EARLY HISTORY OF ELYRIA AND HER PEOPLE By JUDGE A. R. WEBBER CHAPTER I WHAT more interesting story than the lives and deeds of those who have brought our city to its present beauty and prosperity? Whether they have wrought as tillers of the soil toward its progress, built and run its factories, conducted its marts of trade and banks, or given their time and talents as teachers, editors, newspaper men, preachers, professional men, women, or employees in the numerous industries and institutions, philanthropic or otherwise' Having been a resident of the city for fifty-four years, by reason of my long tenure, I am perhaps regarded as one of the living links between the generation that laid her foundations and the present one hundred and six thousand inhabitants who make up the citizenship of the county. In talking with people of this day and generation, I discovered that a large majority are wholly ignorant of what is meant by the appellation, "The Connecticut Western Reserve," of which this county is a part. Just how it came about is one of the most interesting chapters in American history. The territory embraced within the ''Reserve" is as follows: Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, and Erie Counties, to which should be added the following territory, to-wit: All of Summit County except the townships of Franklin and Greene; the two northern tiers of townships of Mahoning; the townships of Sullivan, Troy, and Ruggles, of Ashland, and the islands lying north of Sandusky, including Kelley's and Put-in-Bay. In acreage the Reserve contains three million and eight hundred thousand acres. Although this so-called "Connecticut Western Reserve" was at the time it came into being in 1786, a solid unbroken wilderness, yet since that date, a period of only one hundred and forty years, it has made such advancement as would astonish the wisest of men, who fought the Revolution to a successful conclusion. One historian tells us that it was the consensus of opinion of many Colonial statesmen that in all human probability there would never be settlements west of 3 4 - Early History of Elyria and Her People the Alleghany Mountains worthy of note. To the astute proverbial "Connecticut Yankee" are we indebted for this noted "Reserve" on which the city of Elyria stands. It was in this wise that it came about: Charles the First, King of England, whom Cromwell, in the days of his power, had beheaded, felt so kindly toward his subject, John Winthrop, Sr., Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, that he made him a present of a beautiful diamond ring. His son, John Winthrop, Jr., later became governor of the Connecticut Colony. He was a brilliant young official, adroit and Possessed of great persuasive powers, with an ability to say the right thing at the opportune time, to bring results. He, in common with his people, became exceedingly ambitious for more land and more liberty. So, to bring to pass their objective, he was delegated by the Colonists to cross the Atlantic with a new-drawn charter, giving them an extended territory, the boundaries of which called for a strip as wide as the colony, the present State of Connecticut, and to extend in parallel lines that width to the Pacific Ocean. This, of course, granted possessions that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its provisions as to greater liberty provided that the Colonists should have the right to elect their own governor and members of the assembly; in fact, to govern themselves. The governor was but thirty-two at this time. This was in the year 1660, one hundred and sixteen years before the Revolutionary War. His father had passed away. The king at this date was Charles the Second, son of the beheaded king. He was about the age of the young governor. That the ambitious executive looked far ahead, and understood human nature well, is evidenced by the fact that he took with him the ring that fell to him as heir of his deceased father. So with the new unsigned charter granting the colony a strip of land from ocean to ocean, and bestowing upon the king's subjects complete liberty in one pocket and the heirloom in the other, he sailed for England to persuade the king, if possible, to sign on the dotted line. Young Winthrop must have had a faith not understood these days, as to us it looks like a "Fool's errand." After weeks of buffeting storms, in one of the small sailing craft of that time, he found himself knocking at the king's Early History of Elyria and Her People - 5 gate. When the required rules for an audience had been complied with, he was ushered into the presence of his majesty, the king of England, the ruler of all the colonies, the then most powerful potentate on earth, on whose dominions the sun never set, with a document for the great man's signature, giving away a vast territory and yielding full liberty to his Connecticut Colonial subjects. So courtly was the young governor, and fascinating in his personality, that the youthful king was charmed by his manner of speech. Remembering that the king was very devoted to his own unfortunate father, whose head Cromwell had sent into the basket, he ventured to extend to the king his sympathies in his great loss, whereupon he saw he had touched the heart of the man he had come to see. Then he recalled that so bitterly slid the son hate Cromwell for his decd when he carne to the throne he had his body exhumed, hung, and buried beneath the scaffold. While the king was struggling with his emotions, Winthrop drew from his pocket the ring, and said, "0 king, your father thought a great deal of my father, and my father of yours. Here is a ring he gave my father, because of that friendship. I have brought it to you as a present." The king took it and began to weep, and while his eyes were filled with tears, at the psychological moment, Winthrop drew forth the charter and said, ''We, as a people, your loyal subjects, desire a little more land and a little more liberty. To that end we have drawn this new charter, which we trust you will be glad to sign." The king took the document and, through his copious tears, read it and then asked but one question, "How far is the Pacific Ocean from the -,vest boundary of the colony?" To which the young governor replied, "You can stand on the western hills of the colony and see the Pacific Ocean." Thereupon he signed the document, and the happy governor returned to his people, the great man of the hour. Probably neither king nor governor had little conception of the distance across the American continent. 