the permanent seat of justice for said Geauga county, and so that the plan of trees marked by said commissioners shall be central in said tract, which is to be square, and to be sold at the price of two dollars per acre, payable one-half in one year, and the other half in two years, with interest, to be paid annually, and the deed to be executed to Samuel W. Phelps, as director, on the receipt of the money or good security for it. In witness whereof, I have, for said Peter C. Brooks, hereunto set my hand

this twenty-third day of November, 1809.

 "[Signed] SIMON PERKINS."

"The subscriber, above named, do agree to buy the land described above, as above stated.

"[Signed] Samuel W. Phelps.”

I also have the first volume of the records of the Geauga county, commissioners, and in it the following:

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"At a meeting of the board of commissioners of Geauga county, September 2, 1811. Ordered by the board that the sum of sixty-one dollars and eighty- seven cents be appropriated for the purpose of chopping down all the standing timber, and chopping off the same into sixteen feet lengths, and also all the lying timber, and piling all the brush and other small stuff, in a workmanlike manner, on all the ground contained in the public square of the town plat of Chardon, in the county aforesaid, except ten trees on each acre, which are to be left lying, suitable for 'roll bodies,' and also all ash and butternut timber that is suitable for rails to be left standing; and that Jedediah Beard be agent for this board, to contract with some person or persons to perform the same, and take report of his proceedings thereon to this board on the first day of next November court, where an order will be drawn on the treasurer of said court for the above sum.

"Attest: JEDEDIAH BEARD, Clerk."

"At which November meeting, further time was allowed by the board, until the June meeting, 1812, for the said agent to make his report, at which time he made his report as follows:

"'Agreeable to the within order, I hereby certify that I have contracted with Seth Hays and Burrit Durand, to perform the labor required by the within order, and that they have performed the same to my acceptance.'

"Which report, being heard, is accepted by the board, and the full amount of said order paid.

"June 18, 1812. JEDEDIAH BEARD, Clerk."

In my first article of this history, I said that most of the clearing off of the public square was done by Gomer Bradley and Curtis Wilmot. Probably Mr. Bradley took no part in the labor. Mr. Wilmot was killed by the falling tree, as stated, and Mr. Hayes did the lifting. As soon as possible, the land purchased by Samuel W. Phelps was divided or platted into lots, and sold or contracted to whoever desired to purchase. I have Mr. Phelps' statement of account rendered to the county, of the amounts received on contracts for sale of lots. August 110, 1817, he received of Lyman Benton, of Burton, on contract for lot No. 52, five dollars. October 9th, same year, he received on same contract, eight dollars. July 22, 1812, he received of Thomas Jordan, five dollars, on account for lot No. 83. August 31, 1813, he received sixty dollars; sixty- three and one-half cents, of Norman Canfield, for price of lots 39, 40 and 41, and the interest on purchase price, these lots having been previously contracted. July 16, 1814, he received of Samuel King, thirty dollars, on contract for. lots 87, 88, 95 and 96. Mr. Phelps charged only the moderate sum of thirty dollars per annum for his services, and paid every expense of executing contracts and deeds, etc. Lots Nos. 26, 31, 37, 40, 49 and 52, were sold for twenty dollars each, except No. 40, which sold for twenty-one dollars. After the seventeenth of September, 1816, Mr. Phelps charged seventy-five dollars for each lot. In the sale of one of these county lots, the director deducted two dollars and fifty cents on account of a mistake in the survey, and the lot fell short twenty shillings' worth from the proper measurement. In April, 1823, the price per lot was seventy-five dollars, and there were then twenty-four lots not sold or contracted.

In the third article of this series it was stated that the first jail ever built in Chardon was a log one, attached to the west end of Norman Canfield's tavern. To show how much it cost, I give the following from the county records:

"At a meeting of the board of commissioners of the county of Geauga, September 7, 1813, Resolved by this board that the sum of twenty-three dollars and fifty cents be appropriated to pay the expense of building a temporary jail on Norman Canfield's land, in Chardon."

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Who the fortunate "contractor" was, how much clear profit was made, and what he did with his gains, and how much was paid the architect for plans and drawings, are matters that, unfortunately, no one remembers.

The first murder committed in Geauga county, or the first trial for murder, was in the court of common pleas of Chardon, begun on the eighteenth day of March, 1823. Hon. George Tod was president judge, and Vene Stone, John W. Scott and Solomon Kingsbury were associate judges. James R. Ford was sheriff, and Edward Paine, jr., clerk. The grand jurors, who found the indictment, were Abraham Tappan, foreman; Samuel Collins, Caleb Sweet, Silas Newcomb, Merrick Pease, Shelburn Bostwick, Asa Wilmot, John Hubbard, John Bachelder, Cyrus Cunningham, James Ware, Jesse Ladd, Eleazer Patchin, Asa Cowles and Jonathan Brooks. On the first day of February, 1823, Benjamin Wright, jr., a blacksmith, who lived in Leroy (now Lake county), stabbed one Zopher Warner with a knife, upon the right side of his body, about two and a half inches below the pit of the stomach. The wound proved to be a mortal one, and, on the ninth day of February, following, at five o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Warner died. The thirty-six jurors summoned to try the case, or the full panel from which the required twelve were to be selected, were Eli Bond, Hezekiah King, William Kerr, Haven Rockwell, John Ford, Erastus Goodwin, Daniel Kellogg, Stephen Pomeroy, Paul Clapp, Peter B. Beals, Asahel Barnes, Nathaniel Spencer, Chester Treat, Timothy Wells, Jare Clough, John King, Ariel Benton, Zadok Benton, David Hill, John Hanks, Benjamin Hanks, Thos. Murphey, Obed Hale, Julian C. Huntington, Alvord Beals, Orrin Spencer, B. P. Cahoon, William Holbrook, Robert Blair, Ralph Cowles, A. A. Skinner, R. W. Skinner, Henry Bishop, Ambrose Drake, David Hull, and Hercules Carroll. The twelve who sat as jurors in the case were the two Skinners, two Hanks, Drake, Hull, Bond, King, Goodwin, N. Spencer, Cowles, and Rockwell. Alfred Phelps and Elisha Whittlesey appeared on the part of the State. Noah D. Mattoon and James H. Paine, at the request of the prisoner, were assigned by the court as council for his defense. Alfred Phelps, esq., was prosecuting attorney of this county, then residing at Chardon, and ever after until his death. The case occupied three or four days, was then given to the jury and a verdict of guilty then rendered. The sentence pronounced by the court was "that the said Benjamin Wright, jr., be taken to the common jail of the county, and that he be there confined until the third Thursday of May, following, and that he be taken from thence to some convenient place within the town of Chardon, between the hours of ten o'clock, A. at., and twelve o'clock, at noon, of said day, and that, within the hours aforesaid, he be hung by the neck until he be dead," etc.

Of course, the few remaining weeks and days of the doomed man's prison confinement rapidly wheeled away into the past, until the day of expiation came. The officers of the law had erected a hideous looking frame-work called a gallows, and planted it just south of the village, near the present residence of P. McDonald, on the land of S. N. Hoyt. Anticipating also a full turn-out to this "hanging-bee," they had employed extra police and military assistance. There were rifle and horse companies from Painesville, Burton and Kirtland, with drum and fife accompaniments, and a great many civilians volunteered to do special duty for the day. The sun rose higher in the eastern sky; the appointed hour came, and the prisoner was taken from the jail to the south part of the public square, where a stand had been built to hold the religious services upon. His mother and brother were with him at these exercises, but she did not witness the execution. His funeral or rather ante-mortem sermon was preached before his death, at his request. He had heard a great deal that was wicked and damaging said of himself, and was quite solicitous, to know if anything good could be spoken by his spiritual adviser, who was expected to spin a fine-

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woven web to cover up the sternness and severity of truth of the later life of him who was so soon to "shuffle off this moral coil," or, rather, for whom the hempen coil was so soon to do the shuffling off. Listening to one's own funeral sermon is a felicity rarely vouchsafed to earthly mortals, and should be all the more appreciated as it can happen but once in a life-time. His' sermon was preached by a Mr. Hughes, a Presbyterian clergyman from Pennsylvania. Elder Ira Eddy having then recently entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, offered fervent prayer in his behalf. These services ended, and his mother shook his hand, and kissed him good-bye. This is almost too serious a matter to admit of jesting, but to show that, in the case, the commonly deep-seated fountains and full-flowing streams of a mother's love and solicitude were suffering something of a drouth, it may be stated that she urged him to "keep a hard upper lip, and hang as stiff as steelyards. It must have been a sweet sollace to her in after days, to remember that the latter part of her programme was a decided success. Olden history tells us that Achilles was a Grecian hero. Homer's Illiad makes famous mention of him. In the Trojan war, he was brim full of bravery. While an infant, his mother dipped him in the river Styx, which rendered him incapable of being hurt in every part of his body, except the one heel, by which she held him. At the siege of Troy, he received a wound (of course in that heel), which caused his death. The mother of our criminal, if she ever dipped her youthful Benjamin in any fabled waters, must have held him by the neck, for, on the eventful third Thursday of May, aforesaid, he received a hurt in the neck that never was repaired.

But, to return from this digression, the criminal was pinioned and taken to the gallows, closely attended by the body-guard and faithful men of God. The crowd of spectators was variously estimated from four to eight thousand, some of them coming fifty miles away. Old men were there, used to seeing death in all its forms, save this more ghastly phase, and hundreds of women gazed upon the sickening sight with horrid fascination. It is useless to enter into minute detail. It is enough to say that the fatal noose was adjusted, the rope was cut, and, in a few minutes, the teeth-clenched jaws and the unbeating heart told that death was there. His body was delivered to his friends, and taken to Leroy for burial. The gallows was taken down, and the posts were afterwards used for dwelling house purposes in the porch of the house where J. O. Worallo now resides on South street.

I have felt justified in entering thus fully into details of this trial and execution, as it is the only instance in which capital punishment has been inflicted in Geauga county, for the crime of murder.

Other trials afterwards occurred, where the prisoners at the bar were charged with crimes incurring the death penalty, and a brief narration of some of their most noteworthy features will now be given. At a term of the court of common pleas begun and held at Chardon, on the nineteenth day of September, 1831, before the Hon. Reuben Wood, president, and Asa Cowles, John Hubbard, and Daniel Kerr, associate judges, the grand jury returned a "bill of indictment" against one Decius Barnes, of Chardon, for the murder of Sally Russell, of Kirtland. When arraigned at the bar of this court, and having beard the indictment, he elected to be tried in the supreme court of Ohio. On the tenth day of. August, 1832, the supreme court commenced its session, with the Hon. Joshua Collett and the Hon. Ebenezer Lane upon the bench. D, D. Aiken was the clerk, William Kerr, sheriff, and S. Mathews, prosecuting attorney. The killing of Sally Russell was accomplished in a piece of woods in the eastern part of Kirtland, on the twenty-second day of June, 1831. She was an intelligent girl of not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age, and had been sent on an errand to a distant neighbor's, and much of the distance was through

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the forest. After doing her errand, she started on her return with a happy. ,heart, and a nature asp full of innocence as the birds upon the trees, that were istimming and singing their tunes of perpetual gladness. But she was waylaid by some human devil, whose passions were inflamed by the fires of hell, and, with the ferocity of a wild beast, she was choked, strangled, bruised, her person shamefully and namelessly violated. But her shudderings and struggles were in vain, and her outcries reached the ears of no gone save the Father of all mercies, When night came, and she did not return, her family began to be apprehensive, and made search for her. It was supposed that she had been where she had set out for, and had started to return. She was not found until the

next morning, and then her dead body was found laid beside a log, partially cover by leaves and brush. The ground around showed that she had resisted the ruffianly attacks until death closed the unequal combat. When the news of this foul and unnatural murder was spread in that neighborhood, it is needless to say that all the people were excited, and in a state of wrathful ferment. Suspicion at once rested upon Decius Barnes, of Chardon, who was a peddler of tin-ware, and then in the employ of David T. Bruce, esq., of Chardon, for where the girl was killed, and his he drove that day through the woods horse was left standing in the road, and its driver nowhere to be seen. He was arrested confined in jail more than a year, and then tried and acquitted at the time and term of court before mentioned. The evidence was all circumstantial, and, as is often the case, whisperings even were full of dire and dreadful meaning, and "trifles light as air" were looked upon with as much import as if floating in blood. The jury called to try the case was composed of the following named men: Reuben Gilmore, George Higley, Harlow Bailey, Charles Burr, Amos Cunningham, S. D. Williams, Russell McCarty, T. W. Burt, Nathan Hanchett, Orrin Spencer, Neri Wright, and Sherman Dayton

Mr. Mathews, the prosecuting attorney, was assisted by Hon. S. J . Andrews, of Cleveland. Alfred Phelps, esq., was employed in his defense, and Joshua R. Giddings was his associate counsel. Mr. Phelps, Mr. Bruce, and a few others, always firmly believed Barnes to be innocent of and inoffensive disposition; but the general and almost universal opinion was that he was guilty of the crimes of which he stood charged indictment. If suspicion ever rested upon any one else, they were not confirmed by proof. It is said that Barnes, in his last sickness, urged his attending physician to write to Judge Phelps that he was innocent of the charge, and that it was a death-bed statement. Whoever the quilty person was he had a fearful secret to keep inprisoned,

and the agonies of guilt, “sharper than a serpent's tooth," continually gnawing in memory, heart and brain, unrelieved by tears and confessions, must this have turned the well-springs of a natural life to dust and ashes; and visions of this innocent, murdered girl, in his sleeping and waking hours, must have been ghastly conspicuous.

At the September term, 1845, of the court of common pleas of Geauga county, Luther Britton indicted for the murder of Truman Allen. On the a 21st day of August 1845, Britton stabbed Allen with a knife in the left breast, and he instantly died. He was tried for this offense at the spring term in 1846, which commenced March 31st. A great number of militia men had been mustered at Burton, for the purpose of public parade and discipline, and in the night time, Britton, while intoxicated, became troublesome and insulting to those doing military duty, and, in attempting to arrest him, the purposely done. H.H. Tucker, Edmund Moore, Ely Odell, J. E. Stephenson, Anson Mathews, Jeremiah Evans, Hamilton Utley, Jonathan Burnett, Joseph Patch, Jacob Burroughs, Russell Williams, and Zebina Strong, were the jurors.

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A. G. Riddle was the prosecuting attorney, and was assisted by Hon. Reuben Hitchcock. Britton had brothers who were men of property, and they employed Hon. S. J. Andrews, Hon. D. K. Carter, and William L Perkins for his defense. Hon. B. Bissell was president judge. The trial was very ably conducted in all respects, and very many will now remember the plotting and counterplotting, the far-reaching legal acumen displayed by those subtle practitioners. He was found guilty of murder in the second degree, and was sentenced to the penitentiary during his natural life. It seems. penitentiary life was not agreeable, or at least not natural, as contemplated in his sentence, for, in a year or two, the governor pardoned him.

At the October term of court, 1857, Hiram Cole was indicted for poisoning his wife. He was tried at the February term, 1858. Hon. Horace Wilder was then upon the bench. Judge M. C. Canfield was prosecuting attorney, and Hon. A. G. Riddle assisted in the prosecution. A. H. Thrasher, esq., and Hon. R. P. Ranney were assigned by the court as counsel for the defense. The trial occupied several days, and the jury failed to agree. A change of venue was granted, and, in June or July following, he was again tried in Ashtabula county, and there acquitted. It is unnecessary to enter into lengthy details of this case, because it occurred so recently, and is so fresh in the remembrance of most of my readers. Mr. Thrasher worked with untiring patience to clear this man, and his incessant efforts in his behalf, (for he sincerely thought him innocent), no doubt induced the disease of which he afterwards died. The ruling popular verdict was that he was guilty, and ought to be hung, but jurors are bound to remember that maxim of law and justice, "that every man under accusation of crime should be held innocent until he is proved to be guilty."

It has been stated before that settlements were commenced at an early date, in the northwest and other parts of Chardon township. One of these hardy pioneers who has rendered aid to the improvement of Chardon township in many ways, such as by industry, economy, good counsel, rearing a large family, and by half a century's residence, is Salmon Carver. lie, with his first wife, to whom he was married April 1, 1814, came from Boulton, Tolland county, Connecticut, in the fall of 1817. On their way to Ohio they stopped in central New York till the tenth of January, i818, and again started, arriving in Chardon February 2d. They brought one child with them, and made a halt of about a week at the Caravansary, a hold-all tavern of Norman Canfield. They then moved into a log house standing upon the west side of the Public square, owned by James Bronson. While living there their second child was born (William H. Carver, who lives in East Claridon). In this house Mrs. Carver died, aged twenty-three years. After this calamity Mr. Carver and his two children lived with Edward Kibbee, in Hambden, until October, 1821, when he was married to Laura Clough, and moved into the "Beebe settlement," beyond the center of Chardon, where he had previously built a house of logs, cleared two acres of land, and sowed it to wheat. He resided there a little more than two years, and then moved on to the farm where he now resides, and where his second wife died,. July 19, 1869, aged sixty-nine years. Mr. Carver, in his letter to me, narrating items of his early life in Chardon, says: "When I first came to the farm where I now live, there were no roads excepting the central one, then called the Beebe road, and no inhabitants in the northern and western parts of the town.

‘I was monarch of all I surveyed,

My right there was none to dispute:’

In the village, a man by the name of Morgan, a shoemaker, lived a little west of the Randall block. James Bronson was in town, staying at Norman Canfield's, his family not having then arrived. Mr. Sweatland, quite an aged man, Hied on the south side of the square, a little east of Captain Paine's. I think

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Mrs. Corbin was a granddaughter of Mr. Sweatland. Mr. Beebe's family, at that time, lived in a house near the Widow King's, but soon moved on to their land. Mr. Hanks moved into the house vacated , by the Beebes. I think he was a Baptist preacher, and the first one located in Chardon. Levi Edson was e, teaching singing in his house."

Mr. Carver has raised a large family, most of them located in this township, and near his residence. He is (1871) eighty years old. [Mr. Carver has since died.]

From the best information now at hand, the family of Horace Hosford, consisting of himself, his wife Parmelia, and a young child, came to Chardon from Rutland, Vermont, in 1818. A Mr. Loveland came with them. They had two yoke of oxen, and also brought a cow. They were fifty-five days in their journeyings. They were all one day in coming from what was called "Perkins' Camp on the Painesville road, to the Hendryx settlement. Mr. Hosford has lived in that part of town, where he now is, most of the time since he came to Ohio. Some of his children are living near him. His first wife died about seventeen years ago. He married, for his second wife, an Irish woman. Mr. Hosford is a very large man, and his wife is very small, so that, when seen together, as they used to walk to town, about three and one-half miles, they presented an odd contrast; but what she lacks in size seems to be supplied in hardy endurance and lrvely, sprightly activity. Mr. Hosford used to make a great many old-fashioned "bull-plows," going about the county for that purpose; but those old-time avocations of hand-craft are mostly driven out of date by invented arrangements of machinery, whose din is now heard in almost every town and city in this land. Mr. Hosford is (1871) nearly eighty-seven years of age, and, from year's end to year's end, finds something to busy his hands. [Mr. Hosford has since died.]

Mr. Hosford related to me some incidents of early life in town that will do to repeat. One day, late in the fall, while in the woods in company with another man, they espied at a short distance a bear. Not having their guns, they kept at respectful distance, and watched him till he entered a large hollow tree. Mr. Hosford soon told Captain Paine what he had seen, and his instructions were to wait for a proper day, and they would have a fine hunt. He was fearful that the bear might change his location, but the captain, whose word was the "end of the law' in such matters, told him to trust his judgment. When the suitable day came, notice was given, and the tree was surrounded by quite a number of men with guns and dogs, and, after plenty of yellings and poundings, and other needful appliances to "call him out," Mr. Bruin made his exit from the tree, amidst the shouts of the men and the barking of the dogs. Several shots were fired at him, and at length, finding such treatment un-bear-able, he surrendered to his pursuers.

One day Mr. Hosford went up to Mr, Benton's, one mile north of this village, to make a "bull-plow" for Mr. Benton. He was paid for his labor in meat of some kind, and, at night, he put the meat in a bag, shouldered it, and started for home. At a certain point in his journey, he had to cross a gully, and, as he was climbing the bank, he heard some noise, and, looking up, saw a large wolf, the wild beauty of whose glaring eyes seemed to say, "My right there is none to dispute." He was fearful that the smell of the meat might cause the wolf to call his comrades, and then there might be a mass meeting, over which be might not preside with credit to himself. However, he took up a large, dry piece of limb that was near, and, by striking it loudly over a log, caused the wolf to disappear.

Once he had occasion to go to mill, the mill mentioned in a previous chapter, that was in the south part of Hambden. He put what grain he thought he

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could carry in a bag, and, taking it on his back, started on his five or six miles' trip. He did quite well in going, but, in returning with his grist, night overtook him, and he lost his "bearings." He remembered that it had been said, when one was lost, if he came across cattle, that, by driving them, letting them take their own course, they would lead to a settlement. He found some cattle in the night, and tried this receipt, but it was of no use. When the morning came, to his great surprise, he found himself within a mile of his own house.