2 6 - Early History of Elyria and Her People CHAPTER II THE previous chapter recounts how the Connecticut Colonists obtained their charter. Under it the colony organized, and without interference from the king, passed its laws and conducted affairs of state as it saw fit, till another king arose, James the Second, who, like the new king of Egypt, "Knew not Joseph." He was the successor of Charles the Second, from whom the charter was obtained. This new monarch undertook to overthrow pretty much all that his predecessors had done. He appointed a man by the name of Andross as governor over all of the New England Colonies, and directed him to at once, not only assume authority over the Connecticut Colony, but to demand the surrender by that colony to him, of the charter his predecessor, Charles the Second, had so graciously granted. In obedience to his king's commands, Governor Andross set about it to secure the document that had for many years been carefully guarded in the archives of the statehouse at Hartford, the capital. Fearing refusal and strenuous opposition, the new governor placed himself at the head of seventy men, as a military force, armed for battle, and surrounded the building while the Colonial Assembly was in session. He then, with an imperious air, demanded the surrender of the charter. It was promptly produced and placed on the table to consider the question. No sooner was this done than the members began debating the right of his majesty to demand it. There were a few who, through fear of the new king, argued against resistance. The discussion grew more animated as the day wore away. Night came on and still the debate continued, until it was too dark for the document to be seen. Candles were called for and brought) but when lighted, lo and behold no charter was to be seen. No one seemed to know who had taken it. The irate governor raved over being outwitted, and threatened dire consequences to the culprit, should he be found. Search was made high and low, and in the most secret places, but all in vain. This event took place in 1687, twenty-seven years after King Charles the Second granted it, and eighty-nine years preceding the "Revolutionary War." Its whereabouts remained a profound secret until the king was no more, and one was Early History of Elyria and Her People - 7 reigning in his stead, who was just, when Captain Wadsworth, a member of the assembly at the time and a patriot, brought it forward, and told the people that while the janitor was after the candles he seized the charter, rushed into the assembly yard, and hid it in a crevice of a great oak tree. The sturdy oak at once sprang into prominence as the "Charter Oak" till it went down in a great storm in the year 1856, one hundred and sixty-nine years after the charter disappeared. When the old liberty monarch lay prone, the whole country mourned, so sacred had the tree become to the generations as they came and went. Every particle was converted into souvenirs. Not so much as a piece of the bark or root but was turned to that purpose. After it became noted, many Connecticut corporations were named after it, for instance, such as the "Charter Oak Insurance Co." and a great poem in its honor was set to music. After the Revolutionary War and the new States had adopted our national Constitution, the question arose, in fixing the boundaries of Connecticut, whether she had a just right to claim all the lands named in her charter. The new government said, "You must surrender your vast territory acquired from Charles the Second, as it would not be just to other States." On the other hand, the shrewd Yankees pointed to the boundaries in their document. The outcome was, they compromised by Connecticut surrendering all her claims, save to the lands now constituting this "Connecticut Western Reserve," described in the previous chapter as containing three million, eight hundred thousand acres. For a time after this compromise took place, the reserved territory was called "New Connecticut." The question soon arose with the Connecticut Yankees as to what they had better do with their western land. It was at this time nearly an untouched wilderness, in which roamed wild animals and native Indians. It was not, they reasoned, practical to consider it for political purposes, a part of their State, as it was for those times a long distance away, three hundred miles, with the States of New York and Pennsylvania lying in between, and required six weeks to reach it by the best means of travel. The outcome of their cogitations was, they offered it for sale, with the view of using the purchase price received to educate the children 8 - Early History of Elyria and Her People of their State. When it became known that it was in the market, Eastern men of means began to look into the matter, with the view of purchasing. No one man had the means to own so vast a territory. Before, however, the State of Connecticut sold any part of the "Reserve," she thought it just that she should make provisions for her many inhabitants, whose buildings were burned by the British during the Revolution, and personal property plundered. Benedict Arnold, the traitor, was the main destroyer. He made incursions as leader at the head of a British army into the heart of Connecticut, and burned the homes and business places of the towns of Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New and l- ast Haven, New London, Richfield, and Groton. There were nearly two thousand inhabitants made homeless by these depredations. Thereupon the legislature of the State set apart, on the tenth day of May, 1792, and donated to these sufferers, off the western end of the "Reserve," five hundred thousand acres now constituting Huron and Erie Counties, and the township of Ruggles, Ashland County, but not the islands of Lake Erie. The lands thus given were called the "Sufferers Lands" for a lime, but ultimately were known, and now are, as the "Fire Lands." Into these two counties of Erie and Huron, poured those to whom the lands were given, who, in honor of their native places thus destroyed, named many of the towns after them, as follows: Norwalk, Greenwich, Fairfield, New London, and others. The remainder of the "Reserve," three million and three hundred thousand acres, were three years later sold by the State of Connecticut in the year 1795, to Eastern men—Oliver Phelps and thirty-five others—for the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars. So that every owner of real estate in every part of the "Connecticut Western Reserve," whether in the cities, villages, or country, can say that the land I own was first sold for less than thirty-seven cents per acre. The purchasers then formed what is known in the county records of Lorain County and all the counties of the Reserve, "The Connecticut Land Company." This company then had surveyors from the East, survey the whole territory, with a view of sale to settlers. Their, orders were to lay it out into townships so far as practicable, five miles on each side, which would Early History of Elyria and Her People - 9 give to each township sixteen thousand acres. This order was followed. The city of Elyria is not the geographical center of Elyria Township, as the south boundary line is the street where the Green Line leaves Middle Avenue at the junction on its way to Grafton. The center is some distance north of the city in the farming community. After the Connecticut Land Company was formed, many Eastern people purchased an interest in the same. Among them was Justin Ely, of West Springfield, Mass., the father of Heman Ely, Sr., the founder of Elyria. The entire lands thus purchased by the Connecticut Land Company were, of course, owned in common, each one having such an undivided interest as the amount of money he had put in, bore to the whole purchase price. All the joint owners realizing that the lands of some townships in the "Reserve" were much more valuable than others, appointed men to set a price on the same for each county. The value fixed on each township of Lorain territory that finally was organized into a county, was T26,087, less than two dollars per acre. Their next move was an agreement as to how each should have set off to him his specific number of acres. To that end they hit upon the plan of casting lots. The townships were numbered on separate pieces of paper and placed in a box. The names were then drawn out in alphabetical order. If, perchance, a person did not have an investment large enough to purchase a township, he was to combine with others who did not have, and their combined amounts were to draw one township. The whole detail of the manner of getting at a division it is useless to go into. Those who formed the combination that drew the township of Elyria were Justin Ely, Roger Newberry, Jonathan Brace, Elijah White, and Enoch Perkins. This vested the title to all of the township of Elyria in common in these five men. At that date, which was in the year 1807, one hundred and twenty years ago, Lorain County was still nearly a solid wilderness. Ohio had then been admitted into the Union but three years, to-wit, on the 19th of February, 1803. From the date of its admission, the Supreme Judges traveled over the State, holding court here and there. That court then had original jurisdiction over many matters, later assigned by the new 10 - Early History of Elyria and Her People Constitution, to the common pleas courts. Among them was partitioning real estate among joint owners. One of the counties in which the court sat was Portage. CHAPTER III IT WAS stated in the last chapter that Justin Ely and four others who joined with him in 1807 drew the township of Elyria as part owners of the "Connecticut Western Reserve." As such they held the same in common for nine years without development. In the year 1816 they filed a petition as such joint owners, in the Supreme Court sitting in Portage County, to have the court set off to each his acreage, according to the amount he had contributed to purchase the township from the "Connecticut Land Company." The result of the suit was that about one-third of the sixteen thousand acres making up the south end of the township was set off to Justin Ely, the central part to Elijah White, two thousand one hundred acres just north of White's to Johnathan Brace, and the remainder to his associate, Roger Newberry. After the court's division, Justin Ely purchased White's interest, and then deeded all he thus owned to his son, Heman Ely, Jr., who then purchased Johnathan Brace's said two thousand and one hundred acres. That made a total tract then owned by Heman Ely, founder of Elyria, of twelve thousand five hundred acres, which took all of the sixteen thousand acres comprising Elyria Township save three thousand five hundred off the north end. The same year, 1816, in which Heman Ely became the owner of the twelve thousand five hundred acres as stated, on part of which the city of Elyria is located, he concluded that a trip to look over his possessions would be the part of wisdom. He was then forty-one years of age and a bachelor. He came alone from his home in West Springfield, Mass. He made the journey to Buffalo in a sulky. From there he finished his trip on horseback. He followed the shore of Lake Erie through the woods to Cleveland, that then had but a few inhabitants. It had been incorporated as a village only two years. The charter bears date 1814. The first election held in Cleveland was the following year, at which only twelve votes were cast. From the village of Cleveland he came over the stumpy, rutty Early History of Elyria and Her People - 11 road westward, to a log tavern kept by Moses Eldred, then located on the northeast corner, now formed by the Cleveland and Case Roads, about two miles east of Elyria, where the farm house and home of Mr. Bailey are located. He made this log hotel his stopping place while he was in Ohio. He remained over night, and the next morning rode to his possessions. At this date, 1816, Wyandot and Seneca Indians roamed over his lands and made the haunts of the now noted Cascade Park, with its two waterfalls, caves, ledges, dense forests, and Black River streams, their haunts and hunting grounds. From the lake to the falls they came and went, and had for unknown centuries, in canoes, in quest of game and fish. In the great cave at the "West Falls" they ever found a safe retreat from cold and storms. The whole forests teemed with game, from bears, wolves, and deer, to chattering squirrels. No settlements in Elyria Township had been made. Mr. Ely came in the spring of 1816 and remained till fall, surveying the whole situation, figuring out the best disposition to make of his twelve thousand five hundred acres. He saw ample water power going to waste, with a forest of as fine saw timber as ever grew out of the earth, made up of great white-woods, oaks, black walnuts, ash, etc., only awaiting the hand of man to turn the same into lumber that would, in these days of denuded forests, be the joy and delight of contractors and builders. Before the time came in the fall for his return, he had contracted with Hubbell & Shipperd, of Newburg, Ohio, then a small growing village just south of the village of Cleveland, to build a log house and a dam where the stone arch bridge now spans Black River on East Broad Street, on the way to the hospital, and to erect log, grist, and saw mills below the dam. They first erected the log dwelling on the spot now a part of the traveled portion of East Broad Street at the point where East Bridge Street commences, a few rods southeast from the old Ely homestead and the Ford sales rooms. This log structure was to be the boarding house for the workmen while making improvements. It was the first structure of any character erected in Elyria Township by a white man, so far as recorded history informs us. The first blows with an ax were in felling the trees, clearing a spot on which to erect it, and to furnish the logs that were to go into it. 12 - Early History of Elyria and Her People Before the winter of 1817 began there stood in the first clearing ever made in Mr. Ely's great tract of land of twelve thousand five hundred acres, its first log building. It had a large living room, kitchen, dining room, and pantry, two large bedrooms below, a large fireplace for both heating and cooking. There was a ladder to reach the chamber of one room where comfort abounded in the summer, but into which in the winter the blizzard snows found their way, often covering the beds and floor. The bedsteads were made of poles and the springs of bark. In place of feather beds, straw was used to fill the ticks, and the pillows were of like character. A large log was scooped out that would hold many barrels of water, and placed back of the structure to catch rain for washing. Soft soap, tin basins, dippers, and gourds, were the outfit for making the toilet. According to contract, the Newburg men erected the mills also. No frame building of course could go up without lumber, or grain be converted into flour, without the "upper and nether millstone." In that day the flow of the river was far more uniform than now. The water along its many miles, starting at its source, was held back by forests, swales, and underbrush, so that power was then ample for the two small mills the year round, while now the same country has been so ditched and tilled and the lands cleaned of their native forests, that the water rushes in great quantities down the stream in a short space of time, leaving but little power for weeks. The gristmill stood about on the spot where the present abandoned one stands on "East Bridge Street," and the dam near where the present one is located over which the street car passes. What curiosities to this day and generation those mill structures would be, were they now in commission. People drive long distances to watch the primitive over-shot water wheel make its revolutions driven by the pent-up water as it pours its liquid power. Henry Ford, with all of his uncounted millions and marvelous machines that operate little short of human fingers, has hunted up a left-over water-wheel mill in