One year, soon after Mr. Hosford came to Chardon, his hogs that got their living principally in the woods, upon mast and shack, had strayed so far away that he knew nothing of their whereabouts, till some one hunting came across them, told him of them, and that there was a litter of small pigs with them. He thought best to go that afternoon, and see if they could get them home. His wife went with him, leaving her young babe in the cradle, in the care of an older child. They took a basket and a blanket, thinking to catch the pigs, and she carry them home, and he drive the others. They wandered on, and on, hoping the next minute to find them, not at all observing how late it was getting. Soon it began to grow dark, and they had to return without the object of their search. In the night they heard the welcome sound of horns, and, in impatient haste, started in the direction of the sound. In going home, they had to cross the flat or marsh upon the Hosford road, (much worse then than now, of course), and Mr. Hosford took his wife most of the way upon his back, but it was no great trial of bone and bottom, for the burden was, under the circumstances, light; for such occasions nerve the arms, brain and all to any strain. It is needless to say that, in due time, home was found.

Full enough of such incidents in pioneer life has been cited to show its trials and perplexities, and thankful should the present generation be that time has wrought such happy changes.

The common, natural thought would be that the very few first settlers of our town would have manifested greater anxiety about the number of its future inhabitants, and less as to their eminent qualities or lack of character. But this seems not to have been so, for we can find that no special inducements were ever offered to emigrants, and the records of Chardon township show that as early as 1816 two overseers of the poor were chosen, whose duties seem to have been looking to the wealth of new-comers, and to the probabilities of their becoming successful, independent residents, rather than giving aid to actual, permanent dwellers, though perplexed by poverty or distressed by sickness. The township records are full of cases where single men and women and men with families were served with warrants commanding them "forthwith to depart the township." This warrant was given a constable, and required to be served personally or by copy. It was not then considered so much of a disgrace to be "warned out of town" as such a proceeding would now incur, for it was generally acquiesced in by all as a wise official precaution, or a means of township self-defense, lest drones and vagabonds should become fastened upon a settlement, and soon become township or county paupers. There are numerous. instances of men served by the constable in the manner before mentioned, who. rapidly acquired property and position, and in time held the highest official trusts. in the gift of the township. I have before me the township record of 1823, where it mentions the issuing, service and return of such a warrant or warning upon a man and his family, and the very next year he was chosen township clerk, and until his death was a prominent man in Geauga county. Perhaps it may be well to here insert a transcript of a record in such a case, made about , half a century ago. Omitting some half dozen of the usual legal afore saids and whereases that always mystify and mislead, and never simplify and explain, it says: "Whereas, information has been given to us, overseers of the poor of the

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township of Chardon, that Gregory Jackson and John Cain, who have come to reside within the township of Chardon, and are likely to become chargeable to said township; we, therefore, command you forthwith to warn the said Jackson and Cain to depart the township aforesaid, and of this warrant make legal service and due return," etc. Signed by Aaron Canfield and Lucius Smith, overseers of the poor.

It was served by the constable, and duly returned. Whether the township authorities we fearful the latter named person in the warrant would "raise Cain" in Chan, the papers don't show. Perhaps he was unlike his illustrious namesake Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve, and refused to be a "tiller of the ground." Though differing in authority, degree and tribunal, how coincident to a person of thought are the sentences passed upon the Cain of Scripture and the Cain of Chardon. The Lord told the former, as he was about to go out of His presence, "a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth," and the language of the human edict was, "to depart from the township forthwith." From the authority of Heaven's Great Monarch there can be no appeal. Whether the punishment of John Cain was greater than he could bear, we cannot tell; but no further mention is made of him in Chardon's later history.

The office of "overseer of the poor" was maintained till about 1840, perhaps later, when township trustees assumed their duties. From the early organization of the township to about the date just mentioned, there was also an office of "fence viewer," and two men were annually chosen to this office, whose duties were to decide questions about fences, such as where cattle or other stock committed trespasses, whether the fence enclosing them was of sufficient height or strength to comply with the law, and all such matters of dispute. These duties were also assigned to township trustees. There was also the office of "lister" and "appraiser," but all those duties were long ago dispensed with, and the offices, too, being superceded by that of assessor.

When looking at the record of fifty years ago, and seeing how general, if not universal, was the inhuman system or custom of ear-marking stock, one is led to conclude that many sermons must have been preached from the text, "A merciful man will be merciful to his beast." Most every keeper of sheep had a recorded mark. It could also be legally used for cattle, but was not commonly, because they were fewer in number, not similar in size and color, and more easily identified, and, upon them, such marks would be deemed as deformities, or, rather, unsightly mutilations. The following are some of the recorded marks: "Half crop on the under side of the left ear," "half crop on tie on under side of the right ear," "slit in the left ear from tip to base," "swallow both (probably the owner and proprietor of this ear mark, when dressed up, wore a "swallow-tailed" coat, and had "swallow holes" in the gable ends of his barn), "crop from the left ear, and a slit in the end of the right ear, "the two round left ear doubled, and a hole punched through," "hole through both “ears" holes through each ear." All the variations that human ingenuity could devise, short of entire destruction of both ears, were resorted to. Perhaps we ought not to become too highly indignant over the matter, for, had we lived then, we should haVe done no better than the best of men did; but, thanks to the progress of humanity and civilization, this vein of brutal treatment has, in a great degree, been softened and melted away; and, furthermore, we hope the day is near at hand when the cropping of dogs' ears, cutting off their tails, and docking horses' tails, will be an offense against the statute laws of Ohio.

Mr. Canfield's history, though mentioning most of the pioneer families of Chardon, was never completed. Some names are therefore omitted which would otherwise have appeared. Among others are those of Dr. Evert Denton, a learned and skillful physician, famous throughout this section of country, who

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wore himself out in his practice, and died in 1830, when but forty years of age; and Thomas Metcalf, who, having survived nearly all of his early associates, still resides in Chardon, and is in his eighty-first year. Mr. Metcalf, who is the fifth of a family of twelve children of Thomas and Sybil (Chapin) Metcalf, was born in Enfield, Hartford county, Connecticut, January 10, 1798. He came to Ohio and located in Chardon in 1817, arriving June 24th. Six others accompanied him, none of whom are now living, viz: Samuel Smith and his wife, Sybil (Mr. Metcalf's sister, the eldest of the family), their two children, Horton and Maria; Sidney Metcalf (another sister, then but thirteen years old, who, in 1824, became the wife of Dr. Denton, and two years after his death married Jude Converse), and one Benjamin Hibbard. On the journey to Ohio, which occupied six weeks, he drove a yoke of oxen and lead horse, then called a "spike team," for his board. After his arrival in Chardon he worked for about a year and a half for his brother-in-law, Mr. Smith, subsequently known for many years as the landlord of the popular old Stone tavern, in the village, who first located and opened a tavern in the north part of the town. He then took up one hundred acres of land at the center of Chardon, now owned and occupied by Mr. Samuel Churchill, where his parents afterwards settled, and where his father died and now lies buried. He there erected a log shanty, and kept "bachelor's hall" for about a year. His parents followed him to Ohio in 1819. In 1824 he removed to the village, and built a house, the frame of which is standing as a part of the old homestead on North Hambden street, still occupied by himself and family. He also built an ashery on the same premises, and near the site afterwards occupied by the cooper shop burned in 1876. This ashery he occupied for some twenty years. His father died March 17, 1828, aged sixty-two; his mother, March 6, 1859, at the great age of ninety years. Mr. Metcalf was united in marriage on November 15, 1827, to Paulin, daughter of Jedediah and Charlotte Beard, of Burton. Twelve children were born of this union, eight of whom are still living, and exemplify in their lives the virtues of their parents. The Metcalfs, wherever found, seem to have had a common origin, and to possess the same sterling characteristics—honesty, intelligence, frugality, and independence. In 1873, at the age of sixty-five, Mrs. Metcalf was stricken with paralysis, from which she has never recovered, though otherwise enjoying, with her husband, a good degree of health.

THE GREAT FIRE.

The most important event in the later history of Chardon, when the effects are considered, was the great fire of 1868, which destroyed the entire business portion of the village, including the court house. On Saturday morning, July 25th, between two and three o'clock (as the account was given in the Geauga Democrat extra of the twenty-seventh), a small fire was discovered in the rear, and on the outside of J. 0. Teed's saddle and harness shop, where it adjoined Parlin & Parkin's store; and immediately after two others near by, the circumstances showing conclusively that they were all the work of an incendiary. The one first discovered spread so rapidly that, before many of the citizens were aroused from their slumbers, all efforts to extinguish it were abandoned. It soon swelled into an immense conflagration, spreading terror and destruction on either side. On, on, in their appalling course, swept the flames, gathering volume every moment, until they enveloped the whole line of business blocks, from the court house to the Democrat office and postoffice. One building after another (says the account), with the certainty of fate, went down before the devouring element, until only a few blackened walls remained standing.

The wind, which was from the northeast, was light, or the flames must have spread still further. When they had reached the Democrat office and postoffice,

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on the corner opposite the Chardon house, there was a crisis in the fate of the town. Were they to sweep over? Fortunately, the wind veered a little further to the west, and, thanks to a merciful Providence, the crisis was passed ! The hotel, and the dwelling houses and barns in the vicinity, on the west and south, were saved only by the utmost vigilance and the strongest exertions. Several barns took fire from the cinders with which the air was filled, and, had a single effort been spared, it is impossible to tell where the work of destruction would have ended.

All was done that could be done to save the court house, and it was only when the roof and cupola were on fire that it was given up for lost. A number of men remained at work on the roof until they could do so no longer, except at the peril of their lives. The attempt was made to blow up two or three buildings with powder, in the hope of preventing the flames from reaching the court house. The safe, with its contents, the books, records, etc., were saved.

The citizens, generally, displayed the utmost presence of mind, and worked to the best advantage, and the women as faithfully and efficiently as the men. Under the circumstances, it is truly wonderful that so much property was saved, and no lives lost. Not only were the most valuable contents of the court house and postoffice saved, but also those of the stores and offices generally. " We cannot," says the writer, "express our gratitude to our good people for the almost superhuman efforts by which they removed from the office our power press, and other heavy articles essential to our business, while the flames were surging around them."

The next issue of the Democrat (August 5th) gave, in addition to the contents of the extra, some of the thrilling incidents of the fire, of which there were "enough to have filled a volume." The first alarm was thus described: A more fearful cry than came from the few who were first at the fire, cannot be imagined. It broke in upon the silence of the night like a loud and prolonged wail of despair, and all who heard it seemed to feel instinctively that the great disaster, so long dreaded, had come. It needed but that cry to banish sleep from all eyes, and, in a few moments, the whole town was alive with excitement."

The following losses were reported: J. 0. Converse, Democrat office and post-office ; Rush & Harrison, hardware store and tinshop ; A. Weaver, boot and shoe store; E. A. Hayes, billiard-room and saloon ; Canfield & Canfield, law. office; L. J. Randall, dry goods store ; J. U. Adams, boot and shoe store; Mrs. M. A. Marsh, millinery rooms ; Eggleston & Bro., photograph gallery; Henry Chapman, photographer; Tucker & Clark, grocery store; Parlin and Parkin, grocery and crockery store; Bestor & Tibbals, photograph gallery; B. W. & H. F. Canfield, insurance agents; Miss Caroline Parmele, dressmaker; J. 0. Teed, saddle and harness shop; Alpheus Cook, drugstore; Nichols & Parsons, drugstore; W. S. Wight, jeweler; Samuel Squire, dry goods and grocery store; B. W. Canfield, clothing store; John Strohl, tailor; I. N. Hathaway, law-office; E. D. Richardson, dental rooms; Murray & Canfield, bankers; Robert Murray, dry goods store; J. F. Bruce, hardware and tin store; B. N. Shaw, shoe shop; C. H. Marsh, tin shop; Shaw & Shaw, dry goods store; D. C. Kellogg, store building; Kelley Brothers, hardware, dry goods and groceries; Mrs. F. A. Eaton, millinery rooms; Joseph Ehrlich, dry and fancy goods; R. P. Munsell, 0boot and shoe store; Durfee & Stephenson, law-office; Masonic Lodge; L . 0. . Lodge; A. J. Walton, sheriff, furniture; James Brewer, bakery; Geauga county court-house.

THE REBUILDING OF CHARDON.

On the Monday following the fire (July 27th), a meeting of citizens was held at the town hall for the purpose of consultation, and the adoption of such meas-

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ures as the occasion might demand. No public notice had been given of the meeting, yet. it was well attended and very harmonious.

After appropriate remarks by several gentlemen, and the appointment of some necessary committees, the meeting adjourned until evening. The following report of this action was published in the Cleveland and Painesville papers, and also in the next issue of the Democrat:

"CHARDON, July 27, 1868.

"A meeting of the business men and citizens, generally, of this place was. held this day at the town hall, and called to order by the mayor, E. V. Canfield, who briefly stated the object of the meeting to be to devise ways and means to rid and relieve ourselves, as nearly as possible, of the damaging effects of the late disastrous fire. On motion, Samuel McGonigal was chosen president, and E. V. Canfield, secretary.

"After quite a long discussion, a committee on resolutions was appointed, and, through J. 0. Converse, chairman, reported the following, which were unanimously adopted, and truly express the sense and spirit of our people:

"The committee appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting, in view of the awful calamity with which our town has been visited, beg leave to report the following f

"Resolved, That, while we are conscious of the magnitude of the loss, both public and private, we are yet profoundly grateful to the Father of Mercies that all our lives are spared, and no more property destroyed; and that we are neither ruined nor disheartened, but hopeful, confident, and firmly determined to so act that this evil may result in ultimate and permanent good to us as a community.

"Resolved, That immediate steps be taken to ensure the erection, as soon as practicable, along the whole line of the burnt district, of fire-proof buildings, thus repairing the loss, and rendering the occurrence of a like calamity in future impossible.

"Resolved, That, in this emergency, feeling bound together by a common interest, we will work unitedly, and make every personal sacrifice that a renewal of our general prosperity may require."

The meeting adjourned from day to day, and considered various propositions, until the project of organizing a building association was perfected.

At the first meeting steps were taken to secure the consent of the town council to the erection of temporary places of business on the south side of the park. This was, of course, cheerfully given, and the next morning, (Tuesday, the 28th,) was commenced the erection of the "Bee-hive," a rude but commodious building, Is̊ feet long by 5o feet deep, and divided into seven apartments or stores. It was completed in a few days, and, with the various other buildings moved into line with it, constituted, for several months thereafter, the business center of the town,

Two weeks later, (Monday evening, August loth) a meeting of the Chardon building company was held, at which the company was permanently organized by the election of the following officers: President, J. F. Bruce; Directors, B. B. Woodbury, D. W. Canfield, D. C. Kellogg, Jabez King, John Murray, 2nd. The directors immediately organized by electing I. N. Hathaway, secretary, and E. V. Canfield, treasurer,

This first meeting of the building company was so great a success that the Democrat was enabled to say of it in, its next issue:

"The meeting was largely attended and unusually enthusiastic, as may be inferred from the fact that no less than between thirty and forty thousand dollars' stock was subscribed, in shares of fifty dollars each, before the meeting adjourned, and enough land pledged to raise the amount to about fifty thousand.

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dollars. Subscriptions are still coming in, and the company may already gardedd as a splendid success, far exceeding the expectations of the most sanguine."

The officers of the company at once directed their energies to the work before , and on Thursday of the same week (August 13th), less than three weeks after, the fire, entered into a contract with Messrs. Herrick & Simmons, of Cleveland, a well-known, responsible and enterprising building firm, for the erection, at a cost of fifty-three thousand dollars, of what is now known as the Union block." On the following Monday (August 17th), the work was commenced and, one week later (Monday, August 24th), scarcely a month after the fire the corner-stone of the new bock was laid, with appropriate ceremonies. The work on the block was prosecuted with the utmost vigor from first to last, and, with the exception of some of the stores, which needed furnishing, was completed, and several of the intended occupants had moved in by the middle of the following winter. It is a two-story brick building, two hundred and thirty-one feet long by sixty-six feet deep, comprising twelve stores, varying in front from fifteen to twenty-two feet, and with a basement under each.

The erection of he Union block, so soon after the fire, was as great an enterprise as, under that circumstances, the people of Chardon could be expected to undertake; but about one-third of the burnt district was still unprovided for and, but for the prompt and judicious action of the late L. J. Randall, would or, doubtless so remained, if not permanently, a least until some more favorable season. ess have By agreement among the parties interested, Mr. Randall, who was the largest owner of the land, and whose proverbial energy and business skill were a guarantee of success, on the eighteenth of September, contracted with Messrs. Herrick & Simmons for the erection of the "Randall block," which adjoins the Union block on the south, and was completed nearly as soon as the latter. This block is about one hundred and forty feet long by sixty-six deep,

of two stories, with attic and basement, and seven feet higher than the Union block. It has stone window caps and recess fronts to the stores (which are seven in number varying in width from fifteen to twenty-three feet), and is probably unexcelled block of its class in the country.

THE CENTENNIAL YEAR.*

The centennial year, 1876, finds Chardon with about eighteen hundred inhabitants, and, like all other places, in a financial crisis. It was this year that the bank of Messrs. Canfield, Murray & Canfield failed, which tended to make matters still worse with the people in the metropolis of Geauga county. While the liabilities of the bank amounted to about one hundred and ten thousand dollars, its assets invoiced (appraising real estate at cost) were about one hundred and fourteen thousand dollars—a portion of its assets being in real estate that had depreciated in value in the three or four years previous, to at least sixty per centrum, at a time when it was almost impossible to convert it into money on any terms No business men ever enjoyed the confidence of the people of Geauga county more than they and the failure was perhaps more attributable to the embarrassed state of the country than to any other cause.

This leaves but one bank, the Geauga Savings and Loan Association, which was organized in 1873, by the strongest and best men of the county, and whose responsibility is unquestionable—Hon. B. B. Woodbury, president, and T. C. Smith, esq., cashier. The banking house is a fine brick structure, which would appear respectable in any one of our larger cities.

Notwithstanding the losses sustained in many enterprises among the business

* By A. P. Tilden, esq

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men of Chardon, no town appears more prosperous at this time. There are four dry goods, three variety, two hardware, two clothing, two drug, two boot and shoe, two jewelry and silverware, two furniture, and three grocery stores, making in all twenty-two mercantile firms, doing, to all appearance, a fair business.

The court house is located on the north half of the public square; erected in. 1869, at a cost (including fencing, flagging, etc.) of about seventy-two thousand dollars. This is said to be one of the most beautiful court houses in the State.

The county jail, which was erected in 1868, is of brick, with stone and iron cells, made with the most modern improvements; and, be it said to the credit of the county, has fewer inmates than any other jail in Ohio.

The graded school building, also of brick, was erected in 1872-73, under the supervision of the school board, who were E. V. Canfield, J. E. Stephenson, and Philo Pease. The board awarded the contract to Messrs. Conley & Gloin, for the sum of twenty-two thousand three hundred dollars. Walter S. Hayden was the first superintendent, who held that position until 1875. He was succeeded by Alvan Smith, who held the position for three years. Mr. C. W. Carroll is. the present superintendent (1878) and teacher in the high school. Miss E. Metta Rogers has been assistant teacher in the high school since the schools have been in the present building. The grammar department has been taught by C. W. Carroll, Miss Arvilla Goodell, C. R. Hollis, H. N. Stephenson, Miss Kate Smith, Miss F. M. Bard, Frank P. Howard, and Mrs. Anna T. Treat; the intermediate, by Miss Minnie Taylor, Miss Kate Smith, Mrs. Burnett, and Miss. Emma Shuart; the secondary, by Miss Kate Smith, Miss Laura M. Stephenson, Miss Mattie Parker, Mrs. Adalir.e Benton, Mrs. Rose Burnett, and Miss Mary E. Pomeroy; the primary, by Miss Alice J. Fowler, Miss Sarah N. Wright, and Miss Laura I. Bartlett.

The opera house was constructed in 1874, in the northwestern brick block, facing the court house from the west, is a beautiful edifice, and an ornament to the town. For this enterprise the town is indebted to our esteemed fellow-citizen, Judge H. K. Smith.

The Painesville & Youngstown railroad, known as the "narrow gauge," was made from Painesville to Chardon, in 1872, and the first train arrived in Chardon on the first day of July of that year. Two years later the road was completed to Youngstown. This road, although doing but little compared with some of the older lines, is of great advantage to Chardon.

Geauga county has for a long time taken the lead in Ohio, in cheese manufacturing, and.Chardon has well done her part. There were manufactured in. this county, in 1866, five million one hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and thirty-seven pounds of cheese, and five hundred and twenty-nine thousand and ninety-nine pounds of butter, being the greatest dairy product ever produced on the same amount of territory in the United States. In 1876,, the first oleomargarine cheese was manufactured in Chardon, and the first in the State. Mr. E. G. Ellis, agent of the American Dairy and Commercial company, of New York, introduced this method of cheese-making here. The process of its manufacture need not be mentioned here, but suffice it to say, the cream is extracted from the milk and made into butter, and its place supplied with oleomargarine, which makes the best of cheese. Although some prejudice exists against it now, we anticipate much for it in the future. There were made in this factory, in 1877, ninety thousand pounds of butter, and one hundred and sixty thousand pounds of cheese of a superior quality.

The first cheese factory established in Chardon was by L J. Randall, in 1862.. Mr. Randall died in 1869, being the owner of five extensive factories—one in Chardon, one in Burton, one in Montville, one in Thompson, and one in Munson.

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There was erected in 1873, by Orange Pomeroy and H. G. Skinner, a steam flouring mill, on Water street, near the Painesville & Youngstown depot, that an extensive custom business for two years, when it burned down, and is of yet rebuilt. This was a great loss to the people of Chardon, as it was of great convenience to the farmers in the neighborhood, and added much to the business appearance of the place. There is but one grist-mill in the township, which is in the west part of Chardon, and was erected in 1836, by Martin Mitchell, and is yet called "Mitchell's Mills." Mr. Mitchell now lives in Chardon, a ripe old age,* and this mill and others on the Western Reserve are marks of his former usefulness. This mill has been kept in good repair, now owned by A. Armstrong, and doing a large business.

Chardon has her quota of blacksmith shops, carriage shops, paint shops and gun shops, but nothing extensive in the way of manufacturing in any of them.

There are four churches in this place—the Methodist, the Congregational, the Drsciple, and the Baptist. The pulpits are supplied by Elder R. F. Keeler, of the Methodist; Rev. John Patchin, of the Congregational, and Elder Dan R. King, of the Disciple. The Congregational church, a fine brick edifice, was erected in 1875.

There are two hotels, both temperance houses, and well kept—the Chardon House, by Benton & Co., and the Burnett House, by A. M. Goodrich.

There are thirteen attorneys in Chardon, as follows: son, H. K. Smith (probate judge), L N. Hathaway, D. W. Canfield, J. E. Stephen L E. Durfee, C. W. Osborne, 0. S. Farr, N. H. Bostwick (prosecuting attorney), H. F. Canfield, W. H. Osborne, W. S. Metcalfe, C. W. Carroll, and George R. Stephenson.

In the medical profession there are T. H. Sweeney, Orange Pomeroy, 0. A. Dimmick, L. L. Bennett, A. L Bennett, J. W. Atwood, and P. M. Cowles.

The present board of county officers (1878) are: H. K. Smith, probate judge ; William Howard, auditor S. E. Bodman, treasurer;. William N. Keeney, clerk; William H. Young,. recorder; S. P. Warriner, sheriff; N. H. Bostwick, prosecuting attorney; Daniel Johnson, Darius Wolcott, and 0. M. Barnes, commissioners; P. M. Cowles, coroner; E. L. F. Phelps, surveyor.

The village school board are: Philo Pease, L. E. Durfee, and H. K. Smith.

The village council are: Anson Kelley, C. L Canfield, S. L. Griffith, S. E. Rodman, B. B. Woodbury, and Lester Moffet; 0. S. Farr, mayor, and W. S. Metcalfe, clerk.

The township officers are: A. Pease, L. D. Stansell, and L. C. Cowles, trustees; P. M. Cowles, clerk; B. W. Canfield, treasurer; C. P. Bail, S. W. Newell, and. A. P. Tilden, justices of the peace; L. S. Faulk, A. E. Scott, and James Scott, constables.

Chardon has one continuous block, known as the Randall and Union block, being three hundred and seventy-one feet in length, in which may be found the following business men: 0. R. Canfield, postmaster, postoffice; Canfield & Canfield, grocers and stationers; J. 0. Converse, printing office, Geauga Republican; J. 0. Teed, harness manufacturer; D. W. Canfield, law office; Misses Stephenson & Parmele, millinery and dress-making; George C. Smith, hardware; Orange Pomeroy, M. D., office; Sawyer & Pomeroy, dentists; Hayes & Barker, restaurant; H. L. Eggleston, photographer; Seth F. Eldredge, billiard saloon; T. L. Childs, shoemaker; Lydia M. Bruce, fancy dry goods; A. Cook, drugs and medicines; M. L. Wright, dentist; Mrs. C. Sanger, dress maker; H. H. Bisbee, jewelry; S. Patchin, dry goods; A. D. Downing & Co., grocers; E. A. Johnson, barber; Mrs. T. H. Eaton, ladies' furnishing goods; Mrs. M. A. Brown, dress maker; T. H. Sweeney, M. D., office; Wilder C. Parsons, drugs and medicines;

* Mr. Mitchell since deceased.

318 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

O. H. Pitkin, jewelry; Farr & Metcalfe, attorneys, law office; Hilliard & Howard, groceries, crockery, etc.; Miss L. R. Merwin, millinery goods; Canfield & King, clothing; B. W. Canfield, express office; Henry Shelton, barber and hair dresser; J. Houghton, central market; Hathaway & Osborne, attorneys, law office; Shaw Sr Bartlett, boots and shoes; J. F. Bruce & Son, hardware; J. T. Field, dry goods; E. Hastings, boots and shoes; H. P. Pease, harness macufacturer; Kelley Bros., dry goods; Kelley Bros., hardware; Durfee & Stephenson, law office; Mrs. E. A. Davis, milliner; Miss Nellie Hosford, dressmaker; A. J. Cooley, boot and shoe manufacturer; L. Johnson, boot and shoe manufacturer. In other blocks may be found: The Geauga Savings & Loan association; Smith & Bodman, dry goods and clothing; Lester Moffet, dry goods and notions; Henry Bickle, undertaker and furniture: Parks Bros., hardware; N. H. Bostwick, prosecuting attorney, law office; Thomas Christian, merchant tailor; George H. Garrett, flour and feed store; Toop Bros., meat market; D. F. Avery, fancy painting; John Bickle, fancy painting.

Geauga county has produced some excellent men, and a most worthy example may be formed in the life and character of Milton C. Canfield, who was the eldest of three sons of Helen Canfield, who came from Tyringham, Massachusetts, to Chardon in the year 1814; and Milton C. was born on the nineteenth day of March, 1820, and died on the eighth day of February, 1875. In his younger days he was a fine scholar, and at the age of sixteen entered Alleghany college, at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He graduated, in 1840, with honor to himself and his friends. Soon after he entered the office of Whittlesey & Newton, at Canfield, Ohio. The firm was composed of Hon. Elisha Whittlesey and Hon. Eben Newton, who were prominent in the early history of the State. While here he formed an acquaintance with Miss Dorcas Church, daughter of Judge Church, of that place, to whom he was afterwards married, and with whom he lived at the time of his death. The fruits of this marriage were two children—Mr. Church Canfield, who is an active merchant in the city of Cleveland, and Miss Arabelle Canfield, who, until recently, also resided in the same place, but is now married and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. Soon after his marriage, he opened a law office in Defiance county, Ohio. While here he served one or two terms as prosecuting attorney. His health failing him, he moved to Chardon, and, for a while, performed some labor on his father's farm. Improving in health, he formed a partnership with Hon. O. P. Brown, and, in addition to the practice of law, they became editors of the Free Democrat, the first Free-soil paper published in the county.

In the year 1852, having dissolved his copartnership with Mr. Brown, his health being impaired, he and his two brothers (who are still living), C. L. Canfield, esq., of Chardon, and 'I'. N. Canfield, of Boonsboro, Iowa, with a number of others from Geauga county, went to California, where he remained a little more than two years. On his return from California, in good health, again opened an office for the practice of his profession, and the next fall was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, which office he held for four years.

In 1858, he was elected probate judge, which office he held for nine years, declining a renomination the fourth time.

At the close of his third term, he formed a co-partnership with D. W. Canfield, under the firm name of Canfield & Canfield, which lasted for several years, or until he was elected judge of the common pleas court of the ninth Judicial District of Ohio, composed of the counties of Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga. This position he held to the time of his death. In politics, he was a Whig until 1848, when he joined the Free-soil party, since which time he was an earnest advocate for liberty and union.

As a man and citizen he was above reproach, and his sterling integrity char-

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 319

acterized his every act. He was no dissembler; what he said he believed, and what he believed he acted upon, without fear of criticism. As judge, or as attorney, no opinion was ever given by him until he examined the question to the fullest extent; and when given, was most invariably correct.

For more than twenty years, in all matters pertaining to the interests of the public, and the duties of county officers, his opinion was regarded as almost a finality upon all legal questions of public policy. It may be truthfully said that Judge Milton C. Canfield was one of the most useful and worthy men that Geauga county ever produced.

Hon. O. P. Brown, to whom allusion is made above, was also, for many years, a leading citizen of Chardon and Geauga county, holding many honorable positions. He was a man of large heart and brain, an able lawyer, a fluent and forcible writer, and an eloquent speaker. He was one of the most zealous and efficient supporters of the anti-slavery and Union cause-first as a Free-soiler, and finally as a Republican. Removing to Portage county, he became a prominent and nearly successful candidate for congress, was elected to the State senate, and subsequently probate judge, and held the latter office until compelled to resign it in consequence of the painful illness which caused his death, when in the meridian of his life, and the midst of his usefulness and promise.

We will state, in conclusion, that most of the last portion of this history has reference to the centennial year, which will explain what might otherwise seem inaccurate, as some changes have since occurred.

A new Odd Fellow's hall was erected over the north end of Randall block, in the summer of 1879, F. C. Conley, contractor. Its dimensions are about forty-five feet front by sixty-six feet deep; and it is one of the most commodious and tasteful halls of its class in the State.

The old Chardon house, which had stood for over sixty years, was destroyed by fire on the night of March 3, 1879, with all the adjacent buildings, involving a loss of about twelve thousand dollars. The fire was undoubtedly the work of an incendiary. No lives were lost, but eight horses, three cows, two calves, and three hogs perished in the flames. It was a great calamity to the entire community. The enterprising proprietors, Benton & Co., immediately opened a temporary hotel in the town hall and an adjacent dwelling house, and, with the aid of the citizens, devoted their energies to the project of rebuilding. As the result, on the 17th of June following, a contract was made with George A. Brakeman, of Painesville, for the erection of a new Chardon house, to occupy the site of the old one. Work on the same was commenced at once, and the new hotel,

complete and furnished, opened to the public October 11th. It is, indeed, a credit to the place, being a fine, three-story brick edifice, with a frontage of seventy-two feet on South street and eighty feet on Water street and the public square. The harmony of its architectural design, and the beauty of its finish, adds much to the attractiveness of the town, and is an honor to the enterprising proprietors, Messrs. Benton & Baldwin.

MILITARY ROSTER,

Jerry Barton, sergeant 19th.O. V. I.

three months, and private Battery G.

D. N. McGonigal, corporal 19th O. V. I., sergeant 2^nd O.V.C., and Sergeant Major 10^th Cavalry.

H. J. Clark, first lieutenant 19th O. V. I., three months, and private Battery G.

James Crane, first sergeant r9th O. V. I.

Frank Parris, sergeant 19th O. V. I. and sergeant O. V. C.

William Witter, fifer, 19th O. V. I..

Perry Catkins, drummer, 19th O. V. I. and 41^st O. V. I.

320 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

D. W. Merrill, Battery G.

P. M. Cowles, 19th 0. V. I., color sergeant 42d 0. V. I., and first lieutenant 96th 0. V. I. Horace Granger. ad cavalry.

Alden Weaver, 19th 0. V. I. and 6th cavalry.

Edwin H. Munsell, 19th and 87th 0. V. I. and Battery C.

Riley W. Sanford.

John Baptie, 7th 0. V. I., and first sergeant 5th 0. V. 1.

James Reynolds, 7th 0. V. I.

James Melton, 7th 0. V. 1.

John Allen, 7th 0. V. I.

Orrville Bushnell, 7th 0. V. I.

Charles H. Melton, 7th 0. V. I.

Henry W. Mead, 7th 0. V, I.

Bradley Griswold, 41st 0. V. I.

Samuel Shattuck, 42c1 0. V. 1,

George Finney, 42d and 196th 0. V. 1.

Alfred Churchill, 42d 0. V, I.

Edward J. West, 9th 0. V. I.

Oscar Folder, 87th 0. V. I.

George McGonigal, 87th 0. V. I., and Battery C.

William Ayres, 103d 0, V. I.

Wellington Eggleston, 105th 0. V. 1.

Almon Hill, 105th 0. V. I.

S. N. Watros, 105th 0. V. 1.

Orrin West, 196th 0. V, 1.

Alanson Hamilton, 96th 0. V. I.

Thomas R. Bisbee, second lieutenant 196th and. 128th 0. V. I,

Addison W. Benton, 87th 0, V. I.

Everett Squire, 2d cavalry and Battery

Charles Shattuck, 6th cavalry.

Brunson R. Welton, Battery C.

Clarence Marsh, Battery G.

James Brain,

Thomas Kissick, Battery G.

Orrin Babcock, Battery G.

0. 0. King,

Seth Ledyard Phelps, Captain U. S. N.

Charles Lamb, 2d Ohio cavalry.

D. F. Pelton, veterinary surgeon, 10th Ohio battery.

Samuel Lowrey, 5th New York regiment.

Samuel F. Cooley.

W, Garrett, 19th 0. V. I., and Sergeant 41st O. V. I.

John C. Granger, 19th 0. V, I. and 6th cavalry.

G. E. Herriman, Battery C.

H. H. Pulsipher.

Clarence Riddle.

Amherst Wheelock, 19th and 87th 0. V. I.

E. 0. Granger, sergeant 7th 0. V. I.

C. A. Parks, 7th and 19th 0. V. I.

L. S. Faulk, 7th 0. V. I.

M. D. Otis, 7th 0. V. I.

A. G. Griswold, 7th 0. V. I.

Monroe Hazen, 7th 0. V. I.

Warner Stockham, 7th 0. V. I.

George Stockham, Battery G.

Isaac Hosford, 41st 0. V. I.

B. F. Cowles, 42d 0. V. I.

Hamilton Bail, 42d 0. V. I.

Lysander T. King, 29th 0. V. I.

William H. Plaisted, 9th 0. V. I.

Horton H. Faulk, 87th 0. V. 1.

Abram H. Stafford, 103d 0. V. I.

Byron W. Canfietd, captain, 105th 0. V. I.

P. H. Grant, 105th 0. V. I.

Elisha Hill, 105th 0. V. I.

Charles Metcalf, 196th 0. V. I.

James Pike, 196th 0. V. I.

Charles McGowan, 96th 0. V. I.

David Chandler, 196th 0. V. I.

Hamilton Carver, 128th 0. V. I.

Homer C. Squire. 2d cavalry.

Frank A. Lamb, 2d cavalry.

0. R. Parks, Battery C.

John Parmelee, Battery G.

E. P. Strait,

Christopher Sawin,

George Sanger, Battery G.

A. L. Carver,

Henry S. Wood, cavalry.

Alfred Phelps, jr., U. S. gunboat service.

W. H. Marshall, 2d Ohio cavalry.

0. 0. King, 5th New York regiment, and ad Ohio artillery.

Bowman Lewrey, 5th New York regiment

MISCELLANEOUS SKETCHES.

HON. LESTER TAYLOR.*

Born August 5, 1798, few lives comparatively have been so long; certainly in the varied usefulness of an active man of fine practical ability, unusual public spirit, wide experience, and large intelligence, devoted more to general and public affairs, and the advance of the whole than to private gain and aggrandizement, very few in Geauga county have approached it. For the later years, Mr. Taylor has quite given his time and unimpaired faculties to various causes of enlightened neighborhood, township, and county improvement; the collection, collation, and preservation of the history of the county; and to other causes

* From Williams Brothers history.

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 321

which absorb his time, trench on his means, and return to him. no vulgar rewards whatever.

I have been familiar with this long, useful, and unselfish life, the example and lesson of which should be preserved, and I turn to the three or four pages of data, a dry outline without breadth or color, as if the hand that furnished it did so grudgingly, and I feel that my labor must be less fruitful than I could. wish. Especially I would have known more of the subjects, measures, and bills brought to the attention of the legislative bodies of which Mr. Taylor was a conspicuous member, and the condition and needs of his time.

The Taylors must have been of a good, vigorous race in their Connecticut antecedents, of which I have not a word. Horace, the elder brother, was a public-spirited man, and built an academy at the center of Claridon, and on a. less extended field lived a life of practical usefulness like his brother.

The family, by New England thrift, was well-to--do. This, to the newer generation of the Western Reserve, furnishes the idea of rich lands, abundant harvests, fat cattle, and easy lives, but which, in fact, was a steady, unrelenting struggle, almost a war, with a hard, sterile soil, a rigorous climate, and unkindly surroundings, for what, to the easy-going, well-off farmer of Geauga, would be a meagre, thankless return, compelling a study and practice of all the small economies in order to make the least advance in acquisition, and the slow, almost imperceptible gains of even the most successful New England farming family.

Of such Mr. Taylor was a son. He received a good common school education. His parents were never able to send him to an academy, that hope and ambition of the aspiring youth of his day. •

The common school of that time was a totally different institution from the schools of to-day. A course in the Chardon high school of this day is a better and more useful course than Yale or Harvard furnished at the day of his birth. He began with Dilworth's arithmetic and ended with Daboll; a small abridgment of Murray's grammar came in late. In geography, a book of questions and answers a map, not to speak of an atlas-was then unheard of in a country school, and yet with those meagre, scanty helps were formed the intelligent, sinewy, fibrous minds of that time, which did not grow up indolent in the fatness and abundance of easy means of learning, but were hungry, craving, and unsatisfied. He never attended a summer school after he was ten. At eighteen he taught school, as did Garfield and Ludlow, though such cases were rare.

Hartland, the town of his nativity, had an abundance of good air and fine scenery, was rough, hilly, rocky, and had plenty of good water. It was not a bad place to raise children. The hardy and enterprising usually left it as soon after reaching years of discretion as parents permitted. One would hardly remain there later.

Lester went at twenty and joined Horace in the still abundant woods of Claridon. Notwithstanding his hardy rearing, young Taylor had reached early manhood with a slender constitution and slight strength, compared with most of the robust pioneers. He went on to the farm where he now lives, then. beautiful forest slopes, and struck the first of the incessant blows which changed it with time to the beautiful present. When he left Hartland he left his troth with sweet Mary Wilder, and it was to make a home for her that he journeyed and toiled three years, cleared the home fields, built his cabin, and set rose trees about it, and in 1821 he visited Connecticut, married, and carried her to the new Claridon residence.

From the first he taught school in the winters. In 1819 he "kept" a four- months school in Mentor, and the Surviving pupils gave Yuri a fatuous reunion

322 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

a few years since. The year of his marriage Claridon celebrated the Fourth. Mr. Taylor was the "young Demosthenes," and a blunderbuss of good Queen Ann's time, a "queen's-arm," was the artillery of the occasion.

In 1824 the log cabin, the homestead, was consumed by fire, with quite all Its contents—a calamity for any time, a great one then and to them.

Mr. Taylor early organized a literary club and debating society, and Claridon has seldom been without one since. He had decided to be a farmer, and an intelligent one—not merely to plant and grub, but to understand, study, sympathize with all the processes involved, and be enabled conduct farming with intelli- gence and profit, and derive from it something of the higher pleasures of science and observation, as well as that of . He became a subscriber the New, England Fanner, and extended his patronage to other agricultural to journals as they sprang up. He began also to buy and collect books as occasion and means permitted, which in time became quite as extensive a library as any to be found in the county. He early turned his own and the attention of his neighbors and friends to the uses and beauties of tree-planting and culture about the houses, lawns, yards, highway's, and public places is to be regarded as the pioneer in this, and was quite the first to discover and make available for this purpose the rare qualities of our native. trees, the elm and maple. His own beautiful farm, and Claridon general ample evidence of his fidelity to an early matured taste for arboriculture.

His early devotion to the cause of a thorough common school education was marked and practical, wisely judging that in this field was the mission of American educator. At an early day it was the duty of the courts to appoint the examiners of teachers, and Mr. Taylor was one of the earliest, with William L. Perkins and others, in the county At an . early day his then fine, erect, soldierly person attracted the attention he a of Colonel C. C. Paine—all that family were

Colonel him adjutant of his regiment. Such was his popularity that the commissioned officers of the regiment, with whom it lay, not long after elected him to command them, and the title of colonel, thus acquired, only yielded to that of judge afterwards.

As is generally known, the Western Reserve had received for school purposes a large grant of government lands, situated in Tuscarawas and adjoining counties, all in the State. It became necessary to utilize the proceeds of them, as well as to open them to settlers, and permit the country to be required that they should; and in 1830 an act was passed for this purpose, which

that they should be appraised. Mr. Taylor was appointed to this responsible duty, in company with Amos Seward, of Portage, and Ahaz Merchant, of Cleveland. These lands, aggregating sixty-thousand acres, were not to be sold for less than the appraised value, although, if not sold within the time specified, were to be offered at public sale. The proceeds were the foundation of the common school fund for the Western Reserve. That Mr. Taylor executed this duty with fidelity needs no assurance.

Mr. Taylor was elected to represent Geauga county in the general assembly of Ohio, and re-elected—the first for the session of 1832-33, and the second for 1834-35. I think these elections were by the anti-Masons county, and the last time who then embodied much of the active intelligence of the he d Seabury Ford were probably rival candidates. However it was, the people of Geauga have always had a serious purpose in the elections of representatives.

None of the second generation of remember the State politics of those years. We know there were threats of awful war by Governor Mason, the territorial governor of Michigan, about a strip of land, on which stood the then small town of Toledo. The people of that region, n May, 1835, assembled in convention and formed a State constitution, with a boundary so liberal as to

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 323

include Maumee bay, the mouth of the river, Toledo, and a wide strip of Ohio; and Governor Mason, then quilt twenty-one years (Wage, assembled his forces, with a proclamation, at Monroe, which some people in Ohio then supposed to be a stout-headed, malicious old man, instead of a town, who was setting the young cockerel up to this mischief, and who marched toward Toledo with bloody intent. Good old Robert Lucas, Democratic governor of Ohio, convened the Ohio legislature by proclamation as stout as that of the governor of all Michigan, and Colonel Taylor was of those who responded. Governor Lucas called for volunteers finally, and some of us boys offered to go, but were never mustered. It made a national commotion, however, and John Quincy Adams, who had a capacity for being wrong-headed, stood with "that old Monroe," egging on Governor Mason. Congress finally offered to admit Michigan if she would relinquish her claim to Ohio, and take the upper peninsula instead, a wide wild region north of Mackinaw, between Lakes Superior and Michigan. She refused in 1836, and accepted in 1837. Colonel Taylor, who had a hand in holding Ohio quiet during this excitement, could have told us all about his part of it.