the East that was out of commission, and set it going, as a sight for the eye worth while, not only for himself, but the world as well, and tens of thousands make pilgrimages to behold its revolutions. It is hard to realize that it has been one hundred Early History of Elyria and Her People - 13 and ten years since those Ely structures were built, but insignificant as they were compared to the things of to day, it was laying the foundations of our city. What a hardy determined race that generation, children of those who fought the Revolution. In January following the completion of the three structures and dam, three men were employed by Mr. Ely on his return to Massachusetts to go to his lands and commence clearing the forests preparatory to laying out a town. They were Roderick Ashley, Edwin Bush, and James Porter. They walked all the way from West Springfield, Mass., and carried their axes. Mr. fly had engaged John Bacon, of Columbia, and his family to occupy the log house when completed, to board the help. The three tired menreached the log cabin in January, 1817, and began clearing, starting at the log dwelling and chopping west-Ward, opening up the now Broad Street territory and the lands adjoining. They had been engaged in the work about a month when Mr. Ely returned, bringing his stepbrother, Ebenezer Lane, who later became one of the distinguished lawyers of the State and for many years occupied the Ohio Supreme bench and wrote able opinions found in the early Ohio reports. Another member of the party who was destined to attain prominence in the affairs of men and especially in the development and growth of the future city, was Artemas Beebe. A young man by the name of Luther Lane, a brother of Ebenezer Lane, drove the team. A woman by the name of Miss Anna Snow came to act as cook, and a colored boy to be an all-round handy fellow. This party made the journey in a covered lumber wagon, such as later were seen passing through northern Ohio for parts still farther west. It took many weeks to make the trip and at great discomfort, as it was midwinter. They followed the lake from Buffalo to the mouth of Black River, expecting to cross. and reach the log house by following the west side of the stream, but found the same swollen. The company divided, part going with the team to the Eldred log tavern mentioned, two miles cast of Elyria, and the others, on foot, made their way southerly on the east bank to a point opposite the log house, where they signalled Roderick Ashley, one of the company that came to clear the land the month before, who ferried them across in a 14 - Early History of Elyria and Her People canoe. Mightily glad they were to reach the place of their destination. Shortly the remaining number of the party joined them in the boarding house. This made a company in the one habitation on the ground of eleven, the only human beings on the twelve thousand acres, save the roaming Indians. The Easterners found plenty of good venison meat awaiting their voracious appetites, and pork from the wild hogs shack-fattened, roaming the woods at will roasted over the coals of the great gaping fireplace, dished up with brown bread and johnnycake made from flour milled in the first enterprise ever erected in the future city. The Indians sold them fish caught below the falls. Nobody got sick, so why the need of doctors? They all had the blood of youth coursing their veins with nerves of steel. They had come to conquer the wilderness and make places for themselves on the "Reserve." Artemas Beebe was then but twenty-three. Mr. Ely was the only one past the forty mark. CHAPTER IV HAVING stated that Heenan Ely was the founder of Elyria in 1817, it will naturally be interesting to know his history and something of his ancestors and antecedents. His farthest removed known ancestor was George Ely, born in England in the year 1545. He graduated from Oxford College, England, in the year 1566 at the age of twenty-one. On the 26th of April, 1571, he became clergyman of the Church of England of the town of Tenterden. He held this pastorate more than forty-four years. He was the father of ten children, the oldest of whom was Nathaniel Ely who was a graduate of Oxford College. He was made a curate in the Church of England, had seven children, the fourth a son, Nathaniel Ely, named after his father. He was born in 1605. The son came to America in 1634 and became a Colonist. He fled England to escape persecutions under Charles the First for his religious convictions as he was a Puritan. He settled in Newton, Mass., near Cambridge. He had a Early History of Elyria and Her People - 15 friend by the name of Robert Day, who emigrated"with him to America. They purchased land and resided on adjoining lots, and ever afterwards, as well as their families, were fast friends. On the 6th day of May, 1635, they were both made Freemen at Cambridge, and were members of some church, the denomination we do not know. The qualifications to be Freemen were the man to be twenty-one years of age, of peaceable and sober conversation, orthodox in the fundamentals of religion, and possessed of an estate of twenty pounds. Possessing the spirit of the pioneer, with his friend Day, they, with Rev. Thomas Hooker, the first minister of the church in Cambridge, Mass., and about one hundred other men, women, and children, wended their way through the wilderness, with no other guide than a compass, to a fertile spot on the banks of the Connecticut River; and there made the first settlement of the city of Hartford in the colony of Connecticut. Here Ely and Day, as in Newton, Mass., purchased property adjoining each other for their homes. Nathaniel Ely in his advent into the colony of Massachusetts in 1634, was only preceded by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock fourteen years, and was acquainted with some of them. There is a monument in Hartford erected to the memory of the founders of the city, on which the name of "Nathaniel Ely" appears. He was one of the leading men in Hartford in purchasing land in the colony. While he resided in Hartford he served as constable, then a very important position, as conservator of the peace, with powers of a magistrate. He was also selectman in 1643 and 1649. One of his large land purchases was in company with others where the city of Norwalk, Conn., now stands, of which city he was also one of the founders. It will be seen that the disposition to found towns was in the Ely blood. He settled there in the year 1654. He was again made constable and selectman, and later in 1654 was representative to the General Court. In the year 1665 he moved with his family to Springfield, Mass., and ran a "tavern," as it was then called, for the balance of his life. It was known as the "Ely Tavern." The building still stands, or did a few years ago, pointed out as the oldest structure in the city. He died December 25, 1675, one hundred years before the "Revolutionary War," at the age of seventy years. He was the father of two children, Samuel and Ruth. Samuel 16 - Early History of Elyria and Her People was born about the year 1634, in either Newton, Mass., or Hartford, Conn. On the 28th of October, 1659, he married Mary Day, the daughter of his friend Robert Day. She was born in Hartford in 1641, and was eighteen at the time of her marriage. Samuel Ely was quite successful in the acquisition of property. He died in Springfield, Mass., March 19, 1692, eighty-two years previous to the "Revolutionary War." He was the father of sixteen children. One of his sons was John Ely, who was born in Springfield, Mass., in 1778, while the Revolutionary War was being fought. He died in West Springfield, January 15, 1856, at the age of eighty years. He was a deacon in the church. He was the father of ten children. One of his sons was John Ensign Ely, who was born in West Springfield, Mass., in 1807, where he died May 22, 1858. He had six children, one of whom was Justin Ely, the father of Heman Ely, the founder of Elyria. He was born in West Springfield, Mass., August 10, 1739, where he died June 26, 1817. He was one of the men who purchased the "\Western Reserve" territory as heretofore stated. He graduated from Harvard College in 1759. He was a successful merchant in his native town, Springfield, Mass., doing a larger business than any other store in the city. He represented his town in the General Court of Massachusetts for thirteen years, and was otherwise prominent in public affairs. During the Revolutionary War he was very active in aiding his country in gathering supplies and in caring for the widows and orphans. He was not only interested in the lands of the "Reserve" but had holdings in Maine, Massachusetts, and the State of New York. He had four children, one of whom was Heman Ely, named founder of Elyria, as stated, and died in Elyria, February 2, 1852, at the age of seventy-seven, and is buried in the Elyria Cemetery in the Ely family burying ground, surrounded by an iron fence. The spot is located near the southwest corner of the old cemetery. His grave is marked by an unpretentious monument. As stated, he was a bachelor till he was forty-three, after which he was married three times. He married for his first wife Celia Belden, of West Springfield, Mass., the year he founded Elyria in 1817. By her he had three children: Heman, named after himself, and Albert Ely. More about these sons later. And a daughter, Mary. Early History of Elyria and Her People - 17 By his third wife, Harriet M. Slator, lie had one child, Charles Arthur Ely, the father of William Ely, who resides in the old homestead at the end of Washington Avenue. The three graves of his wives are next to his, all marked by like monuments. It will be of interest to recount some of the history of this CHARLES ARTHUR ELY Son of the founder of Elyria, was kind and benevolent. He gave the Ely Library to the city. His only child is Wm. A. Ely the philanthropist, still with us founder of Elyria before he came into the woods of Lorain County. At one time he owned a good deal of land in central and western New York State along with others and under his direction, it was surveyed and sold to settlers. At the same time he entered into a partnership with his brother, Theodore, 18 - Early History of Elyria and Her People in the mercantile business in New York City, and for ten years was engaged in commerce with European countries and the East Indies. Within this period he made several voyages, visiting England, Holland, France, and Spain, mainly in the prosecution of his business. While in France on one of his trips, he remained long enough to acquire the language by separating himself from English people and residing in French families. At that time all European countries were under arms, looking for war with each other. It made it very difficult to leave or enter any one of them. Mr. Ely was determined to take a chance to get out of France for a tine, and in company with a friend, Chas. R. Cadman, of Boston, he took passage from England to Holland in a Dutch fishing boat that ran the blockade. Soldiers patrolled the coasts of that country and as they tried to land were fired upon. They put to sea under the cover of darkness, and before morning landed in a country in which neither one could speak the language. They then tramped eight miles, with heavy baggage, avoiding the towns till they found a peasant willing to furnish them food and care for their baggage. They then walked to Rotterdam and found means to send a servant for their luggage. The peasant had hidden it in the sand, lest his house might be searched by officers. They were closely questioned at Antwerp and other places, and ultimately returned to Paris. While in Paris this time, they were ordered out of their beds one morning and taken to the police station and court, on suspicion of having spoken ill of Napoleon, but on close questioning were released. Spies were everywhere and caution and courage were necessary. Mr. Ely chanced to be in the city of .Paris most of the time from July, 1809 till April the following year. Within that period the heartless Napoleon Bonaparte divorced, by his absolute power as emperor of France, his good wife Josephine, though it broke her heart, and then. married Marie Louise, the daughter of the ruler of Austria for the aggrandizement of self, thinking that by marrying a child of the head of the Austrian government he would have that sovereign to assist him in conquering the world like Alexander the Great. That by the new marriage he would leave an heir to perpetuate his power and reign over France. Mr. Ely was a witness to the proceedings of divorce Early History of Elyria and Her People - 19 and the return in state into Paris of Napoleon with his bride, and the spectacular demonstrations when he had her crowned empress. While these outrages were going on there was a great ball given as a part of the festivities to which Mr. Ely, through some friend standing in with the administration saw to it, that he, being an American, should receive an invitation. He realized that he must dress for the occasion according to the fashion of the day. To that end he purchased the requisite suit in which he appeared. There were several kings and queens present from other kingdoms. These rulers Mr. Ely saw dance by themselves, a cotillion. The suit Mr. Ely wore on the occasion is in a fine state of preservation, owned by Mrs. George H. Ely, residing on Columbus Street, this city. In the year 1917 the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Elyria was celebrated by fitting exercises held in the First Congregational Church. Hon. George H. Fly, whose widow mentioned now owns the suit of clothing, the grandson of the founder of Elyria, delivered the historical address. He appeared in the suit worn by his grandfather on the occasion described. Like the colonial style of America, except gayer of color, cutaway coat, ruffle in front, also at the hands, pants to the knees, low patent leather shoes with large silver buckles. Mr. Ely, the Elyria founder, returned to America. He was then thirty-five years of age. The following year he made a trip to Ohio, going as far west as Cleveland, that was then but little more than a small village and was not incorporated till three years later, and had its first election the following year. This trip took him within twenty-five miles of his future home, Elyria. He made most of the way on horseback. He returned east by way of Niagara Falls, the St. Lawrence, and Montreal. In writing of his trip he told of seeing steamboats plying the Hudson River. While his father, Justin Ely, one of the purchasers of the "Western Reserve" lands, then had title to the land where Elyria is located, he did not, because of the war with England, known in history as the "War of 1812," come to inspect the property his father owned until the year 1816, the year previous to the founding of our city. I have now given the names of all in the direct line of the 20 - Early History of Elyria and Her People paternal ancestors of the first man to cut away the forests where Elyria stands and lay out our city. From the birth