Time elapsed, and in 1846 he was elected one of the associate judges of Geauga county, with Judge Aiken and Judge Converse, which made a very respectable court of itself. Judge Taylor had in his younger days often appeared in the magistrates' courts and before arbitrators, had presided as justice of the peace for many years, had read some of the elementary books, and, with his quick accurate apprehension of things, and the respect entertained for him and his associates by the bar, he made a very good presiding judge. Under the old constitution, many powers and duties more municipal than judicial devolved on the associate judges. This place he filled until the change of the judiciary under the new State constitution in 1851.

In politics Mr. Taylor was a Whig of the Giddings and Frank Wade school, which, with a few notable exceptions, was the Geauga type. With the most of these he became a Free-soiler in 1848. In 1854 he was elected by them again to the house, where, with the memory of his former service, he at once took a high position.

In 1856 he was elected to the senate by the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, and Lake. These were the years of Tom Ford as lieutenant-governor, who was never in the chair, the only real service he could render; and it was one of those "nevers" that was much better than late or even early. Judge Taylor was elected president pro tem., and presided at the opening ceremonies of taking possession of the senate chamber in the famous new State capitol, and generally during his senatorial term was regarded as one of the best presiding officers of that body. During these years Judge Taylor was justly regarded throughout the State as one of the most able and faithful legislators.

Reared with a profound respect for New England orthodoxy, Judge Taylor gave his enlightened assent to the general soundness of its faith more than fifty years ago. He carries his warm vitality, and is carried by it, into all things which he deems worthy his concern. He would necessarily be of a new-school wing, and could not fail of being one of its representative men; was moderator of the Lake and Geauga church conferences for twenty years, and chosen by conference to represent it in the first national council of the Congregational churches at Boston, in 1865. Also in the nation council at Detroit, in 1857.

Judge Taylor was largely instrumental in the formation of the Geauga Historical society, in 1875. Upon its organization he became its president, and has continued at its head to the present time. He has devoted much time to traveling about and holding pioneer meetings in the various- townships, delivering addresses, looking up the surviving settlers, stimulating the interest of all

324 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

classes in the general subject, gathering material, and securing the selection in each of the townships of a competent person to write its history, and has urged them to such diligence that the society has felt itself authorized to canvass for a cheap edition of its undoubtedly valuable collections.

Judge Taylor was one of the most active promoters of the organization of the Claridon Farmers' club, instituted some twenty years ago, which has had his steady and warm support to the present time. At the present August reunion and festival of the Claridon, Chardon, and Hambden clubs, at the center of Claridon, he delivered a valuable extemporaneous address, full of practical

wisdom, the fruit of long experience and wide and varied observation, reading, and reflection.

Prominent in all the social and so-called domestic associations of his region, Judge Taylor, a few, years since, organized what is known as the "Central Park Association," the objects of which are to ornament the public grounds of the township, create a taste for, and lead to, general arboriculture, and the laying out and planting of lawns, yards, and grounds of private residences.

Judge Taylor early became a practical speaker, with an easy flow of language and good manner, a thing so useful, and to most Americans born so easy of acquisition, that one wonders why so few intelligent and leading minds acquire the power. Mr. Taylor's mind is of a logical order. He has the capacity, full capacity, of seeing and hearing, which so many lack, and thus draws information from what goes on about him, which he works into thoughts and ideas. He is without imagination, has little fancy, and perhaps less humor, save of a grim sort. His mind is sound, practical. Kindly, a just and liberal man, pure of spirit, and blameless of life, not greatly seeking, giving more than he receives.

His Mary Wilder fell by the wayside many years ago, after a true woman's unselfish life. True heart, her husband sought no other love. Sons and daughters she left. One devotes her maiden life to him. A son, in a tasteful home, is just across the way.

His homestead, one of the pleasantest situated in that region, has a fine outlook down a gentle slope, westerly, into the sweet vale of "Aquilla lake" and the western Cuyahoga. Here, with faculties unimpaired, in the serene mellowness of ripe years, with the softened rays of the "western sun" gilding his years, they will run their serene and still luminous course.

The Taylors were from England, and at an early day came to this country, settling at Chatham, Connecticut. The father of Lester was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Was stationed at Ticonderoga, and from thence went to Montreal, but hearing of General Montgomery's defeat, he returned, and was sent south; was engaged in the battle of Princeton and Germantown, and other important actions.

Upon the maternal side, Judge Taylor was of Welsh extraction, and is traced back to Colonel Hinsdale, who was one of the original land proprietors in that locality, and in his honor the town of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, was named. At this point a fort was, at a very early day, established. In 1755 this fort was taken by the Indians, and the garrison massacred. At the time of this massacre, Colonel Hinsdale had a daughter in school at Middletown, Connecticut.

She married a Mr. Drew; of Middletown, and a daughter of theirs married Captain Oliver Bates, of Durham, Connecticut. His second daughter, Rhoda, was the mother of Lester Taylor. They came from Durham to Hartland, Connecticut, before the Revolution, and at this place he was born and brought up. From such a parentage, and early New England training, it was to be expected he should prove, as he has done, strong, active, energetic, and self-reliant.

Lester Taylor, born August 5, 1798, and Mary L Wilder, born August 7,

HISTORY OF GRAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 325

1800, were married in Hartland, Connecticut, May 2, 1821, and had the following children:

1st. Robert DeWitt, born June 19, 1824, was killed March 1, 1830.

2d. La Royal, born May 27, 1827, married Ann B. Cleveland, daughter of John S. Cleveland, M. D., and Chloe Butler, of Burton, Geauga county, Ohio, May 18, 1854. Their children were: Annettie Sophia, born March 26, 1855; Royal Cleveland, born June 24, 1857; Ella Cora, born June 18, 1861; John Wilder, born December 18, 1866; Mary Alice, born September 17, 187o.

3rd, Mary Johnson, born April 1, 1830.

4th. Lester De Witt, born December 1, 1832, married Carrie Brainard, daughter of Nelson Brainard and Lucia Rudd, of Mayfield, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, September 29, 1868. Their children were: Wilder Brainard, born September 16, 1869; Arthur Wallace, born March 14, 1872.

5th. Lucy Wilder, born August 19, 1835, married Clinton Goodwin, of Middlefield, Geauga county, Ohio, May 31, 1859. Their children were: Florence Isadore, born August 12, 1860; Mary Catherine, born February 23, 1863; Lester Taylor, born December 22, 1865; Emery Milton, born March 30, 1868; Lucy Lenora, born June 6, 1871.

6th. Jane Sophia, born November 23, 1837, married Wm. D. Ringland, of Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, January 1, 1863. Their children were: Effie Jane, born February 23, 1864; Heman Lester, born August 12, 1865. Mrs. Ringland died in Barrington, Illinois, January 30, 1866, aged twenty-eight years.

7th. Susan Roseboom, born April 16, 1841, married Ozro R. Newcomb, of Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, January 1, 1863. They had one child: Ozro Robinson, born July 21, 1866. Mr. Newcomb died January 1, 1866, during his second term of office as treasurer of Geauga county, aged thirty-two years.

Mrs. Judge Taylor died in Claridon, May 5, 1870, aged seventy years.

JUDGES HORACE AND ELI T. WILDER.

Of these honorable gentlemen held in such high esteem here in the earlier days, there is at hand only a brief note, clipped from a letter penned by A. L. Tinker, esq., when on a visit to Red Wing, Minnesota, where they now reside:

"Here live some of your former citizens; citizens whom your community could ill afford to lose. Here reside the two brothers, Judges Horace and Eli T. Wilder, both of whom have sat upon the bench of your judicial district as judges, upright and with unsullied ermine. Who, acquainted with the bar of Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula twenty years ago, does not remember them as among the foremost, and in some respects the foremost of its most able members. What lawyer of that day can fail to recall the remarkable, "yes", the provoking accuracy of statement, especially the statement of the testimony which characterized the professional practice of Eli T. Wilder. When his opponent misstated the evidence in a case he was promptly called to order, corrected or rebuked. He has one of those rare legal minds which goes straight to the point, to the core of the question, oblivious of all collaterals which tend to darken it. Who, too, of that vicinity of twenty years ago, does not know Horace Wilder as the accomplished practitioner and able judge. For over twenty years Eli T. Wilder has been an honest and most respected citizen of Red Wing. Esteemed and beloved by her people for his public and private charities, and is justly 'prominent in the State as a jurist, and one of the most, if not the most, active and influential lay members of the Episcopal diocese. These brothers live to-

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gether under the same roof in rare amity and friendship. With what satisfaction have I witnessed their acts of delicate fraternal, yet respectful feeling for and towards each other. Judge Horace is on the outer verge of a ripe and venerable old age. His health is feeble, but his mind is clear; at times remarkably so. What a pity that such men are so few. His life is full of years and honors, of private, if not of public honors. An honored graduate of honored Yale, for six years an honored judge of the common pleas, and for a time an honored judge of the supreme court of your State, and ever and always the finished and conscientious advocate, the gentleman of noble, engaging and courtly manners, and the man with a heart that never harbored ill against a human being. To think I have looked upon that honest and noble face for the last time is indeed to me most saddening, and when I held his feeble hand in mine I fancied him singing:

I lift my head to watch the door and ask

If he is come;

And the angel answers softly

In my home;

Only a few more shadows

And he will come."

JAMES HATHAWAY,

sheriff, pioneer settler, real estate dealer and manufacturer, Hambden township Geauga county, Ohio. Born, January 1, 1799, at Fall River, Massachusetts; died at Savannah, Illinois, June 16, 1868. He was the youngest of a family of nine children. All of the male members of which were sea-faring men—being connected with the whale fishery, and sailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Hathaways, in this county, are of Welsh descent. Three brothers of that name came from Wales—one settled in Bangor, Maine ; one in Fall River, and the third in Cazenovia, New York. To these all may be traced. His brethren having elected the sea, James Hathaway chose the land as the field for his exploits. In the year 1816, when only seventeen years of age, he left Massachusetts and went to Ohio. This journey he made on foot and alone. Ohio then, for the most part, was a wilderness. And the readiest work was found in the woods, clearing up the land for cultivation. The young Hathaway assisted in cutting off part of the timber which covered what is now the public square in Claridon. By means of such laborious work he saved sufficient money to buy a piece of land. The money, the proceeds of a year's labor, was in his possession. His arrangements were all made for the journey, but by a fire he lost the whole of it. And so, likewise, by successive fires he lost property until he was almost discouraged. But eventually the tide turned, and he became as successful as he had hitherto been unsuccessful. Always a farmer, he manufactured potash for exportation, also a primitive cloth, and owned and run a grist-mill. For a short time he carried on a general store, having formed a copartnership with Mr. Morey, of Claridon, under the firm name of Hathaway & Morey. He also served as county commissioner, and was, by the board, appointed a fund commissioner, to receive the surplus revenue of the United States government— a law of congress, proposed by Henry Clay, having been passed, by which the surplus was distributed to the States, and then by them to the various counties. In 1848, he was elected sheriff, and was re-elected in 1850, serving four years. About this time he formed a co-partnership with Lewis Elliott, for the purpose of carrying on a general pension and bounty land agency. This business he prosecuted with great energy for about ten years, during which time he amassed

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considerable wealth, and visited, in the interests of claimants, various parts of the country— especially the eastern States, hunting up old records and reviving rejected claims, by which means much money was secured for deserving applicants. The pension branch of the business was followed up until it was exhausted, and land warrants becoming cheap, he determined to locate them, so that in 1859, he went west for that purpose, investing in lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and especially in pine lands in the last-named State. He removed, in 1862, to Savannah, Illinois, where he lived until his death.

Mr, Hathaway was most remarkable for his enterprise and energy. Whatever he did, he did earnestly, carrying through with zeal whatever he undertook. As a public officer, he was indefatigable, knowing neither weariness, nor unseasonableness in the performance of his duty. His business enterprises were broad and far-seeing, in advance of the opportunities and plans of a new country. As a man, he was independent and outspoken, with a manner that convinced people of his sincerity. Originally he was a Whig in politics; afterwards a Freesoiler, and again an ardent Republican. He was a member of the Disciple church, into which he carried the same earnestness which characterized him in other directions, and he was zealous for the propagation of its doctrines.

On the sixth of August, 1826, he was married to Miranda Ashley, of Springfield, Massachusetts. The Ashleys were original settlers of Springfield. They were a large, prominent and wealthy family, their descendants forming an important element in the population of that city to-day. They had seven children, two only of whom are living:

Isaac N., attorney, at Chardon. Edwin, who is a farmer, and now resides in Illinois. Louisa M., married Thomas Arbet, and is now a resident of Denver, Colorado. Hattie M. is unmarried and living in Illinois.

ALBERT GALLATIN RIDDLE

sixth son of Thomas and Minerva Riddle, was born at Munson, Massachusetts, January 28, 1816. The death of his father occurring when he was but seven years old, left the family with fortune much shattered by the withdrawal of their sole dependence. The young boy had the usual fortune falling to the children of a family partly broken up and dispersed by the death of a father. At different times, sent into the families of friends who would gladly care for him, with strong love for home and especial affection for his mother, he would run away, and no matter how long the distance, or wild the road, find his way back to her. The Riddle family was regarded as unusually intelligent. They had books and newspapers, and later the township library was kept at their house, making it a place of resort for the reading people of the locality. Albert was a great reader, devouring books and papers which came into his hands. At twelve years he, and his sister next younger, had completed "Gibbon's Rome," and every other book in the small collection before referred to. About this time he was apprenticed to Seth Harmon, a farmer, living in the northeast corner of Mantua. The Harmons were well to do, in high standing and in this family young Riddle was treated, in all respects, as a member. In the winter he attended school, and in the summer and fall engaged in the varied labors of the farm, interspersed with hunting and colt riding, in which sport he was proud to equal any Portage county boy. The memory of this Mantua life is cherished by him with great warmth, showing his home there to have been a pleasant one.

In the summer of 1831 he returned to Newbury, and for this and the following season, with his two elder brothers, engaged in house carpentry. His tastes

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were not, however, in this direction, and the following two years his time was divided between his books, under Dr. 0. W. Ludlow, a man of considerable cultivation, who came to Newbury a few years previously, and guns and fishing rods. In 1835 at the request of his brother, Harrison, who had commenced the study of the law, he went to the college at Hudson, carrying a set of bench-tools, with which it was hoped he would work his way through that institution of learning. In a few months after he again showed himself to his friends in Newbury. Up to this time he seems to have failed in pursuing any given course with sufficient steadfastness of purpose to ensure success.

He now entered upon his studies with zeal and determination; taught school in Auburn during the winter, and entering Painesville academy in the spring; remained there for a year, making great improvement. He found here a popular lyceum, and at once took high rank as a debater among the young lawyers and students who were its members. His first appearance in this role, as recalled by others, was some years before this time at Newbury center, in reply to the Morman apostles. Asked when he first discovered he had the gift of oratory, his reply was " I do not know. I cannot remember when my mother taught me to read, nor the time when I could not speak."

He entered the study of law, in 1838, under the tuition of the late Governor Seabury Ford. After an examination before the supreme court, which did him great credit, was admitted to practice, in 184o. In Governor Ford's office, he found and read, for the first time, such works as Scott's, Shakespeare's, and Irving's, and also Smith's "Wealth Of Nations." With both taste and tact for public speaking, he took an active part, as a Whig orator, in the campaign of 1840. At the October election of this year he was chosen prosecuting attorney of the county, having been nominated at the Whig convention, three weeks after his admission to the bar. On appearing, to assume the duties of his office at a term of court, immediately after his election, it was objected that he had not been commissioned by the governor. The statute was silent upon this point. Labored arguments were adduced by older counsel of the opposing parties, and the court, made up of the Democratic associates, decided against the young prosecutor. Mr. Riddle, in a brief speech in his own behalf, raised the point that the governor only knew of his election by the certificate of the county clerk. This certificate he exhibited in court, and made the point so clear, and by his power of ridicule, showed the absurd position of the court in such a light that the bar and crowded court room burst into a shout of laughter. In this the court was forced to join; but adhered to its decision.

Between this and the ensuing term of court he devoted himself to the study of criminal law. When entering upon the duties of his office, the new States attorney, always leading in his own cases, met with brilliant success. Receiving several convictions, losing but one verdict, Judge Willey complimented him as the youngest and ablest prosecuting attorney in his circuit. Early in his law studies Mr. Riddle was called to try cases before magistrates, and in a few months this practice became quite extensive. Popular estimate of him was flattering and rapidly extended. The region often rang with stories of his contests with Bruce and Thrasher, two noted "irregulars," who were famous in all the region.

Mr. Riddle came to the bar without law books or money, ability and determination to succeed constituting his only capital. He settled at Chardon, forming a partnership with Alfred Phelps, an able, experienced lawyer, finely cultured, but with little confidence in himself as an advocate. At this time Painesville lawyers largely controlled the business of the county. He was twice re-elected prosecuting attorney, serving in that position six years, at which time he was engaged in nearly every case in Geauga, and had quite a practice

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in Lake county. Two prosecutions in which he gained much credit were those of Britton, for murder, and Meyers for horse stealing.

Mr. Riddle was a Whig of the Giddings school. Upon the nomination of General Taylor in 1848, he rssued the first call for a mass meeting at Chardon, which inaugurated the Free-soil party of Ohio. Leading men came from surrounding counties, and in their timid hesitancy attempted to control the large assemblage in the interests of conservatism. After tedious waiting, Mr. Riddle took the floor, and when he left it the tide which was to overthrow the Whig party in Ohio swept in. The convention declared unanimously against Taylor, and was followed by similar conventions all over the Reserve. The Whig party bolted in a mass. Geauga and Trumbull counties at the time constituted a representative district. The Whig conventions of both counties nominated Mr. Riddle for representative, with Isaac Lee his colleague. That was a memorable year in the history of Ohio. Those familiar with public affairs at the time will recollect the long struggle between the Whig and Democratic parties, each claiming to have an organization of the house, and maintaining this separate organization for some time. Mr. Riddle was recognized as a member of each faction, and it was largely through his influence that difficulties were finally adjusted. The Free-soilers holding the balance of power, submitted through him a basis of settlement, which was finally adopted. Whenever, during the balance of the session, the Whigs and Free-soilers acted together, Mr. Riddle was their acknowledged leader. This struggle resulted in sending Salmon P. Chase to the United States senate, and in the repeal of Ohio's "black laws." At the next election the Free-soilers and Democrats united in the support of Mr. Riddle, and he was elected by a very large majority, the vote of the Whigs being cast for an opposing candidate.

At the meeting of the legislature it was found that the parties were again very nearly equally divided. The Free-soilers nominating Mr. Riddle for speaker, the Whigs withdrew their candidate in his favor, but he was defeated by one vote, through defection of a Free-soiler. During this session he was offered, but declined the secretary of stateship. He also declined being a candidate for a seat in the convention to revise the constitution of the State, a bill for which he had been instrumental in passing. It is safe to say that at this time he was regarded as one of the most promising young men of the State, possessing the talents and address requisite to success. But he seemed to feel that for the present he had enough of public life. Impaired health may have had its influence in bringing him to this conclusion.

In the spring of 1850 he removed to Cleveland, forming a partnership with Samuel Williamson, a lawyer of acknowledged ability, and for a time devoted himself purely to his profession. He also took into the Chardon firm Mr. A. H. Thrasher, making the firm of Phelps, Riddle & Thrasher, and besides extended business relations in Lorain and other adjoining counties. He gave especial attention to criminal business; the most important case at this date was that in which he defended one Brooks. His client was convicted, but the management of the case placed Mr. Riddle among the best criminal lawyers and advocates in Ohio. A year or two after entering this Cleveland firm, Mr. Williamson was chosen prosecuting attorney, but, the preparation of indictments and trial of cases mainly devolved upon his partner, Mr. Riddle. At the close of the term the latter was chosen to succeed Mr. Williamson. His rule was never to prosecute a doubtful case, or a case in which he himself had doubts of a man's guilt, however sure he might be of a conviction. It is said that the public so confided in him that no complaint was ever made of his conduct of State cases under this rule. Conviction was generally looked for when he put a man on trial, unless, as sometimes happened, the evidence induced him to

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abandon the case. Of the fifty last cases of felony tried by him, there were forty-seven convictions. Reference to some of the more important cases in which he was engaged during these years would be of interest, but want of space forbids. His quick appreciation and ready application of any point in evidence or law which would favorably affect his clients' interests, aided by his fertility of resource, made him an opponent to be dreaded, and frequently brought success where defeat seemed certain.

The celebrated "Oberlin Rescue Case," afforded a fine field for exhibiting this fertility of resource. A slave, fleeing from his master in Kentucky, found refuge in Oberlin. One Jennings, of Kentucky, secured a United States marshal in Ohio, with a warrant for his apprehension. Instead of openly arresting him, they secretly stole John away and fled with him to Wellington. Oberlin

rushed to the rescue. John was re-captured and sent to Canada. Some twenty of the Oberlin people were arrested and put on trial at Cleveland, in April, 1859. They were tried separately. They chose Mr. Riddle to defend them, placing their interests entirely in his charge, with authority to take to his aid any counsel he might choose. Distinguished counsel were employed on both sides. The trial produced great excitement in Ohio and the north. Mr. Riddle occupied

two days in his argument, portions of which were unusually thrilling, and produced applause, difficult to be controlled by the court. There were none but Democrats on the jury, and, of course, Bushnell, who was first tried, was convicted. His conviction was followed by that of Langston. Both prisoners were sentenced, and the court adjourned. Mr. Riddle took the case to the State

supreme court, secured a writ of habeas corpus, and, by the marshal attaching a

record of conviction to his returns, the whole case was brought under review.

It was heard by the court, Mr. Riddle again fully argued the questions involved, and was aided and opposed by other able counsel. The court, three to two, upheld the law. Then the grand jury of Lorain county indicted the Kentuckians, marshal and posse, for kidnapping, under the Ohio statute, and they were arrested. This new deal entirely changed the complexion of affairs. Able counsel from Kentucky interviewed Mr. Riddle in Cleveland, to learn his purpose, and were frankly told that it was to "force the United States to abandon further prosecution of the 'rescuers,' and liberate those already convicted." "Don't yon know," demanded Mr. Stanton, of Kentucky, "that John was a slave, and that his pursuers had a right, under the laws of the United States, to take him by any means they chose?" "I know all that," was the reply, "but you know that although John was a slave, you can't identify the man you captured. He is beyond your reach now, and you have not a witness in the world by which you can prove that he was a slave, Your gang, instead of executing their warrant like men, kidnapped the boy—as thieves—and as thieves they shall be tried, convicted, and sent to the penitentiary, unless these men are liberated."

The Kentuckians went on to Oberlin, and were soon satisfied, from the temper of the people, that the threat would be executed. Slaveocracy humbled herself, the terms were acceded to, and further prosecution of the cases was abandoned. Judge Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, was at the time United States attorney-general, and had the State Supreme Court made an adverse decision, there was great danger of collision between the two governments. By request of Governor Salmon P. Chase, the attorney--general of the State aided Mr. Riddle. Years after this, Judge Black and Mr. Riddle sat face to face at a dinner-table in Washington. Judge Black referred to the peril of the time, and the means he had prepared to meet it, and spoke of a young lawyer in Ohio, by the name of Riddle, who had been instrumental in creating the disturbance. He would like to meet him, and hear what he could say for himself. A gentleman sitting by his side, pointed out Mr. Riddle, as the lawyer to.

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whom he referred. The judge looking in amazement at the smiling face before him asked, "What did you intend to do by your course?" and received the reply, "To secure the acquittal of my clients." "Did you not know that you were imperiling the peace and integrity of the government?" quoth the judge. “If the supreme court had decided your slave law unconstitutional," said Mr.

Riddle, "it would not then have been the law in Ohio. Had you sought to enforce it, the responsibility would have rested with you. I confess, Judge, that the idea of precipitating over that act of Congress a collision between Ohio under Chase, and the United States under Buchanan and his attorney-general did occur to me, as a thing not to be shunned. It might have hastened the war when the south was as little prepared as the north." This was the beginning of a warm friendship between these gentlemen, and soon after, the judge proposed a law partnership with Mr. Riddle, and was especially anxious he should train his young son, Chauncey, in jury practice.

The trial of Cole for murder of his wife to make way for a mistress, was one of much notoriety. Mr. Riddle conducted the prosecution, and was opposed by such distinguished counsel as Ranney, Sherman and Thrasher. The closing argument of Mr. Riddle was conceded to be the most brilliant ever delivered in that region. The jury acquitted Cole, but the people condemned him, and he fled the country.

In 1860 the congressional district in which Mr. Riddle lived, embraced Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties. He made at this time an active canvass for nomination to Congress, and succeeded over a most formidable opponent, Hon..F. T. Backus.

In July, 1861, he took his seat in congress, at the extra session, called to take. I measures for suppression of the Rebellion. This was a poor time for a new man to make a reputation in congress. The executive monopolized the government; congress only met to sustain and swell its force and power. Soldiers, not legislators, were crowned with fame. Mr. Riddle was one of the few who early predicted the rebels would fight. He was one of the first to enlist; but delicate

' health unfitted him for a soldier's life. He spent much time and means in equipping and caring for the soldiers, and, in Washington, was conspicuous in his attention to them and their wants. Of six nephews, old enough to bear arms, all enlisted in the service. One lost his life, and five fought the war through.

He was said to have been largely instrumental in raising the Seventh and Forty-first Ohio regiments, and securing General Hazen to command the latter; also, that he procured the order for a battery, afterwards the Ninth Independent Ohio battery. The first Union flag raised over the capitol, at Nashville, was that presented to the Forty-first by one of his young daughters.

In his congressional career, Mr. Riddle won the respect and confidence of his fellows. He made it a point to be in his place, and confine himself to the business of the house. At the assembling of this congress there was really but one party, and no caucus named candidates for the various offices. Mr. Riddle did not support the successful candidate for speaker, and was paid by a place at the tail end of two important committees; but, on acquaintance, he and the speaker, Galusha A. Grow, became fast friends.

At the extra session, Mr. Crittenden's famous "slavery saving" resolution, declaring the object of the war, which in no event was to subvert slavery, passed, receiving but two negative votes—John F. Potter, of Wisconsin, and A. G. Riddle, of Ohio. Great intimacy between these gentlemen resulted from this circumstance. Afterwards, in 1864, it was intimated to Mr. Riddle that he could have the consul generalship to Canada, which he Would have liked, but Tinning Mr. Potter desired the place, he declined, and urged his friend's appointment, which was secured.

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Mr. Riddle first attracted attention in a case of contest from Philadelphia. Espousing the cause of a Democrat against the majority report of a committee, he succeeded in retaining the sitting member by one vote. It was a case for an advocate, and in his brilliant argument he gained the ear pf the house; showing that the contestant's claim rested on pure, but ingenious fraud. This fraud was so covered up that Democrats had no hope of success, and did little, until the quick eye and clear perception of Mr. Riddle exposed the whole thing.

His first set speech upon the subject of slavery was made in January, 1862. Its chief purport was to urge the arming of the slaves as soldiers, and was said to be the first public utterance upon the subject. Mr. Riddle's argument on the bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia drew out an able article in approval, in the Independent, by Horace Greeley. Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, and Mr. Riddle were the only avowed friends of Mr. Lincoln, at the end of the Thirty-seventh congress, and the speech of the latter, on the last night of the session, reviewing current events, and criticising the conduct of members towards the president, was largely used as a campaign document in the succeeding canvass in Ohio and elsewhere.

It will be remembered that the first, and disastrous battle of Bull Run occurred during the session of congress. Mr. Riddle, and other members visited the battle-field and witnessed some of its scenes of disaster and disgrace. In a familiar letter to his wife, describing these scenes, in that vigorous, forcible, and not over careful manner in which he was wont to express himself, he sharply criticised the conduct of some of the officers and men of the Union army. This, through the misjudgmerit of same of his friends, found its way into the Cleveland Leader. In the then excited state of the public mind, the impression produced was very unfavorable to Mr. Riddle. The rivalry between the Herald and Leader—the bone of contention being the Cleveland post-office, and Mr. Riddle having recommended Cowles of the Leader, for the position, made the Herald his bitter opponent. The columns of that paper teemed with articles fanning the flames of prejudice excited by the ill-judged publication before referred to. He, who but just now was riding on the tidal wave of popularity, had heaped upon him all manner of abuse.

At the nominating convention for the approaching election, he was defeated, although leading in the ballot until his name was withdrawn. During the continuance of this excitement, friends wrote him not to return to Cleveland for fear of personal violence; but when he did return, appearing in the most frequented places, no disrespect was shown him. That, for the time, there was much unpleasant feeling resulting from this occurrence, extending to a greater or less extent among his friends, there is no doubt. There certainly is just as little doubt of his intense patriotism and love for the soldier. The struggle was one long expected by his mature convictions, and every one heartily engaging in it upon the Union side commanded his support. Every fibre of his nature, every impulse of his heart prompted to, and all his means paid lavish tribute for the support, care and comfort of those who, taking their life in their hands, stood as a wall of fire between the government and those who sought its over-throw. Any representation from whatever source differing from this did in justice to the man.

He was urged by Horace Greely, among others, to run as an independent candidate, wrth the promise that the Tribune would support him, but yielding to other counsel, he declined to do so. This, and his failure to go to the defense of John Brown, he regarded as the two patent failures of his life. In the latter case he was absent from Cleveland when the summons came, and on his return, it was supposed too late to reach him in time for the trial, which afterwards proved not true, and Mr. Riddle very much regretted that he did not go.

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After the close of his brief congressional career he again devoted himself to the law. He was active in securing John Brough's nomination for governor in 1863, and did good service in the Vallandigham campaign. In the autumn of 1864, Mr. Riddle accepted a consulate in Cuba, proving a good pretext of making an examination into the plans and workings of blockade runners. In December he took passage to Nassau, and thence to Havana, in a British steamer, on which was a large number of rebels and blockade runners. He was absent until May, performing his mission to the entire satisfaction of the State department, remaining in its service sometime after his return. He was the means of the capture and detention of two blockade runners, and of breaking up a well arranged and extensive scheme, having its headquarters in New York.

He now determined to establish himself in Washington city in practice of the law, his family following him there late in the fall. Having the confidence of is Secretary Stanton, he was retained in many important military cases, gaining him both reputation and fees. Among these was defending General Baker at . Washington and Trenton, and General Schofield, at Richmond. At Trenton was associated with him Mr. Brady, of New York, who was so well pleased that he invited Mr. Riddle to New York to enter into business arrangements, and subsequently renewed the invitation with flattering assurances. Mr. Brady's death soon after closed the negotiations.

On entering the Washington bar Mr. Riddle was, and for some time continued to be, the only Republican lawyer in the district, and his success with juries secured him a large practice. For a time he was the sole counsel and advocate for the colored race, seldom receiving any fee for his services. The " Safe Burglary" case was one of the most remarkable cases ever occurring in this country. A full account of this trial, and of Mr. Riddle's connection with it, would be interesting, if space would permit. It must suffice to say that the ultimate confession of the chief executor and a subordinate in this conspiracy, proved the theory evolved by Mr. Riddle, from the evidence which was entirely circumstantial, to the minutest detail. The prosecution of this case was fatal to every man towards which the carefully prepared and justly-used evidence directed suspicion. They were marked and ruined. It also proved somewhat unfortunate for the man who conducted the prosecution. Some of the parties were very near to the president, and thus his mind was prejudiced against him. When Postmaster General Jewell desired Mr. Riddle to prosecute certain parties for fraud in the post-office department, he was not permitted to retain him. And in various ways he has been made to feel the persistent influence of secret, and because secret, powerful enemies. As shown by the record, Mr. Riddle is often before the supreme court of the United States, and none are accorded a more attentive hearing. He has tried many cases without a fee, but never voluteered in but one—the case of Minnie Gains. Reared a slave, she was abandoned by her betrayer in a heartless and cruel manner, when two or three months advanced in pregnancy. She killed a white man whose conduct, in the eye of popular opinion at the capital, had honored her. She was colored, without a friend. The man was well connected. It was in the early days of emancipation, and feeling was intense against her. She had no money, counsel, or witnesses. It was just the case to call for help from such as Riddle. He volunteered his services, sent into interior Virginia and, at much expense, secured testimony. One of his daughters, with other Washinton ladies, visited the woman in prison, and sat with her during her trial for life. It was one of the first cases where colored persons sat on the jury, about equal numbers of each race being upon it. The trial lasted a number of days. Excitement ran high, but the jury returned a verdict of acquital. The girl found a home in a family in Boston, and, at last accounts, was " proving herself worthy of her good fortune." This was one of

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about forty cases of homicide in which Mr. Riddle was engaged, and in only one did he entirely fail—this was in the case of Barney Wood, a Union soldier, who shot a man in a drunken fray. In spite of all his efforts the man was convicted and hanged. He has never engaged in a homicide trial since, though much in the criminal courts. Mr. Riddle has always had a large civil practice, and stood well as a commercial lawyer. From the commencement he has advocated all the various measures for the advancement of women. Woman's suffrage, he holds, is to this only a means, not an end. Before the judiciary committee of the lower house of congress he supported the proposition that women are entitled to vote, by just construction of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. In the ease of Mrs. Spencer, who tried but was not permitted to vote, he more fully discussed this question in an argument, regarded by the friends of the movement as irrefutable.

Mr. Riddle always had a great passion for books, and he is a large buyer of professional and miscellaneous works. Still he rarely reads a book through. Mastering the author and discovering the scope of his work, it is thrown aside to make way for another. He inclines to history and biography, but his library gives evidence of reading in a diversity of channels, including Darwin, Spencer and Mills. His first publication was a series of eight law lectures, delivered before the first class of colored students in Howard university. His first novel was "Bart. Ridgely," published in 1873. It was widely read and favorably noticed as the best American novel of the year. This was followed by the "Portrait," the scene of which, as of the former, was laid in the vicinity of the author's early life. The next year came "Alice Brand," a story of Washington life at the close of the war. Many claimed it was over-drawn, but intelligent residents of Washington at that day can identify many of the leading characters and incidents, and know the work to be a graphic picture of that strange time. Mr. Riddle has great facility in writing, and his capacity for dispatching professional business, gives time for engaging in other pursuits. In writing, his habit is to work out his idea mentally before committing anything to paper, and he only goes over to correct when the whole is done. It may fairly be said that his literary work has been done in snatches of time, taken in the intervals of professional business, and, more than anything else, in the nature of recreation. He has written much for newspapers, and in 1878 wrote the pioneer history of the townships of Geauga county, as published by the Williams Brothers in that year. The facts for this sketch are drawn from the life of Mr. Riddle published in the work just referred to, and the memory of one who has a vivid recollection of the time and very many of the incidents recorded. It is written of one who, starting in life in the woods of northern Ohio, with no very unusual early advantages, by his own effort established reputation, rising to positions of standing and influence. His reputation is especially that of a lawyer—perhaps it should be said criminal, certainly jury lawyer. His style of oratory, power of invective, ridicule, biting sarcasm and sympathetic appeal, accompanied by his earnest manner and forceful utterance, give him great power with twelve men in the jury box, as they do upon the platform, before assembled multitudes. Brief extracts from reported speeches widely commended show the character of his oratory.. In memory of John Brown, he said: "Then up arose John Brown, soldier and prophet--do not say that he was crazy, do not think it, do not so cloud his glory and, scanning this slavery, said, 'It was wrong, all wrong, allied to nothing good, or even indifferent, but wholly wrong. No matter how old it is, or how deeply imbedded in institutions; no matter how guarded by State constitutions and laws, or how esteemed, and received as good. No matter, though hedged in by the Union, and walled round by the triple bars of the national compact—though thirty-three crowned sovereigns, with

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arms in their hands, stand around it, it is wrong, and shalt be dealt with as wrong. I cannot approach it through the law, that forbids me. I cannot strike it through the constitution, that protects it. I cannot move the power of the Union, to crush it, that shields it. Yet all revelation commands me, all the instincts of humanity impel me, all the voices of the free creation call me, and I fall back on the eternal reservation of rights, and obey."

"Shall slavery for all this repose one night? Shall it not imagine the soul of John Brown, in form of the red visaged angel of retributive wrath, hovering on the pinions of fright and terror, over all her doomed domain,—distilling ghastly images of blood upon the startling eyeballs of her cowering votaries. And that blow! what a wonder! and what a revelation! That little metallic clink, not so loud as the sullen anvil gives back to the hammer, shook a continent, and its echoes and re-choes, as they repeat, grow louder and louder, and they shall never It shattered the fetters of every slave in the land; and could the Moses have gone on, another exodus might have been possible. It revealed the utter, deathly weakness of slavery. At once and forever, it dissipated the cloud, and mystery, and darkness that enshrouded it; and an awakened world beheld it—empty, and hollow, and naked, and helpless, and hopeless; languishing and dying in its deformity,—and there were no reverent sons walking backward with its garments to cover the unsightly hideousness from a mocking universe.

"What a revelation, tdo, this act has made of the character and conduct of John Brown himself, showing us that men of the grand old type,—souls of the great heroic mould—are still possible—still have their birth in our land; men who realize the images that have haunted our memories since the tales of our childhood. The world has never seen the paragon of that incident in the last struggle; when every thing had failed but the sacrifice,—and, as if, without the "shedding of blood, there could be no remission," and that the offering might be perfect, while one son lay dead before him, with the lapsing-pulse of the other dying boy ebbing from under the fingers of one hand, with the other still grasping his rifle, the voice of the old soldier prophet was heard ringing out over the din of battle, calling the last of his band to death.

"To-day the earth mourns in storm and darkness, the departure of its truest child. To-day the pearly gates opened with light and gladness to the grandest soul that has passed their portals for the last thousand years."

"Of his intimate friend, Judge Pashal: "I stand amid crowds of men. I see fewer and fewer of my contemporaries, and the world though full, becomes a desert. This blow intensifies the solitude of my life. I cast my eyes about t o see how lonely I stand. I turn to this newly made grave; I would lay a fitting Offering upon it. The buds will no longer blossom for me. The very leaves, with my tears upon them, wither and perish in my hands. I remit the task to others." "To him was given clear, steady hope of the future. He died with its glow on the opening pinions of his spirit. We may not regret him. His career wascompleted. He lived and died a man; every. inch, fibre, instinct, was pure, manly. Strong, brave, gentle, tender, loving; true to his generation, true to his kind, true to his country, true to his God. True counsellor, true friend,

true lover, true husband, true father."

Of Stanton, Lincoln's iron war secretary: "There is a new made grave in our midst, so large that it seems to fill all the land, and the earth that rounds it up is streaked with the red of the great battle-fields of the continent; and I have something to say of him whose remains rest under it. Not eulogy! God forgive the man who attempts that. Anything, the words of hate are more. fitting than eulogy. Some strong, forceful, earnest words with meaning—or silence from me. The sun, storm and clouds may eulogize the mountain—not I.

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The ordinary functions of the government were in abeyance, and all the primal energies of an aroused people went to inspire the brain and strengthen the arm of the executive. The executive was the government; Lincoln was the prominent figure before men's eyes, towering and growing colossal. Back of Lincoln was Stanton; back of Stanton—nothing. Men say that he was rough. Of course, he was. He was a primal force of nature; used to break up the old crust of the earth, throw up new mountains, and change the configuration of a continent. I fancy him in twilight solitude by some sounding sea, quarrying a mountain and throwing up a giant's causeway in a night. The extinction of rebellion by force was his task, and no fateful destiny ever moved more inexorably than he, to its performance. He would hear and see and know nothing else. Whatever would help, he used; whatever would hinder, was ruthlessly thrust aside. Nothing could deter or divert. To the world he was dark, cold, inscrutable, inexorable. Union soldiers were perishing or becoming idiots in Andersonville. He would rescue them by crushing Richmond, and deal the blow when he got ready.

"How men hated hrm! Did he know it; did he care? Did men love him? he never asked. Love was not necessary to him then. How was he lied about! Did he hear it? Whether he did or not, no word of his was ever uttered to contradict, deny, explain, or expose. Though the earth wavered like a storm tossed sea, he stood firm; though it was covered from sight by dead men, he saw them not; though the bosom of the storm discharged fire and blood and gobbets of mangled human flesh, he seemed unconscious of it. How inscrutable that the staunch ship that had so defied and outrode the storm should go so suddenly down, under a sunny sky, in its harbor. After all, what was left for him. The one place proper for him, might never come to him. What other was there that he would not have to step down to. I confess that I think it better for him as it is—that now his nobler part should follow up that golden strand that connects this with the better life. To me it seems well that the great seal of death should certify him and his case up to the high tribunal of impartial history.

"Long hence, when this atmosphere is cleared, and the light becomes white; when the sources of events are laid bare, and the springs of actions disclosed; when all the hiding places of information are revealed; some broad-browed, deep-eyed, thoughtful student of history, with infinite care, will construct the story of our struggle, and Lincoln and his secretaries will take their final places. Yet, long ere then we shall have passed away. The passing footsteps of thronging generations will have beaten the green roofs of our resting places back to the level plain, and our names and memories will have perished from the earth."

His unpublished speeches upon the death of Chief Justice Chase, and the younger Stanton are said to have equalled any of the foregoing. A man of medium height, slightly built, light complexion, quick, wiry, nervous temperament, and somewhat impulsive; of strong convictions, warm friendships and sharp antagonisms. When young he is remembered as seemingly abstracted, preoccupied with his own thoughts and fancies, occasionally breaking out in droll words and witty sayings. Apparently, he cared little for those about him, and yet, then, as in later life, he was careful of dress and personal appearance, but utterly reckless of consequences to himself, as in his clear, terse and vigorous style, he gave utterance to his conviction of men and things. He has been before the eyes of men for many years; has done much work, and met many of the vicissitudes of human experience. The world will judge of his life and character, and assign him his place among the men of his generation.

In January, 1845, Mr. Riddle married Caroline, eldest daughter of the late Judge Avery, of Chardon, a young lady of rare grace of figure and strong, sweet ,     .

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traits of character. To them have been born a family of interesting children, six of whom are still living, one son and five daughters, the youngest of whom nineteen years old.

ARTHUR. HENRY THRASHER.

The Thrashers, father and son, were most decided men. The name Thrasher has a decided sound. They came from New Hampshire, which, from the number of her population, has produced more remarkable men than any other part of the Republic. Men have to be uncommon to live there. Winter rules half the year, and the whole of the years must be given to a ceaseless struggle for life, in which the feeble perish young, if the feeble are ever born there. Dr. lamb Thrasher, the father of Arthur, was a cousin of the Websters, Daniel and Ezekiel, on the mother's side, through whom the brains must have come. He , was a remarkable man, standing six feet, spare, bony, erect, well made, with a magnificent head all forward of and above the ears—a man of rare dignity of bearing, of classical education, rare intellect, keen, subtle, caustic, endowed with great wit and pitiless sarcasm.