of the first-known ancestor, one George Ely, of England, born as heretofore stated on the 26th day of April, 1571, a clergyman of the Church of England to the birth of his descendant Heman Ely, the founder of our city, was two hundred and four. years. Six Elys form the links of ancestry. So far as known, they were all Christians, and in their day and generation were active in their respective communities and stood for the common good. Several were graduates of colleges. Some were successful business men, and served in public offices of importance for years, showing that they were efficient in the administration of affairs entrusted to them, and had the confidence of the people. The character of the founder of any town, and those who first occupy the same, have ever had much to do with its progress in not only education, religion, and morals, but in money prosperity as well. In these respects Elyria was fortunate indeed, not only in the personnel of her founder, but in those who assisted him making the "wilderness blossom as the rose." CHAPTER V THE previous chapter gave the names and occupations of the ancestors of Mr. Ely, the founder of Flynn, reaching back to the first one known, a clergyman born April 26, 1571. I will now recount the experiences of those early pioneers who laid the foundations of our city, starting with the ones who occupied the log house, the first structure, as stated in the settlement. There were in the spring of 1817 ten of them, all housed in the hut, working for Mr. Ely. They chopped westward from the dwelling, clearing Broad Street. The first lumber sawed in the log water mill was used in erecting that spring, a store building, for "West & Co.," on the northeast corner of Fast Broad and Chestnut Streets. The ground is now occupied by an auto sales emporium. For some months after its completion, the carpenters made use of it till the merchandise arrived. This was the first mart of trade opened. The structure was about twenty by forty, one story with no cellar. It has long since disappeared. The next frame building constructed was a resi- Early History of Elyria and Her People - 21 dence for Mr. Ely, in 1817, quite a pretentious mansion, on the spot now occupied by the "Knights of Columbus" on the north side of East Broad Street, adjoining the Ford sales building on the west. It had a frontage of forty-five feet and a depth of forty feet, with two stories and a cellar. The siding all came out of one whitewood tree that stood at the angle formed by East Broad and Bridge Streets, a few rods away. This dwelling was after the decease of Mr. Ely, made over by his son, Heman Ely, Jr. In the rear Mr. Ely had a barn erected. The short timbers for the dwelling were sawed in the mill. The long ones were hewn out from trees with a broad ax. When the time came for the raising of the bents, Mr. Ely gave invitations to the settlers for miles around, to lend a helping hand. His appeal was not in vain, as the custom was in that day and generation, for all to respond when word was sent out for a "raising." It was a jolly gathering at which Ann, the cook, in the log hut, had made ample provision, by means of pots and kettles hung on a crane in the great fireplace, to regale the hungry crowd. Shack pork, venison, and fish were in abundance, and wild turkeys galore lived in the forest. Then the upper and nether millstones of the little log water mill, hard by, had provided ample meal and flour for hot cakes, and with all she was counted a cook par excellence. The great bents went up with alacrity, under the direction of the twenty for the founder. three-year-old Artemas Beebe, carpenter and joiner, as he would cry out to the men at the pike poles, “He-o-he.” While the carpenters were later enclosing the structure, some Indians, who then had an encampment on the ground now occupied by Grace Court and its homes, passed by on their ponies. Seeing the building, one of them said to Mr. Beebe, "What are you doing 3 22 - Early History of Elyria and Her People here, you white man?" He replied, "Building a house for Mr. Ely." The Indian then said with bitterness depicted on his face, "You have no business here, this land belongs to us Indians." Mr. Beebe asked what their names were. One responded, "My name is Red Jacket," another "My name is Good Hunt," and another "Betwixt the Logs." Be it said to their credit they never gave the settlers of Elyria any trouble, but on the contrary were true and obliging, and on the other hand the pioneers treated them with commendable kindness. Before many moons had waxed and waned, these noble redmen, seeing the forest melt away before the relentless ax of the woodman, folded their wigwams, and with their squaws and papoose, like the wandering Arab, stole away to a more congenial clime, where the white man's ax and his civilization should not interfere with their "happy hunting grounds." Residing at Cuyahoga Falls is an attorney by the name of Orlando Wilcox, a member of the Summit County bar. He was born and raised in my native township of Hinckley, Medina County. He was appointed by President McKinley, U. S. District Attorney for the then Indian Territory, where the criminals were brought from all over that land who had violated the United States laws, to one place for trial, many for murder. He told me that when an Indian was convicted of murder in the first degree, the judge would ask, after sentencing him to be hung on a certain day, whether, if allowed to go till the day of execution, he would return again. If he said he would, he was released, and never failed to appear to pay the death penalty, but said he, this did not hold true with any convicted person of any other race. The reason the red man lived up to his word was because he had been raised in the belief, that if he did not keep his promise, his spirit could not enter the "Happy Hunting Grounds." While the Ely buildings were in the process of construction, on the 29th of May that year, Festus Cooley, of Springfield, Mass., a man of sterling character arrived in the settlement and took charge of Mr. Ely's mills. He made the journey, a distance of six hundred miles, on foot. There were no drones in the pioneer group, everyone came expecting to do his or her part in developing the country. While Mr. Ely was here on his trip in 1816, he made his first sale of land in Elyria Town- Early History of Elyria and Her People - 23 ship to a young man by the name of Clark Eldred, then twenty years of age. It was located two and one-half miles west of Elyria on the present "Telegraph Road" so called. This was later known as lot sixteen, containing one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Eldred was a powerful man in build, a conspicuous figure for fifty years, and a typical pioneer of the "Western Reserve," about six feet in height, before whose mighty blows as knight of the ax the giants of the forests went down in opening up the highways and clearing the land. He was a splendid citizen, reached an advanced age on his farm and saw before he left the earth the busy city of Elyria. His kith and kin were good citizens, people of enterprise and standing contending for the common weal. He was a great-uncle of William F. Eldred, one of the proprietors of the "Eldred & Highgate Co." in Elyria. The first white family that actually resided in Elyria Township was named Beach. They were squatters, who, without leave, built a shanty in the woods west of Elyria near Mr. Eldred's, in November, 1816. The land of the township had not at this time been surveyed. On the 10th of September