After his arrival in Troy, though bred to medicine, which he had abandoned, he was much employed in the trial of cases before magistrates. Without knowledge of law, his sagacity, knowledge of men, wit and sarcasm, made him formidable as an irregular practitioner.

The Hon. A. G. Riddle, from whose sketch in the Williams' history this has been condensed, writes of him as havrng a large fund of practical information tested, distilled, and used until seemed veritable wisdom, and, with readiness, tact, and ability, his conversation, interspersed with anecdotes, and keeness of wit, was rarely equaled.

He was poor, had convivial habits, tried cases, gave Riddle, then a young lawyer, much valuable advice and suggestion, and was always to him an enigma of human character, conduct and fortune.

Arthur's mother was a Branscomb, a respectable New Hampshire family. He was named for her only brother. That Arthur was a lawyer of ability, and was several times a member of the New Hampshire legislature.

Arthur H. was born at Deerfield, New Hampshire, March 19, 1819. In his infancy the family moved to Crown Point, Essex county, New York, and when he was twelve years old came to Troy. He was at school in Parkman, and later, occupied an otherwise deserted log cabin, subsisting himself, by the aid of his brothers and sisters, in Troy, under the tuition of the late B. F. Abel, esq., an accomplished teacher, and one of the most amiable of men. Here he was deep in the classics.

I also hear of him in school at Delaware, Ohio, of his teaching for short periods. His father seems to have early left him to himself, probably about all he could do for him; and to one of the nature, character, and aspirations of young Arthur, this could be done with absolute safety. Emulous, pure-hearted, patient, hopeful, docile, but high-spirited and proud, an early death or honorable success invariably attends such youths. Under the difficulties surrounding him he made his way—may have matured slowly. So much the better in the long, arduous struggle of life. At ten, fifteen, or twenty-five, no man can, with any certainty, forecast the five or six great men of forty years hence—perhaps not one of the five hundred extraordinary, or even of the one thousand distinguished of that future. His grasp of a knotty point, a problem, was that of a vice. He

held it till he extracted its secret, till it dissolved to simples in his hand.

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In 1844 he entered the law office of Hitchcock & Wilder as a student of law. After a few months he went to southern Indiana and taught school. Here, with a brother, he purchased a drove of swine, which they took to New Orleans. It proved a bad speculation. He, however, managed to return to law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. For the ensuing two years he made Troy his headquarters, attended to cases before magistrates, and appeared in some trials at Ravenna and Chardon.

In 1850, on the removal of A. G. Riddle to Cleveland, at his request, Mr. Thrasher became a member of the firm of Phelps, Riddle & Thrasher. Subsequently of the firms of Riddle, Thrasher & Williston; Phelps & Thrasher; and Thrasher, Durfee & Hathaway, practicing in Geauga and Lake, with excursions into Ashtabula and Portage. He lived in Chardon until his death, which occurred December 9, 1864, at the early age of forty-five.

Mr. Thrasher never held an office, never sought one. He was a thorough lawyer. It opened a field of labor which enlisted all his powers; its successes gratified his ambition, its emoluments gave him the means of liberal living, and, with his care, would have produced affluence. The firm of which he first become a member had one side, usually the plaintiffs, of quite all the cases in Geauga, and a fair practice in Lake.

Mr. Thrasher's ability and industry, with the aid of Mr. Riddle in trials, kept up and rather increased it, especially in Lake. His application approached the wonderful. He thoroughly mastered the law. That which he once secured he always retained. No hint of fact or law was lost on him. As fast as means permitted he added to the library, and his books were implements of warfare, not embellishments to attract or please the eye, The practice of law with him was a constant conflict. The declaration was a declaration of war,—instant; relentless, and without quarter or cessation; always pushed to extremity, never abandoned till the end was reached; ever renewed till the last honorable expedient was exhausted. His client was his friend, brother, himself. His cause, his cause; his feelings, hi§ feelings; his opponents, his advocate's enemy. He supplemented the knowledge and zeal of the lawyer with the interest, zeal, and animosity of the party. While this secures the utmost fidelity, the most untiring, persistent attention and labor, the brain is sometimes too heated, and the mists of passion obscure the vision. The danger is, your opponent becomes your enemy,—never can become your client. There never was a safer man to entrust a case to than Arthur H. Thrasher. No man ever dreamed of corrupting him. "The cause he knew not, he searched out," literally. If law then was in all the books that would help him, his counsel would certainly find and bring it forward. If a man in the world knew a thing which would aid him, his counsel would surely have him at the trial ; and all that could be done in the way of preparation, care, and industry, a high degree of ability in the trial and presentation of the case, without regard to the amount involved or time consumed in the trial, were certain to be well and thoroughly done. The danger was overwork, too great care. He usually knew exactly what the witnesses on his side knew, and all they knew. He was often exacting as to the precise form of the words they should use, and he returned again and again to the point, often when .unimportant, until he had it as he wished it; or, as sometimes happened, in the forgetfulness, perversity, or anger of the witness, he was foiled altogether. As a lawyer, Mr. Thrasher ranked high. Time, growth, industry, talents, are all requisite to produce a lawyer. These would certainly have conducted him to the very foremost rank.

As an advocate, a speaker, he was strong, clear, argumentative, and forcible; was without imagination or fancy; was always too intensely in earnest to indulge the vein of pleasant humor which would make him a delightful companion: His

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speeches at times might have been improved in method, and quite as effective if of diminished length. Sometimes after a masterly presentation of his case, in the fear that he had omitted something, or had not produced it in its strength, he returned to different parts of it, at the hazard of weakening or confusing the effort as a whole. He had many of the advantages of a good speaker,—a fine, well-knit, tall, slender form; open, frank, manly face (resembling his mother's race, I am told); aquiline features; dark, fine eyes; glossy, wavy black hair, carefully arranged; and dressed with a neatness and style of costume unusual in a village, and which sometimes provoked the comment of the rustic. One of the most honorable and high-minded of men, he thought well of himself, though not too well. Modest he was, but he knew he was every inch a man, and always dressed and bore himself as became a man, and the thorough gentleman that he was.

No man at the head of a large practice, which he pursued with the methods and industry of Mr. Thrasher, could long survive. Though with a fine physique, pure, temperate, blameless life, the man who should have gone on to the :bead of his profession, ruled on the supreme court bench of his State, presided as her chief magistrate, or, wiser still, have remained in private practice, so labored in it as to sap the foundations and conditions of life itself, and die at the immature age of forty-five, distinguished in the small circle of two or three counties, and great only in possibility.

Among the cases of local celebrity which connect themselves with Mr. Thrasher's name are those of Lampson vs. Pool, of Croy, all about a yearling steer which both claimed. It was rutted, had its tail cut in due form in the spring, and turned away with the herd on the rich Cuyahoga bottoms. In autumn it had waxed fat and kicked. Pool secured it; was sued by Lampson. It was worth seven dollars, cost a thousand, divided a township, illustrated a principle in the supreme court, and the folly of the law as men appeal to it, and added much to Mr. Thrasher's reputation, who finally won it.

Then there was the case of Bosley vs. Spencer, for flowing water back onto his water-wheel, in South Thompson, which his side gained, mainly through his efforts. Tucker and Tucker, all about a puddle of water. were ter. The Tuckers, of Chardon, brothers, of narrow, strong, unyielding qualities, were at feud. There was an intermittent little brook meandering, when it could run, through a field of Hosea Tucker. t one point, on the line between them, a sup of it could at times be had, in an angle of the line fence on Orrin Tucker's side. Orrin had plenty of other water; could use this, when there was any, for stock. Hosea put in a stout fence at that point, which cut Orrin off. Orrin put a suit to him straightway; employed able counsel. Thrasher & Co. defended. Five years the war Lasted. Orrin was beaten finally, and ruined, and Dr. Thrasher uttered an epigram on tote poor old mother of these sons.

Who in Geauga and Lake does not remember Mrs. Fuller's case against Hezekiah Cole, for breach of marriage promise, and everything else, tried the last of many times at Painesville, in February, 1861? Thrasher made the case, in a way. He resurrected the facts, and witnesses, too, and finally secured as verdict, though others aided in the trial.

I need only mention the case of Ohio vs. Cole, for poisoning his wife. In this case Thrasher literally created the defense. He did very much to educate the medical witnesses, whose testimony was effectively used. It is true T that on the final trial Ranney and Laban Sherman made the speeches, true was the life, brain, and spirit of the remarkable and successful defense. Indeed, so intense and long-continued were his labors and anxiety in this case, that I have always attributed the ruin of his own health to it. Cole's whole life was not worth the idlest moment of the brave spirit that dimmed its own earthly day for him.

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Let it not be suspected for a moment that Mr. Thrasher's enemies even ever accused him of sharp practice, or the use of unfair or dishonorable means, in any of those ardently pursued cases. His warfare was open, frank, and most honorable.

On the nineteenth of December, 1850, Mr. Thrasher joined in marriage with Miss Mary A. Merriam, daughter of M. D. Merriam, esq,, of Burton, and granddaughter of the late Johnson F. Welton. Of attractive person, carefully educated, and very pleasing manners, devoted, and womanly, she brought to him the contrasts and counterparts without which even devoted, untiring love may fail to secure rational happiness.

Of earnest and sincere convictions and reverent nature, Mr. Thrasher had always treated the subject of religion with respect. A year or two before his death he felt constrained to openly acknowledge his deepened convictions, and became an active member of an organized body of orthodox christians. He was of the advanced on the subject of slavery, and behind none in ardent patriotism. In his early years at the bar the intensity of his advocacy made him some enemies. As he advanced in years, he softened somewhat the ardor of his invective. He came finally to understand that his opponents were not all totally depraved, and his clients and witnesses not monopolrsts of truth and virtue. All the world finally came to see the integrity and purity of his life; that his faults sprang wholly from his zeal for what to him was the cause of justice and truth; and they felt and acknowledged the essential manliness, strength, and force of his character, and regarded him accordingly. Daily was he growing in the esteem, confidence, and respect of his fellows. More and more was it seen and felt that he was a strong, brave, pure man—one to be trusted and confided in,—and he was rapidly reaching his proper place in the regards of all. In his own circle, by his own fireside, with his kin and friends, he was always the truest, tenderest, and most thoughtful of men.

My hand lingers tenderly and lovingly over this sketch. I am loath to finish and leave it. I know it will have the tribute of my tears. He was one of the most cherished of my manhood's friends. When I clasped his hand in mine I knew that its pulse was absolute truth—that his instincts were loyal, and his spirit high and pure.

Of his marriage was born a son, Albert J., May 3, 1858. He has the manly figure and bearing, with the mentality, of his father; the blonde complexion, blue eyes, pleasing face, and sparkling manner of his mother. Thus far he has not developed the bodily vigor and hardihood which permits the devotion to study he would so much desire. That will come in time. He is an object of much interest to the wide circle of his father's friends. With his mother, whose life of pure widowhood is one of devotion to him, he finds his home, with her parents, at their pleasant retreat in Burton.

L. E. DURFEE, ESQ.

This gentleman is the senior of the well-known law firm of Durfee & Stephenson, of Chardon. He was born September 15, 1817, in Hopkinton, St. Lawrence county, New York. His father, James Durfee, was a native of Connecticut, and his mother, Charlotte Hopkins, a native of Vermont. They were married at historic Ticonderoga, in 1810. The Durfees were of good Irish extraction, and first planted themselves in Rhode Island. They were probably refugees in Ireland from France, and the name may have been D'Urfey. At what time Joseph Durfee established himself in Hopkinton, I am not advised.

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It was a wild, savage region, covered with forests and infested with wild beasts, against which the inhabitants had to band themselves for their own protection, and where young Durfee spent his boyhood and early youth, in the absence of many of the more refining pastimes, in the hunting of wolves and other animals, for which it is said he evinced a taste and aptitude. Fishing, hunting, and trapping received his early attention, the pelts of the smaller fur-bearing animals his main source of revenue. These were his pastimes. His serious business was work on the farm. He somehow early made a speaking acquaintance with the alphabet, and evinced fondness for books, for which he paid some of the money left him by his father in his hands, proceeds of the fur trade. He found his way to the schools, and became interested in arithmetic, for which he undoubtedly had a natural aptitude. He seems also to readily have acquired the rudiments of, such other branches as were put in his way in the common schools of that region. Like other country youths, after ten or twelve years of age his chances for school were limited to the winter seasons. At eighteen he had mastered all the schools could do for him, and his father thought him well educated, and that, on the whole, he had been liberal to him in that matter.

When he was thirteen his father was elected to the important post of supervisor of the township, which brought a mass of books and papers under the eyes of the future counselor, with which he seems to have made himself early familiar and acquired some notions of affairs and tastes for business matters connected with the statutes and civil service of New York. He troubled the elder Durfee with a great many puzzling questions. The attention he bestowed on the subjects and the frequency of his discussions of the questions involved in them, with his early gravrty of demeanor, won for him the title of squire at the early age of sixteen, rendered as his due, as we are informed. At eighteen his father declined re-election, and the books and papers, and the opportunities they afforded, departed from the "squire." He then desired his father to enable him to improve his education and study law, which was declined, and for a time the idea was abandoned.

In 1836 his father visited the west, and resolved to make Geauga county his future residence. Two elder brothers of L. E. were then in Ohio, and they persuaded the father, against the importunity of L. E., the younger, to abandon the idea of Chicago or the farther west, and fix himself in the State of their adoption and the subject of this sketch became a citizen of this State, greatly against his youthful predilections. The removal took place that fall. Mr, Durfee purchased land in Troy, a saw-mill and a house in the village of Parkman, where the family took up its residence, which proved not much in accord with the tastes of the young man. He was inducted into the saw-mill, a part of the senior's new purchase, and had to square logs instead of the statutes of New York, and had to deal with "deals" and sawdust. One advantage the change brought—a good select school, of which he was permitted to avail himself during the winter, and in which, from his studious habit and the grave and earnest character of his mind, he made very satisfactory progress. The crash of 1837 came with ruin to the elder Durfee. He escaped with fifty acres of land in Troy, where he now took refuge, and where the rest of his days were spent. The young man reached the age of twenty-one, which was in the year 1838, a healthy, robust, ambitious youth, whey, with a few needed things tied in a bandanna handkerchief and five dollars in his pocket, he turned from his mother's door, not to attend the supreme court at Columbus, but in search of fortune or fate, west. The fifth morning found him on the banks of the Maumee.

Taking the left bank, he visited old Fort Meigs, and saw the Indians in the neighborhood. At the Otsego mills, beyond, he was offered fifteen dollars per month for his labor. He accepted, and engaged for a year. He

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remained a year and a half, and returned to Troy with the malaria in his bones, satisfied with Maumee.

At Troy he found B. F. Abel engaged in an excellent high school, and he became a pupil. Here he was a fellow-student with A. H. Thrasher, whom he had seen at Parkman, and they became life friends. Quickened by Thrasher's example, and urged by his advice, Durfee now determined to undertake the law, without money, and health shattered by the malaria of the Maumee. Years were coming on—that is to say, he was a ripe youth, and time for dalliance was past. He pushed through his self-prescribed course, and became a student in the office of Governor Ford. Here he remained with profit for several months, and then changed to Tiffin' the office of Cowdry & Wilson. Here he became a deputy sheriff, finished his law course, and was admitted to the bar. He was then nearly thirty years old.

He now visited the territory of Wisconsin, found that he was still suffering from ill health, returned to Geauga, and spent the winter. Meantime, business came in upon him and settled the question of location. He remained in Troy some three years, and did what came to him.

On the thirty-first of December, 1851, he formed his first and probably wisest copartnership. He was united with Miss Sophia C. Tinckham, a most estimable lady, in marriage, and removed to Chardon in December, 1852. Mr. Durfee had already practiced in several of the counties. He now concentrated his efforts to build up a business with its center at Chardon.

Henceforth his life is that of a hard-working, painstaking, and, on the whole, a very successful, lawyer.

In the case of Lamson vs. Pool, referred to in the sketch of A. H. Thrasher, aided by E. T. Wilder, he was the counsel for plaintiff, and opponent to Messrs. Riddle &: Thrasher, There, in the first trial, the jury stood eleven for the plaintiff, but on the second the verdict went for the defendant—a not unusual thing to find a second jury agreeing with' the minority of the first. So also in the Bosley and Spencer water case, Mr. Durfee was opposed to Mr. Thrasher. There was no lack of ability and learning on the part of Mr. Durfee in these cases.

The changes of time brought Messrs. Thrasher, Durfee and Hathaway into the same firm, one of the strongest of the later years in Geauga, to which Mr. Durfee contributed his full share. To his efforts mainly was due their success in the important case of Dunlap vs. Knapp (14 0. S. Rep., p. 65). The case of Chamberlain vs. the Painesville & Hudson Railroad company, was specially in his charge, and in this his labors entitle him to much credit. There he had the not unusual satisfaction for him of having his views finally adopted as the law of the case (15 Id., p. 225). So also the same railroad company vs. King (17 Id., P. 535), carried up from Cuyahoga. Indeed, it is a rare compliment to the accuracy of Durfee's learning and judgment that he is usually sustained by the court of the last resort.

His mind was singularly accurate and clear in its processes; and if his conclusions cost him much care and labor, they are worth the cost. He tries a case well and thoroughly, and because his preparation has been ample. He understands that the best work in the trial of a case is done out of court. As a speaker he is methodical, clear, and can be compact, his argument logital, without a touch of fancy or a ray of humor. His voice and manner are good.

On the whole, considering 'the many disadvantages under which Mr. Durfee labored in early life, he is entitled to the highest credit for the position which he has won for himself at the bar. Strict integrity, a high purpose, great energy, and patience have secured his enviable place, and will sustain him in it to the end.

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He began at Chardon as a partner with Judge Bissell. This was succeeded by the firm of Forrest, Durfee & Hathaway. Forrest went to Warren and the juniors remained, till the company, with Thrasher, was made up. On the death 3if Mr. Thrasher, the juniors remained in company for some time, and in 1865 the present firm of Durfee & Stephenson was formed, and still continues.

In politics Mr. Durfee was reared a Jackson Democrat. Born in St. Lawrence county, he could hardly have been otherwise. The issues of slavery enlightened him, as they did many patriotic Democrats.

In 1870 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and served two terms. He seems not to have been

ambitious of place; and though winning and enjoying largely the esteem and confidence of the people, the less worthy might surpass him in the mere race of popularity.

One of the judges of the court remarked soon after Mr. Durfee commenced practice: "That young Durfee must have some Scotch blood in his veins," which proved to be true on his mother's side. His father was of the Huguenot colony, in France, so famous for civil and religious liberty. The name was then, and for a long time after coming to this country, spelled DeUrfee. The Geauga and Lake history says that his opinions on questions of law have been well sustained by the courts of dernier resort. Santa Anna said, respecting the battle that decided the Mexican campaign, that he fairly whipped General Taylor, but the old man did not know enough to know it, and kept on fighting till we were vanquished ourselves. Perhaps some of Durfee's opponents may have felt somewhat like that when decisions made by the highest judicial tribunals of the State were in his favor. He is the oldest member of the bar in Geauga county. The firm of Durfee & Stephenson have a good share of business in the profession.

I. N. HATHAWAY,

Attorney, Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, was born in Hambden township, Geauga county, Ohio, June 8, 1827 ; a son of James Hathaway, a well-known resident of the county, and one of its most enterprising pioneer citizens, and a descendant of that blanch of the Hathaways which settled in Fall River, Massachusetts. [For further particulars of ancestry see sketch of James Hathaway, published elsewhere in this work.] Like many of the mature citizens of the State, lawyer Hathaway spent his youth in the woods, helping to clear the way, and to afford opportunity to a less toilsome civilization. In his boyhood he shared the vicissitudes of the family, which were many. He was educated in elementary learning in the common schools, attended the seminaries in the vicinity of his home, and used his accumulated knowledge in the business of instructing others. Impelled by an honorable ambition, he entered the law office of Phelps &. Riddle, and was admitted to the bar in April, 1854, and began the practice of law in Chardon. In the fall of 1865 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, and again re-elected in 1867, serving four years. In May, 1868, he went as a delegate from the Nineteenth district of Ohio to the National Republican convention, which met in Chicago. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the Ohio senate for the district composed of Geauga, Lake, and Ashtabula counties. While connected with the senate he served on several important committees, as follows: Committee on judiciary, committee on statistics; committee on temperance, and several minor committees. At the expiration of his senatorial term he declined a re-nomination, preferring to attend to his law

practice.

Mr. Hathaway is closely wedded to his profession. A good student, he cher-

344 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

ished an honorable ambition for excellence. He possesses a high estimate of the dignity of his profession, and stands well at the bar of his county. He is zealous in all that pertains to the interests of his client. He has a large practice. In the language of a contemporary, "He has more business than he ought to attend to." But as he possesses an hereditary aptness for the despatch of affairs, he ranks high as a business man. As a lawyer, he is successful. As a politician, his record has been excellent, without exception. While in the State senate he was emphatically a working member. His constituents still speak of his service there with great praise, for his vote and influence were always on the side of right. As a man, he is quaint and kindly, courteous and affable in social intercourse. He was married January 9, 1855, to Sarah J. Hayden, of Chardon. Her family were early settlers of Ohio, many of whom now occupy useful and honored positions in various parts of the country. They have two children—Charles J., deceased in childhood, and Kate H.

Mr. Hathaway was elected, by. a large majority, to the house of representatives of Ohio, in the fall of 1879.

* D. W. CANFIELD

was born in Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, September 21, 1828. His father, Platt Canfield, was the oldest of the four sons of Aaron Canfield, who, with his family, removed from Tyringham, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and settled in Chardon in 1814. Aaron was a grandson of Colonel Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, Connecticut. The mother of D. W. Canfield was a daughter of Nathaniel Read, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts. The subject Of this sketch received his education principally in the schools of Professors Alfred Holbrook and T. W. Harvey. He was engaged in teaching three terms, and in 1849 was married to Sophrona E. Allen, daughter of Ira Allen, esq., formerly from Danby, Vermont. He remained for several years after his marriage on the farm originally occupied by his father, in Chardon, during which time he prepared himself for the practice of his profession. In 1858 he graduated at the Union Law college, and was admitted to the bar the same year. During that year he also formed a copartnership with John French, which was terminated by the death of Mr. French in October, 1861. The same fall he was elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, and held that office four years.

In 1861 he formed a copartnership with Hon. H. K. Smith, which terminated in 1866 by the election of H. K. Smith to the office of probate judge of Geauga county. Upon the retirement of Mr. Smith, another copartnership was formed with Judge M. C. Canfield, which continued for five years, and was dissolved by the election of M. C. Canfield to the office of common pleas judge. During the time he was a partner of Mr. Canfield he served two years as representative of the county in the State legislature. Shortly after this be held the office of mayor of the incorporated village of Chardon.

In 1871 he formed a copartnership with Hon. I. N. Hathaway, which lasted until the fall of 1875, when he was elected common pleas judge, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge M. C. Canfield, and served in that capacity until the expiration of his term, at which time he again resumed the practice of his profession.

The Canfields were among the earliest, as they have always been among the most substantial, respected, and influential families of Chardon. The subject

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of this sketch may be styled emphatically a self-made man, owing more to his fortunate parentage, especially to a most excellent, intelligent, and devoted mother, and to his own native energy and will, than to any outward advantages for his success in life. He received only a common education. As a lawyer he early took a prominent position at the bar of his county, which he has ever since maintained, the experience acquired in a long and successful practice having in later years added greatly to his professional resources. Possessing very considerable natural force and fluency as a speaker, combined with quick discernment, ready tact, and an earnest, pleasing manner, he has the essentials of a good advocate, and, in the presentation to a jury of a case in which his sympathies are enlisted, is not often excelled. The duties of the several honorable and responsible positions to which he has been called have been discharged with ability and fidelity. In the house he served with credit on the judiciary and other important committees, and was recognized, even by his political opponents, as a most useful member; and it is believed that no judge with so short a term of service ever left the bench with a better record. He has always been active and efficient in the promotion of the interests of his town and county, every enterprise having this end in view meeting with his cordial support. He is also a strong advocate of the temperance and other reform movements. Though by early education and associations a Democrat, he became identified with the Republican party from its organization, and has long been one of its acknowledged leaders in Geauga county. A man of clear intellect, ardent temperament, and strong attachments, few have more decided elements of popularity or

success.

Mr. Canfield's life has been blessed with that greatest of benefactions, a wife in whom those qualities that grace and ennoble womanhood are united in a marked degree. To him she has always proved a real helper and a loving companion. Active in the affairs of the church and society, and faithful to the duties of the home-life she so fondly loves, she has ever proven herself to be the true woman, wife, and mother.

He has three children living—one son, Ira W. Canfield, and two daughters— Eva C. Metcalf, wife of Thomas Metcalf, jr., of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Lizzie L. Canfield, of Chardon. He has lost one daughter—Della W., who died August 23, 1877, aged eleven years and eleven months, which bereavement was the greatest of all the sorrows of his life. In religion he has been a member of the Christian church for more than thirty years.

Since Mr. Canfield's return to the bar, he is having a good amount of business entrusted to him. The same courteous deportment and persevering application to business that made him popular on the bench, has secured him a good amount of practice in his profession, and public confidence in his ability and close application to business entrusted to him.

*ORRIN SMITH FARR

is of English descent, his grandfather migrating to this country and settling in Connecticut, opposite Bellows Falls. The father of Orrin was the oldest of the family, and went to Ohio in 1813; served in the United States army in the war of 1812. He returned to Connecticut, and after two years married Betsey, oldest child of Nathaniel Mastick, and with her removed to Ohio, settling first is-brain county, near the site of the present town of Elyrilt.

* From Williams Brothers' history of Geauga and Lake counties.

+ From Williams Brothers history.

346 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

Of Mr, Farr's great-grandfather, on his mother's side, whose name was John Salter, this story may be told. He was the only son of a rich Holland family, and when nine years old he went on board a British man-of-war, was decoyed below, and carried to sea. He remained on ship-board in various capacities, and remained in the English service nine years. Finally, when his ship was in Boston, he deserted, changed clothes with a stone-mason, and pushed inland, under ;he name of John Mastick, and though pursued, escaped. He settled, married, had children; afterwards an advertisement appeared in a New York paper for the heirs of the rich Holland house, and one of his sons, with such proofs as he could gather up, went to Europe, and was never heard of after.

Orrin Smith was the seventh of ten children, and born in Shalersville, Portage county, May 24, 1835. In 1840 the family moved to Troy, Geauga county, purchased and lived a little north of Fox's corners. Young Farr early evinced much energy, supporting himself at thirteen, and having the care of the family at eighteen, and from that time for many years. After the father's death the property became the subject of litigation, which lasted thirteen years, and till May of the present year, when it resulted in Mr. Farr's favor. Judge H. K. Smith, of Chardon, then at the bar, and who had charge of Mr. Farr's interest, suggested to him that he enter upon the study of the law under his care, and loaned him Walker's "American Law" and Blackstone. Acting on this suggestion, Mr. Fan, on his way home, purchased a small law library and took up the study, carrying on his farm at the same time. He pursued the law with commendable diligence, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1868, then at the mature age of thirty-three.

Mr. Farr early had a decided inclination for the bar, but was hampered by so many embarrassments that the chance did not seem to come to him till an age when the experiment is usually deemed hazardous, unless to one with special aptitude, which Mr. Fan undoubtedly possessed. His friends and acquaintances had such confidence in his ability, that when at the bar but a year, he was brought forward, nominated, and elected prosecuting attorney of Geauga county, and removed to Chardon, where he has since resided. He was elected mayor of the town in 1876.

Mr. Farr's opportunities for an education were limited, but a quick, shrewd mind made up for much of the deficiencies. His father was a life-long Democrat. At nineteen young Fan secured the Boston Liberator,.the New York Tribune, and Cleveland Plain Dealer. Whoever read the two former, even in connection with the Plain Dealer, would be certain to have healthful and enlightened political ideas, and as a matter of course he graduated a staunch Republican, and is known as an occasional effective political speaker.

He has all his life been a practical temperance liver and advocate, in support of which he is an able advocate, and recently won the deserved commendation of the Painesville press for a speech delivered in Kirtland.

In person Mr. Farr is medium size, well made, of pleasing person and manners, calculated to win his way, and sustains himself at the bar, where, for his length of practice, he has gained a satisfactory position.

His health disqualified him for military service. During the late civil war he was an ardent patriot, and devoted his time and means liberally to the common cause.

There is every reason to expect from Mr. Farr a growth and maturity at the bar which steadiness of application is sure to win for men of less ability.

In 1860 he was joined in marriage with Cynthia, youngest daughter of Chester and Caroline Nash, and granddaughter of Joseph Nash, esq., of Troy. Her mother, Caroline, was eldest daughter of Benjamin Kingsbury, also of Troy. Joseph Nash and Benjamin Kingsbury both have honorable mention in our

HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO - 347

pioneer history of Troy. Mr. Farr is highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

Mr. Farr's election and re-election to the office of mayor of Chardon shows the confidence of the people in his executive ability, which is an acknowledged trait of his character, and which gives him his full share of business in his profession, as well as in a public capacity.

HON. HENRY K. SMITH.

This gentleman was the eldest son, and the third child, of Marsh Smith, and was born at Parkman, Geauga county, August 10, 1832. There his childhood and boyhood were passed, under the care of his parents, and he received such opportunities for education as the schools of that neighborhood afforded him. His father and mother were persons of unusual intelligence and refinement, and he grew up in the atmosphere of a home well calculated to develop the finer traits and higher excellencies of nature and character. He became a resident of Chardon at nineteen, and was noted as an intelligent, gentlemanly youth, rather shy, to whom most people at once took a liking and gave him their confidence. The ensuing two years he spent in his father's office, in acquiring general information, ripening, and preparing himself for a life of usefulness.

At the age of twenty-one he entered the law office of Messrs. Riddle & Thrasher, at Chadon, and devoted himself, with docile industry, to the mastery of the law. He soon became known to his instructors for his real worth, and gained their confidence and friendship. After a novitiate of three years he was admitted to the bar, in 1856. Soon after he received the appointment of deputy sheriff, the duties of which he discharged with care and fidelity. He also was intrusted with the responsible duties of the treasurer of the county.

In the spring of 1857, on the decease of the then clerk of the court, A. H. Gotham, esq., he was appointed his successor, In the autumn of the same year he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county by the people.

Thus, in the space of a year or two, he familiarized himself with the duties of several of the most important offices of the county, and entered another of much responsibility. Here he acquitted himself so well that he was elected a second term. Soon after his first election, he formed a law partnership with W. 0. Forrist, and in 1861, after the termination of the partnership of Canfield & French, by the death of John French, he entered into partnership with D. W. Canfield, which continued until his election to the office of probate judge, in the fall of 1866. He has held that office ever since, having been nominated in 1878 for the fifth time, and each time by acclamation. While in company with D. W. Canfield, he was twice elected justice of the peace of Chardon. February 22, 1854, he married Miss Harmony Stocking, daughter of D. W. Stocking. They have had three children, one dying in infancy. The eldest, Stuart S., aged twenty-one, is book-keeper of the Geauga Savings and Loan association The youngest, Halbert Dennis, is twelve years old.

Judge Smith was among the most active and efficient in rebuilding Chardon. He has largely invested in real estate and its improvement, and the block in which is the opera house is mainly owing to the enterprise of himself and brother, Theron. The sterling integrity of the Smiths, father and son, doubtless has been the leading cause of their personal popularity in Geauga county. Perhaps no man has ever exercised a wider influence in it than Judge Smith, who is happily found to win and retain the esteem of all classes, and no man was ever so utterly devoid of the arts by which the mere demagogue seeks to make his way.

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The confidence which he enjoys is the deserved tribute of worth and excellence. Mrs. Smith, by her fine womanly qualities, contributes much to strengthen the position of her husband, and their home is one of the pleasantest in Chardon.

Of the brothers and sisters of Judge Smith, it may be mentioned that Mrs. Peter Bates resides in Iowa; Mrs. J. G. Durfee, in Troy, Geauga county; Mrs. John Brooks, in Chardon; his brothers, Theron and Marsh H., in Chardon; as also Newell R., and his father, Marsh Smith, mentioned elsewhere.

Theron is a man of much intelligence, and shares Judge Smith's spirit of enterprise, and, like the rest of the family, is much esteemed.

A. G. R.

HENRY F. CANFIELD,

son of Aiiron B. Canfield and Sally A. Canfield, and great-grandson of Aaron and Lydia Canfield, was born in Chardon, Ohio, May 28, 2843, w resided with his parents until about fourteen years of age, at which timehere hishe parents removed to Painesville, Ohio, and for two years thereafter he attended the high school at that place. At the age of sixteen he was employed in the office of the Painesville Telegraph, where he remained until the year 1862, and on the 8th day of August of that year he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, commanded by Captain Rikier, and remained in active service until the close of the war. He took part in all of the battles in which his company was engaged, and without harm, except a slight wound received at the battle of Chattanooga. At the close of the war in 1865, he was again employed in the office of the Painesville Telegraph, where he remained about one year. In 1866 he commenced the study of law with his uncle, D. W. Canfield, at Chardon, and in 1867 he into at the Cleveland law college, and immediately thereafter entered nto a co-partnership with N. H. Bostwick, esq., which continued until 1875, at which time his health failed, and he retired from active practice until the year 1878, when he again opened an office

in Chardon, and also formed a co-partnership with I. W. Canfield in the insurance business, in which he is at this time engaged.

In politics he has ever been an earnest advocate of Republican principles, and all great moral reformations. A man of sound judgment, strict honesty and integrity, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him. He was married in November, 1868, to Lucy S. Strohl, only child of the late John Stroh!, deceased, by whom he has become the father of three children—one daughter and two sons, the youngest of whom still lives, his eldest son having died in 1878, which to him and his wife was the greatest affliction of their lives. They have a beautiful farm of one hundred acres near the village of Chardon, which is the abode of peace, happiness and contentment, save and except the fond remembrance of little Johnny, who has been transplanted to the other shore, and there awaits the coming of father and mother, brother and sister.

EDWARD PAINE, JR.,

a son of General Edward Paine, and with his father a pioneer of Painesville, was known through the long life of his father, as Edward Paine, jr. He was a native of New siEngland, and was born at one of the seats of the Paines, so many of whom, with their descendants, became settlers of the old county of

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Geauga, in the society of which they were for many years a powerful, almost a controlling element, the influence of which, doubtless, still remains.

He married Mary Phelps, daughter of Judge Seth Phelps, and thus cemented the long-extending alliance of the Paines and Phelpses. He was oneof the real pioneers of Chardon, taking up his residence there in 1812, where he continued to reside until his death. He was the first auditor of Geauga county, and held that office until 1822. He was also the first clerk of the court of common pleas, the county-seat being New Market, now Painesville. He issued the first marriage license to Isaac H. Phelps and Penelope Gregory on the nineteenth day of December, 1805, which marriage was solemnized by Noah Cowles, justice of the peace. Edward, jr., was also known as Captain Paine, and was among the most energetic of the younger citizens during the darkness of the war of 1812 and went at once to the most exposed points at the front. His father was then general of a brigade, and he was an active member of his staff. Captain Paine received a good English education; was a man of much general information, approachable, and mingled with all the leading men of his time.

ELEAZER PAINE,

also one of the pioneers of Geauga county, was a successful business man of Chardon. He was elected county auditor in 1822, and held the office one term. He died at the early age of thirty-seven, in the midst of his usefulness. Among his children who survived him, are the Hon. Halbert E. Paine, of Washington, D. C., George E. Paine, esq., of Painesville, James H., and Caroline Paine. Caroline became the wife of Eli Bruce, and died within a few years after her marriage.

RALPH COWLES

was elected auditor in 1824, and held the office sixteen years, retiring in 1844, William Kerr holding the office four years, from 1834 to 1838, when Mr. Cowles was re-elected. He was probably one of the most accomplished business men that ever held that position in the county. His records are still looked upon with admiration; for neatness and accuracy they have never been surpassed. He was the son of Asa Cowles who settled in Claridon in 1811.

WILLIAM KERR

was born in New Jersey, and when quite young, removed to Pennsylvania, from thence to Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, in 1812, and from thence to Painesville in 1813. He was elected auditor in 1834, and held the office two terms. He was also elected county recorder, but resigned after serving one year. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He died in Mentor at the advanced age of eighty-five. Those of his children who survived him, were: Mrs. Margaret Palmer, Mrs. Eunice Palmer, William S. Kerr, residing in Mentor; Mrs. Mary Ann Canfield, of Chardon, and Mrs. Caroline A. Murray, of Tuscola, Illinois.

350 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

WILLIAM K. WILLISTON

was born December 4, 1796, at Simsbury, Connecticut, where he received a good common school education. When a young man he fell into the tide of business seeking for the young men of the north, then moving south with a strong current, he went into mercantile business there, and remained until 1834, when he removed to Claridon, Geauga county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and mercantile business.

Was elected auditor of the county in 1844, and served three terms. He had one child by his first wife. His second wife was Miss Chapman, from Massachusetts. By this connection they raised a family of four sons and three daughters. The eldest son, William C., is a prominent member of the Goodhue county bar, Minnesota. He is located at Red Wing ; has been a member of the legislature of that State. One son was a major in the army during the war of the Rebellion. The children are mostly located in Chicago and Cleveland. He was a gentleman of the old school in all respects, a Whig politically, and old school theologically, through life. Whatever differences of opinion among the people in his adopted State, they generally accorded to him honesty of opinion. He was firm in his convictions, whether they were in accordance with the majority or not.

Mrs. Williston died in Chardon. In 1867 Mr. Williston went to Red Wing, Minnesota, and lived with his son William until his death, which occurred, in 1879.

MARSH SMITH,

the sixth auditor of Geauga county, was born in Manchester, Vermont, August 18, 1799. Both his father and mother were of English descent. His great-grandfather on the paternal side, who settled in the colony of Connecticut in 17—, belonged to an old English family of rare intelligence and sterling virtues. His mother, whose maiden name was Polly Marsh, was of the Marsh family of which Hon. George P. Marsh, of Vermont, is the most distinguished representative.

The subject of this sketch was one of eight children, viz: Ransom, Newell R., Orrin, Norman, Sanford, Franklin, Marrilla, and Marsh. Two besides himself are now living, viz: Sanford, who resides in Parkman, and Franklin, who resides in Nelson, Portage county.

When a boy, Marsh removed with his parents to Georgetown, Madison county, New York, and thence, in 1818, preceding them one year to Ohio, settling in Parkman. He there purchased and cleared up a farm, working as a carpenter a portion of the time.

In October, 1823, he was married to Miss Eliza Cotton, of Nelson. The Cottons were from Connecticut, a family of great intelligence, culture and refinement, whose virtues are strongly exmplified in their living representatives.

Mr. Smith held many positions of honor and trust in the township of Parkman. For twenty years he was justice of the peace, during which time he became familiar with the laws of Ohio. His large experience, thus acquired, combined with a high sense of honor and right, for which he has always been distinguished, gave special value to his opinions, causing them to be much sought after by his neighbors and friends, as well as by justices of less experience. In 1850 he was elected county auditor, which office he held for three consecutive terms, discharging its duties faithfully, efficiently, and to the acceptance of all.

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He was subsequently county commissioner and, in 1860, was an assessor of real estate.

In politics he was a Whig until the organization of the Free-soil party, with which he at once identified himself, continuing to act with that party until it was merged into the Republican party, to which he has ever since belonged. He was one of the earliest and most active of anti-slavery workers, and it is not too much to say of him, that by nature he could be nothiug less than an earnest and consistent friend of freedom, and an uncompromising enemy of every form of injustice and wrong.

In religion he is a firm believer in the authenticity of the Scriptures, which, to his mind, teach the final salvation of all men. After a residence in Geauga county of over sixty years, it may be truly said of him, that no man ever enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens more fully, or proved himself more worthy of it, by the singular purity and uprightness of his character. Possessing a life partner of a most pure and amiable character, peculiarly ada pteo own, and sons and daughters who exemplify their virtues truly, his long and eventful life in its calm and peaceful evening is crowned with blessings.

The living children are seven in number, viz: Mrs. Hannah Bates, of Iowa. Mrs. Elizabeth Durfee, of Troy; Judge H. K. Smith; T. C. Smith (cashier of the Geauga savings and loan association); Marsh H. Smith and Mrs. Eliza Brooks, of Chardon, and Newell R. Smith, of Nelson, Portage county, Ohio.

Mr. Smith, who is now over eighty years of age, resides among his children, most of the time in Chardon.

CONSTANTINE C. FIELD

was born February 18, 1813, in the township of Phelps, Ontario county, New York. He came to Concord, Geauga (now Lake) county, in the spring of 1836; removed to East Claridon in 1839 and engaged in the mercantile business. He was twice elected assessor for Claridon township; in 185o was elected justice of the peace, and served one term. He was elected county auditor in 1856, and re-elected in 1858, 1860, and 1862. In January, 1866, he was appointed county treasurer for the unexpired term of the lamented 0. R. Newcomb, deceased. He removed to Painesville in the fall of 1866, and again engaged i the mercantile business. In 1870 he was elected a member of the State board of equalization for the district, comprising Ashtabula, Lake, and Geauga counties. He now resides in East Claridon, Geauga county, Ohio. Mr. Field discharged his duties in all positions with ability and integrity.

ABRAM P. TILDEN,

the eighth auditor of Geauga county, was the oldest son of John M. and ----- Tilden, and was born in Warren, Herkimer county, New York, in 1816. He removed with his parents to Hiram, Portage county, in 1818, set. ding in the woods two miles east from the center, near the place where his brother, Mason B. Tilden, now resides. In 1831 his father moved to Garrettsville, where he lived until his death. The subjectonsent of of this sketc his h worked o hen the farm with his father until 1837, when, with the consent of his parents went to Illinois, stopping at Chicago about two months; from thence the to Laselle county, where he remained two years, working as a carpenter in the summer and teaching school in the winter. He returned to Gerrettsville in 1839, and

352 - HISTORY OF GEAUGA COUNTY, OHIO.

attended the academy in Shalersville two terms. In 1841 he engaged as clerk in the dry goods store of Williams & Tilden, in Parkman, and continued in their employ until 1844, when he entered into co-partnership with his uncle, Josiah S. Tilden, at Parkman, and for many years a leading merchant and politician of Geauga county, now a prominent citizen of Cleveland—and continued in the mercantile business until 1856. On the 5th of November, 1846, he married Miss Harriet B. Davis, of Shalersville, whose acquaintance he formed while at school. She was the daughter of Joseph Davis, of Tyringham, Massachusetts, where she was born. In 7864 he was elected county auditor, and removed to Chardon in March, 1865,

His eldest son, Marcus H., at the age of fourteen, died on the sixth of April, 1865, and on the fourth day of February, 1865, his wife also died.

He was married to Miss Mary E. Parks, a native of Chardon, and daughter of the late Nathaniel H. Parks, on the eighth of May, A. D. 1867.