the following year, there was born to the Beaches the first white child in Elyria Township. The glad parents named the distinguished offspring "Henry." Soon, however, the child's sire was sick unto death, from fever, and passed away the 22d of November of that year. The widow and mother of the suckling babe and the other children in their desolation and poverty were not neglected. Artemas Beebe, mentioned, made for the first deceased in the township the coffin as his contribution, and Ezekiel Barnes, of Amherst, drove the team that carried the body, widow, and children to a log schoolhouse several miles east of Elyria across from the log tavern mentioned of Captain Eldred in Ridgeville. The few settlers saw that due respect byway of service was shown the widow and stricken family in laying away their dead in a spot in Ridgeville, where already several burials had taken place. She remained in the schoolhouse for a short time, when she became housekeeper for a man in Dover by the name of Sperry. So congenial was the new relation that within six months from the date when she became one of his family, he told her what was in his heart; the out- 24 - Early History of Elyria and Her People come was they soon married and, according to a poem from the pen of her son, written sixty years later, giving a biographical sketch of his deceased mother and stepfather, forever thereafter lived happily. It was published in the "Elyria Democrat" February 17, 1875, and reads: "It so happened the year previous, That he lost his beloved wife, And wanted a companion, Congenial for life. "Our mother, she consented His companion to be, And they lived in true friendship, Till his death set them free." The second husband so loved his second wife that he had her first husband's body removed to his family cemetery. That the first birth and death should have been the one unalloyed joy, and the other one of deepest sorrow, and in one family, is another evidence that we have but little to do with the destiny of our stay here. Mr. Ely was ever kind and considerate toward his help and neighbors. While he was having his frame house built, a Mr. Bordin Beebe, of Ridgeville, was assisting. In raising the rafters, he accidentally fell from the upper floor into the cellar and was quite badly injured. There being no doctor nearer than Cleveland village, Mr. Ely dispatched a man to get him. His name was Dr. Mack. Beebe was taken on an improvised litter to his home. After his recovery, Mr. Ely asked the physician for his bill. When asked who was to pay it, Mr. Ely said, "myself," The doctor said, "It is thirty dollars." Mr. Ely paid it without complaint. The next industry planted in the embryo city was one for turning out wooden bowls. This was carried on by Enos Mann, who came with his family to Elyria in the summer of 1817 and built a log house east of the river where he conducted his business. He with his family and household goods came from Becket, Mass., with what was then called a "spike team," which consisted of a yoke of oxen with a horse in the lead, all drawing a wagon. Not long after the Beach child was born a son appeared in Early History of Elyria and Her People - 25 the Mann family, just named. The mother of this second offspring in the settlement had an eye to business, for when Mr. Ely called to bestow his congratulations on the happy parents, for helping the growth of the town, she told the founder if he would deed the new arrival fifty acres she would honor him by calling her promising son "Ely Mann." Mr. Fly was not a person to make hasty promises. He assured her he would take the matter under consideration and let her know. In a few days he returned to the bedside of the hopeful mother and, in a kind way, told her that it would be setting a precedent for all mothers in the place which he would feel in justice bound to follow, if he accepted her proposition, the result of which would eventually take all his real-estate holdings, and for that reason he should have to decline her offer, as much as he would like to accept it. She was a sensible lady and, on listening to his excuse, conceded it was valid and assured him he was right. This good lady and true mother and wife, then but thirty-four, at forty years of age went to her reward, and was the first person buried in the Elyria Cemetery. Her resting place is marked by a plain sandstone slab which still bears the following inscription, "In memory of Mrs. Cleamency Mann, consort of Mr. Enos Mann, who died March 9th, 1823, in the 40th year of her age." Early in the summer of 1817, Mr. Ely employed Joshua Henshaw, a surveyor, to survey the township and lay out and make a plat of Elyria. He employed Mr. Clark Eldred, mentioned, as one of his assistants. The work was continued from year to year, till the same was finished. The first sermon preached in Elyria was at a service held in the first log house built by Mr. Ely, heretofore described used for a boarding house, till the saw mill had turned out lumber for dwellings. It was on the fifth day of February, 1818. The minister was Rev. Alvin Hyde, a young man twenty-five years of age. He came from Massachusetts and was stationed at Dover, where he preached one half of the time and the other half in the surrounding country. His text was from Jonah 2. 9, "Salvation is of the Lord." Before this first service some used to attend church in Ridgeville Center held in a log schoolhouse. Joel Terrell and Samuel Eldred led the meetings and Willis Terrell conducted the singing. The first schoolhouse built in Elyria 26 - Early History of Elyria and Her People was of logs and was erected in the fall of 1819. It stood on the east side of the east branch of Black River on the knoll now bounded on the west by East River Street and on the south by East Bridge Street, being the point immediately northeast from the New York Central road. This structure was ot only used for school purposes but religious service as well. In the absence of a minister, Mr. Ely read a sermon. Occasionally Sherman Minot did the reading. The ones called upon to offer prayer were Mr. Bronson, Mr. Barr, Luther Lane, or William Smith. The singing was done by Irene Allen and others. Calvin Smith pitched the tunes and led off. Rev. Taylor, of Dover, known as "Father Taylor," preached later occasionally. For some years after the arrival of the first settlers, rattlesnakes were very common, found about the streams and rocks and occasionally crept into the shavings of the workmen and about brush piles. Fortunately no fatalities came from them and they gradually disappeared till now such a reptile it would be hard to find in the township. CHAPTER VI IN THE fall of 1817, when Elyria was founded, Artemas Beebe, the twenty-four-year old carpenter and joiner, who had the building of Mr. Ely's house, together with George Douglass, purchased the first lot sold by Mr. Ely in the city of Elyria. It is the one across from the old Ely homestead, now the property of the Knights of Columbus mentioned on East Broad Street. It was the first tavern or hotel erected. It is now the oldest frame structure in Elyria. It had, like Mr. Ely's residence, a firep'ace in every living room, as heating stoves were not in use in those days. December 8th the following year, Mr. Beebe purchased Douglass' interest and from that time became the sole proprietor and owner of the property so long as the same was used as a place to accommodate the public. They paid Mr. Ely thirty-two dollars for the lot and ten dollars per thousand for the lumber used in its construction. The nails used in