His children by his first wife, now living, are Mrs. Ella H. Thrasher, of Troy, and Josiah S. Tilden, of Garrettsville.

Mr. Tilden held the office of county auditor for four consecutive terms, discharging its duties with efficiency, and to the entire satisfaction of the people of the county. Since the close of his last term as auditor, he has resided in Chardon, being more or less engaged in farming, and also assisting the different county officers with all of whose duties he has, by long experience, become familiar, and having held several minor positions of responsibility and trust. At present he is one of the justices of the peace of Chardon.

The Tildens, in many respects, are a remarkable family. All in this country are supposed to have had a common origin, and possessing many notable distinguishing characteristics. Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, W. M. Tilden, of Chicago, and Josiah S. Tilden, of Cleveland, are conspicuous examples of the executive or business qualifications, peculiar in greater or less degree to them all. Hon. Daniel R. Tilden, ex-member of Congress, and for many years past probate judge of Cuyahoga county, belongs to the same family.

The subject of this sketch truly exemplifies the best qualities and strongest characteristics of the Tildens generally. He is a man of uncompromising independence and integrity, of great kindness of heart, social, generous and hospitable, strong in his attachments, and out-spoken in his denunciations of whatever he regards hypocritical or mean.

In politics, he was originally a Democrat, but has acted with the Republican party ever since its organization, being one of its most pronounced and earnest supporters.

DANIEL JOHNSON,

commissioner, was born June 22, 1826, in Newbury, Geauga county, Ohio, and is the son of Seth and Saloma Johnson. Until nine years of age he enjoyed the usual advantages of the district school. But at this time, owing to the failing health of his father, many of the responsibilities of farm and home were gradually transferred to himself, and hrs attendance upon the common school was confined to the winter seasons of the following six years. The labors and cares of a man then absorbed his entire attention, and prevented the gratification of his earnest desire for an education. At length, in 1844, Wesley Vincent opened a select school about two miles from the residence of Mr. Johnson. This school he attended from his home which, with a term the following winter and one in the fall of 1845, to the same teacher, completed his public school instruction.

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But the practical duties of his young life had early shown him the advantages of an education, and with this in view he made much greater progress during these last three terms than he otherwise would have made. He even continued his studies alone after leaving school, and thus prepared himself for the various duties he has been called upon to perform. In the winter of 1846-7 he taught the school in his own district.

He has ever taken an active interest in the business enterprises of Newbury, and was for twelve years a justice of the peace in that township. Since 1870 he has been commissioner of Geauga county, which office he still retains, having been re-elected in 1873, and 1876; These re-elections may very properly be regarded as endorsements on the part of the people of his official acts. Mr. Johnson has ever been known as a man of uncompromising integrity; ever tenacious in adherence to his convictions. These, and other characteristics, have eminently fitted him for the discharge of various trusts which have been confided to his charge. Among these are the settlement of the estates of deceased or insolvent persons, in which capacity he has had a large experience. He is a consistent temperance man, and was connected with the first division of Sons of Temperance (organized in Newbury, in aso) as long as that organization was represented in his township.

In politics he was a Whig, until the organization of the Republican party. Since then he has been an earnest worker in the Republican party. He was married March 9, 1852, to Belle M. Gould, daughter of Rev. Simon Gould, of Newbury. He is an industrious farmer, and now owns the farm upon which his parents lived, and its appearance bespeaks the thrifty, successful farmer. Here he and his family have always resided. To his children he affords good educational facilities, and surrounds them with those refining influences which are so potent in determining the future character of the youth.

NOAH POMEROY

was the youngest of twelve children born to Ichabod and Lucy Pomeroy, of Southampton, Massachusetts. He was born October 9, 1802; came to Ohio with his father and family, consisting of a wife and nine children, who settled in the township of Hambden, Geauga county, in the year 1808, the subject of this sketch being then six years of age. He has resided in Geauga county continuously, and in the township of Hambden up to 185o. He received his early education in schools taught in barns, stables, and rude log school-houses, with purcheon floors and seats, until the age of fourteen, when his father learned that there was a very popular school in Painesville (now Lake county), taught by a noted teacher by the name of Flavius Josephus Huntington, a relative of the late Hon. Samuel Huntington, late Governor of the State of Ohio. He remained in that school several years, after which he labored on the farm for his father (who was a farmer), in the summer, and taught school in the winters, up to 1820, when he entered "Burton academy," an institution widely known in those days, taught by David L. Coe, a graduate of Williams college. His father and himself ardently desired that he should continue his studies until he had received a liberal education. But his health was impaired by his studies, and he was compelled, very much against his will, to relinquish his studies and return to the old homestead. He has engaged in agricultural pursuits more or less up to this date, 1878. In 1837 and '38 he was engaged, with "partners," in buying and driving cattle over the Alleghany mountains to the Philadelphia market. He was considered the best salesman in the company; consequently he remained

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in the market, while the partners bought and drove the cattle to him. In 1839 he removed to Thompson township and engaged in merchandizing with the same partners. He was not pleased with his partners or the business, and sold out to them and returned to Hambden in 184o.

In 1849 he engaged again in the cattle trade, and bought for Buffalo, Albany, and New York markets. He was the first drover who shipped cattle on board steamboats from Fairport to Buffalo, on Lake Erie. In 1850 he removed to Chardon, where he pursued the same business on a more extended scale. Some years he bought and sold over one thousand head of cattle, besides many hogs and sheep. In 1851 he bought the corner lot on North Hambden and Main streets, Chardon, formerly the property of Hilan Canfield, esq.; rebuilt the house, decorated the yard and premises with many kinds of flowers and evergreens purchased from the Rochester gardens, which at that time was considered one of the most desirable places in the village.

In 1854 he was elected mayor of the incorporated village of Chardon, and re-elected in 1855. During these two years he was very active in the village improvements. He superintended the leveling and fencing of "Chardon square," as it was then called; laid out the streets in their present form, comprising two parks, in doing which he spent much time and labor gratuitously. In 1859 he was appointed deputy sheriff under High Sheriff White, in which office he officiated two years.

Mr. Pomeroy was united in marriage January 11, 1829, to Miss Marcia S. Jones, of Painesville (now Lake county), daughter of the late Elisha Jones, esq., formerly of Hinsdale, Massachusetts. From this union were born six children, three sons and three daughters. Two daughters died in infancy. The remaining daughter, Jennie M., was united in marriage with Alfred Phelps, jr., of Chardon, son of the late Hon. Alfred Phelps, of the same place, on October 17, 1854. Her husband, Phelps, jr., was employed in 1866 as agent for the Pacific Mail Steamship company, sailed to China, and was stationed at Hong Kong for a while, afterwards at Teioba, Japan, where he died suddenly in 1869. His remains were embalmed and sent home to Chardon, and buried beside his father in the Chardon cemetery. Mrs. Jennie M., his widow, now resides in Cleveland, Ohio, with their two daughters. She is a person of some note as an artist in painting.

Of the three sons of Mr. Pomeroy, the oldest, Noah M., was united in marriage, in 1852, with Miss Mary S. Hoyt, daughter of Sylvester N. Hoyt, of Chardon, Ohio, and now resides in Pennsylvania. Daniel Webster, second son, married Miss Marian Bourn, daughter of Reuben R. Bourn, M. D., formerly of Chardon, now of River Falls, Wisconsin, where Daniel Webster resides. Willis Beecher, third son, studied dentistry under the tuition of Professor Wright, of Cleveland; settled and practiced in his profession in St. Clair, Michigan, up to 1861. At the commencement of the war of the Rebellion he enlisted for three years in the Fifth Michigan regiment, was appointed first lieutenant of his company, served the three years honorably, re-enlisted and served during the war. He was stationed on the Potomac, and was in many hard fought battles. At the close of the war he was mustered out at Washington, D. C., and was immediately appointed clerk in the surgeon-general's office, the duties of which he performed honorably for six or eight years, until the clerical force was reduced, when he, with many others, was discharged. He then returned to his profession as surgeon dentist. In 1865 he united in marriage with Miss Fannie Gudgion, daughter of Dr. Gudgion, of Washington, D. C., where they now reside.

Mr. Pomeroy buried his first wife April 14, 1856. He lived a lonely life four years. He united in marriage May 14, 1860, with Mrs. Charlotte Norton, formerly from Bridgeport, Connecticut. Soon after the marriage he removed to

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Claridon, Ohio, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He immediately united with the Claridon Farmers' club, often• presided in their deliberations, and was their reporter for many years. He has written many articles for the press in the interest of the club. He was chosen president of the Free Agricultural association of Geauga county, served two years, and discharged the duties of the office honorably.

Mr. Pomeroy buried his second wife April 3, 1878, having lived with her eighteen years, and still resides in Claridon.

MOSES PARSONS

was born at Enfield, Connecticut, February 17, 1782, and died at Hambden, Ohio, March 23, 1869. His wife, Elcaba Pease, was born at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, April 9, 1786, and died at Hambden, Ohio, April 22, 1856. They were married October 25, 1807, and resided at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, until the spring of 1810, when they removed to Enfield, Connecticut, where they resided until 1814, except a short time spew at Springfield, Massachusetts, and the summer of 1810, which he spent in Bondstown (now Hambden), Ohio. In company with Chandler and Anson Pease he came on foot to Ohio in the spring of 1810, and selected about one thousand acres of land in Bondstown and Thompson, for himself and two brothers, and returned to Enfield in the fall. He remained at Enfield until June, 1814, when he started, with his family, for Ohio. Arriving in Bondstown about the first of July, he lived with Chandler Pease until he could cut and clear away the trees, and build a cabin, which was roofed with elm bark. Some time during the summer of 1815 he took off the bark roof, and put on a gable roof, covered with long shingles, or (to use the language of log cabin days) a roof made with cave bearers, butting poles, rib coffins, weight poles and knees. He lived in this cabin until 1828, when he built the brick house (which is still standing, 1878), where he resided until his death, March 23, 1869, at the age of eighty-seven years.

There were born to them the following children, viz: Roswell Pease, born at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, November 22, 1808, who married Rhoda Egleston, May, 9, 1833. Moses, jr., born at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, March 10, 1810, who married Amanlla Egleston, December 1, 1836; died March 13, 1840. Norman, born at Enfield, Connecticut, November 6, 1811, who married Amanda King, August 23, 1836. Lucius, born at Enfield, Connecticut, January 25, 1813, who married Roxana Mills, October 13, 1839. Thankful, born at Hambden, Ohio, March 9, 1815; died April 16, 1818. Elonzo, born at Hambden, Ohio, April 5, 1816, and married Mary Cotton, August 3, 1842. Martin, born at Hambden, Ohio, May 13, 1817, died in infancy. Solomon, born at Hambden, Ohio, February 3, 1821, died August 10, 1855.

The sons of Moses Parsons held various offices, both civil and military. Roswell held commissions for five years as ensign and captain, under Governors Duncan McArthur and Robert Lucas. Moses, jr., held commissions for five years as ensign and captain, under Governor Robert Lucas. Norman held a commission as captain in the first light infantry of Geauga county, also as colonel of the Second regiment, First brigade, Ninth division, Ohio militia. Norman was justice of the peace for Chardon township one term. He removed to Beardstown, Illinois, where he resided when the war broke out, in 1861. He enlisted in the regiment of Illinois cavalry, and served three years; was in the battle of Pea Ridge, and several others. Soon after the close of the war he was

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appointed postmaster of the city of Beardstown, Illinois, by the president, which position he still retains.

JULIUS O. CONVERSE.

In the olden of Chardon times, just west of the Chardon house, which was built in the earliest of Geauga years, by Norman Canfield, and is still the solid heart and center of the present flourishing hotel of Benton & Co., on the left of Water street, back of its little lawn, was the pleasant cottage of Jude and Sidney Converse. The lawn had young trees and shrubs rising in it, and in their season many beautiful flowers.

Jude Converse was a native of, and reared in, Vermont An older brother was Governor Julius Converse, of that State. Mrs. French, mother of the late John French, was a sister, as also Mrs. Eleanor Hoyt, of Cleveland. Jude was then a frank, handsome, gay-hearted, young merchant of Chardon. Sidney, a woman of rare endowments, was a Metcalf, a younger sister of the late Mrs. Samuel Smith, of Chardon, with whom she migrated from her native Connecticut in 1817; also of Thomas Metcalf, of Chardon; Orrin. Metcalf, of Mississippi, and the late Dr. Metcalf. When she was twenty years old, she became the wife of the late Dr. Evert Denton, of Chardon, then in the hey-day of his brilliant career, a widower with four small children, and by whom she became the mother of Mr. R. E. Denton, now of Chardon, also of Sybil, a lovely girl, who died many years ago. She lost her first husband in 1830. In 1832, when she was twenty-eight, and Jude was twenty-six, they were married, and began that life-long union of rate felicity in which each supplied to the other that which secured happiness, spite of the reverses of fortune which overtook, and would have darkened almost any home not made bright by such a woman as Sidney was, and warm by the love to which both so steadily ministered.

To these, on the first day of May, 1834, was born the subject of this sketch. The German common folk have a legend that it is a special favor to be born in May, while the child of May day enters the world with an omen of rare good fortune. The child of such parents is certainly to be regarded as well-born, and was endowed by both with qualities, enabling him to realize the omens of his birthday. He received the names of his uncle, the governor, and his mother's younger brother, Orrin. The youngest living child of his mother, and for many years the sole offspring of her happy marriage, he was the idol of his father, and, from the day he could walk till the day when he followed that father to the grave, his almost inseparable companion.

Through infancy and childhood, he came near being a spoiled child. Such 'qualities, however, will safely pass through a great deal of dangerous petting. While he was yet in early childhood, his father was overtaken by a reverse of fortune, from which, in his own person, he never recovered.

Such education as he received in the forms of school came to him before he was thirteen; an apt child of Sidney Converse would receive a training at home little less than a liberal education. At sixteen he entered, as an apprentice, the printing office of William W. and Eli Bruce, publishers of the Geauga Republic. Here, by the processes which translate a young, plastic, ignorant boy into the expert, intelligent printer, with the many-sided aptitude to successfully conduct a weekly newspaper, his years multiplied, his form shot upward mostly, the volume of his brain increased, his mind formed, and his character developed. The office of a journalist may be the very best, or the worst possible, of all the

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places where a man grows, develops and ripens into the fixed forms of character and conduct.

For the few who absorb and assimilate only its good, it is the best for the many who draw and feed on its bad, it is one of the worst. We only hear of the successful ; nobody keeps record of the tramping jour-printers, many of whom end in mere tramps. Not only skilled work of the hands was mastered by Julius, but the higher art of the brain, which informs other men's brains, and leads to the employment of the hands.

After his novitiate under the Bruces, young Converse worked on the Free Democrat, under Asper. This he followed into the hands of the late J. S. Wright, esq., who changed the name to the Jeffersonian Democrat, where he remained a subordinate till 1859, when he became the proprietor and editor of the same journal, and has remained such to the present. In the meantime he studied law, and was admitted in 1858.

The Converses were Whigs, of course, and became Free-soilers and Republicans by natural logic and the law of events. On the election of Mr. Lincoln, he appointed Mr. Converse postmaster at Chardon, and renewed the appointment. This is the only office he ever held. I am not aware that he ever sought office.

It would be supererogation to speak of the Republican to the people of Geauga. As compared with the weekly press of the country, it holds a place with the first.

Managed with rare tact, prudence, and good judgment, with courage, steadiness, and fidelity to the cardinal principles of the highest morality, the purest integrity, and the purest patriotism, it gathers with care the incidents of news of the county, and returns to its readers the latest reliable news of the outside world; a carefully selected miscellany, with crisp, strong, incisive paragraphs of the editor, giving in a condensed form, his ripe .thoughts on important matters of public interest, as they arise.

The life and mission of the true editor is one of perpetual self-abnegation and devotion to the public and the private interests of others. The good to himself is but incidental. He toils perpetually for others. He builds up a party, that other men may have the places and honors it can bestow. He is forever bringing forward, and sounding the praises of other men, and pushing them forward. He is astute in finding out and noting their supposed merits and talents, printing their speeches, revrsing, making readable their crude articles, and giving his time, space, labor and money to do it. He takes pleasure in announcing the arrival of the most insignificant persons, heralds their doings, praises their successes, the height of their corn, the weight of their hogs, the size of their pumpkins, and the length of their squash-vines, Every man finds space for his complaints, a card of thanks, or the glorification of his family reunions; all of which are of very little interest to the rest of the world. If, with his endless toils and multiform duties, with prudence and rare business skill, he makes for himself a comfortable home, and surrounds himself with the conveniences of life, because he has toiled while other men slept, studied while other men played, thought while other men rioted, ten to one they will want to divide the profits of his success with him, and talk of how they made him, built him up, when it is they who have profited by his researches, made happy changes and improvements by the information he furnished, at the lowest living rates; and would ridicule the idea of dividing with him the profits of the enterprises he suggested, or the money results from information he gave them.

It may not be much merit in Mr. Converse that his life has been pure, his sentiments elevated, and his career marked by steady devotion to high principle. The direction given to his life by its authors hardly admitted of any other result.

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In intellectual capacity, he ranks high above the average, and his is of a class and quality of minds, that should go forward with a steady growth and development for twenty-five years yet. It has an easy grasp of a given subject, quickly comprehending its nature, scope and relations, and few minds sooner arrive at just conclusions as to its merits, and assign it to its proper position in thought or practical affairs with more skill and accuracy. Easily equal to broad and comprehensive views, he is so constantly employed, possibly sometimes vexed, with the details of the petty interests he is obliged to care for, or the thousand contrarient demands that must have some attention, that he cannot give as much time to general literature as his tastes and judgment incline him. In purely literary matters his judgment is good, and, writing with fluency and accuracy, he would become a good critic or general writer; is a good writer now. As an editor, he writes less than many wish. Perhaps, on the whole, he is wiser in denying himself the luxury of freer speech, and a broader swing of the pen. He was regularly apprenticed as an editor, and probably does not err in judgment. He has secured to himself, and is educating a fine class of local correspondents, and, to a Geauga man abroad, there cannot be in English so interestrng a journal as his. 

Mr. Converse would have excelled at the bar. I heard him last summer, for the first time, in a short, off-hand speech, under circumstances the most trying, where a professional speaker might have failed, and where he admirably succeeded. I believe he is not without some experience on the platform, about the worst place to form a speaker in the world. He is a good speaker; has the advantage of a fine person, with height and weight, a large, well-formed head, handsome, pleasing features, good voice and diction, and good manners 

The child of pure New England ancestors, born and reared in Chardon, a toiler with his hands, he is a good type of the good that has been, and can be produced in Geauga county. His life has been calm and uneventful. He owes nothing to fortune or adventitious circumstances. The factors of his fortune are easily within the grasp of every young boy now in the county. His growth and ripening have been quiet and unassuming, and now, at early maturity, he stands with the best men the county has ever produced. 

On the twenty-fourth of December, 1862, he was united in marriage with Julia P., daughter of Daniel H. and Susan P. Wright, of Portage county. 

Of attractive person, cordial, pleasing manners, and cultivated and informed mind, the union realizes and promises all that may be rationally expected in fortunate marriages of these parents, one daughter, Mary, now about fifteen, is the only offspring, who promises to develop in person and mind the advantages of both.

Mr. Converse's parents have passed away. His father died February 4, 1874, and his mother February 9, 1875.

Mr. Converse has erected a fine and spacious residence on the site of the old homestead, and the family promises to perpetuate the traditions of charity, kindness and love, of the earlier home.

A. G. R.

SPENCER L WADSWORTH,

the second child and only son of Numan and Patty Wadsworth, was born July 26, 1813, in Middlesex, New York, and, with his father's family, moving from place to place, in 1832, came to, and settled in, Auburn. From then until now, or for nearly all of the time, he has continued to reside in that township. Mr. Wadsworth is a plain, unassuming man, with only ordinarily good advantages of

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early education, who, by his practical common sense and judgment, has largely

commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow townspeople and surrounding acquaintances. The evidence of the esteem in which he is held by those who know him best, is shown by the fact that, of the more than forty years he has resided in Auburn, nearly, or quite, one-half of these years he has been serving his fellow citizens in some public capacity. From 1851 to 1863 he served as constable five years, as clerk two, and as assessor one year. In

1864 he was chosen justice of the peace; was re-elected in 1867, 1870, and 1873, serving continuously twelve years, and was again re-elected in 1879, and is now serving his fifth term. During the interim from 1876 to 1879, he held a notary's commission, and is now, as he has been for a number of years, postmaster at Auburn corners. His record is his best endowment.

In 1878 he was called upon to collect and write the history of Auburn township, for the work now being published under the auspices of the county historical society, and has devoted every available moment, for more than a year past, to its accomplishment. The faithfulness with which he has performed the duty assigned him is attested by the fullness of the history and the space it occupies. His work may be better appreciated when it is understood that allotted space in the book forced quite a reduction of the amount of matter prepared by Mr. Wadsworth, although, it is believed, not resulting in the commission of any material facts. Some delay in the publication occurred on account of the Auburn and Burton histories not being prepared. In justice to Mr. Wadsworth in regard to the former, and to Mr. Ford in respect to the latter, it should be borne in mind that originally it was intended that other parties should prepare the history of these two townships, and that they were not called upon to do this work until the manuscript for the other townships was nearly all prepared, and much of it in the hands of those charged with its publication. This has given the authors time and opportunity to recall and revise their work for which the writers of the two last have had no like chance.

Mr. Wadsworth is still quite vigorous, but.is recognized as an early settler and one of the older people in the township.