the building cost them from twenty to seventy-five cents per pound. This building became for years the social center, of not only the villagers, but the settlers in the surrounding country. Early History of Elyria and Her People - 27 "Balls," as they were then called, were frequently held there. It was here that the traveling judges and lawyers gathered to discuss politics and swap stories. The cooking for the waiting public was all done before a fireplace and in a brick oven. The latter was erected a few feet from the hotel, in arch form, about three feet from the ground wholly of brick, with an opening about three feet wide, four feet in depth, and two feet in height. In this kindling and wood were placed to the full capacity of the same, with a short chimney for draft and a temporary front of brick, where iron doors could not be had, and then fired. When the fuel was consumed the bricks were so heated that food, when placed in there for the requisite length of time, was as well baked as can be done in any modern cook stove. Of course, the coals were removed before the pies, meats, and bread, etc., were placed in the opening. At this point, in speaking of stoves, it will be of interest to know that Elyria has the distinction of being the birthplace of the "Stewart Stove" that revolutionized the stove industry and built the city of Troy, New York. It came about in this wise: In the spring of 1832 the founder of Oberlin College, John J. Shipherd, was then residing with his wife and children in a dwelling on the northeast corner of East Avenue and Grace Court, preaching for a small Presbyterian church, the first religious organization in the village. He was thirty years of age. He had a friend residing in the State of New York, from which he came two years previous to serve the church, by the name of Philo Stewart, a returned missionary from the Cherokee Indians, who had written him he would like to go west and do some missionary work on the "Reserve." Shipherd wrote him to come. Wk hile here he observed the inconvenience to which Mrs. Shipherd was put endeavoring to bake in a cook stove that had just come into vogue, as she had to turn the bread over and over as the only heat that reached the oven was from the top. Stewart being of an inventive turn of mind, set about it and constructed out of sheet iron the first cook stove that drew the heat from the fire-box completely around the oven before it escaped up the chimney. This principle was at the bottom of all successful cook stoves thereafter. Stewart made fortunes out of his invention, was philanthropically disposed, and out of his wealth assisted education and the cause of Christianity. In this Ship- 28 - Early History of Elyria and Her People herd home that year, was born through the prayers of these two young ministers who were anti-slavery in their beliefs, bated the liquor traffic, and believed in co-education of the sexes, Oberlin Colony and her college; but this will be the subject of a later chapter. The little building in which the Oberlin movement started and the stove was invented, now stands on the northwest corner of East Avenue and Eighth Street, occupied by strangers from strange lands who are wholly ignorant of its history. The Beebe Hotel is inhabited by numerous families and persons as ARTEMAS BEEBE TAVERN-ERECTED IN 1820 First one in the town. His stage line, from Cleveland to Fremont tenants who are not aware of its story or that it was erected one hundred and ten years ago. It is now practically in the same condition as to rooms and the exterior in which it was originally, save its weather-beaten condition. It being the oldest building in the city and the first hotel, and once the social center of the earliest inhabitants, would it not be a splendid thing to save it for a historical society by repainting, opening its hidden fireplaces, replacing the cranes and filling it with the old pictures and the character of furniture and household equipment in vogue in its day? No doubt many things owned by the Beebes that once adorned its mantels, rooms, and walls could be contributed by their descendants. This building thus Early History of Elyria and Her People - 29 equipped with a caretaker would as the years multiply become more and more interesting, giving this generation and our descendants a true picture of home and hotel life in that day. It would be an easy matter to replace the old brick oven in the back yard and grow flowers in the garden, such as gave delight to the people of that period. If this is not done soon this historic structure will, under the relentless hand of those who think only how to "buy and sell and get gain," be razed to the earth to give place to one for merchandise. Where is the man or woman or company of them who will save the situation? I should like to be one of the number. Think it over. Napoleon the genius said, "sentiment rules the world." An individual without it ever misses the mark. Why did Henry Ford, the wealthiest man on earth, purchase the old abandoned "tavern" in the East and restore it to its primitive condition, and ever and anon visit it for sleep and a meal served as in the good old days? Why did he rescue the decayed water mill down among the New England hills and set the wheel turning and millstones grinding, both of which structures are now visited by throngs, because of the sentiment in his soul? It is common knowledge that he now owns the farm home in which lie was born and raised, and the little schoolhouse in which he learned to read, and has restored so far as possible the homestead to its condition in which it was when he was a barefooted boy, to which he, with his good wife and children go when seeking a respite from the world, as the dearest spot to him in the universe. We better take warning before it is too late and emulate the Eastern people who have marked all over the country the historic spots and dwellings. If the building in which Oberlin College was born stood on its original foundations, it should be rescued, but it has been changed inside and out and lost its location, making it impracticable. I have had pictures taken of it for Oberlin College. When late fall of 1817 approached there was an exodus from the settlement for the winter months. Mr. Ely, after his house was enclosed, mounted his horse and rode back to his home in Massachusetts to remain till spring. Ebenezer and Deacon Luther Lane made their way back to Springfield, as far as Albany on foot, where they took a stage coach for the balance of the journey. Beebe and Douglass spent the winter finishing 30 - Early History of Elyria and Her People the interior of the Ely dwelling. Roderic Ashley superintended matters for Mr. Ely till his return. Mr. Ely came back early the next spring and assumed control of his projects. Seeing the great necessity of better means to cross the two branches of Black River than by ferry, Mr. Ely engaged Capt. Calvin Hoadly to erect two wooden bridges, one where the new stone and cement bridge spans the river on "East Bridge Street," and one where the stone arch bridge crosses the river on "West Bridge Street." In afteryears these two wooden structures gave way to iron bridges, and still later those to the present monumental structures. On Mr. Ely's return in the spring of 1818, he took the necessary steps to survey the township. The same is five miles on each side, hence containing sixteen thousand acres, twelve thousand five hundred of which at one time he owned as stated in a previous chapter. The township is bounded on the north by Sheffield, east by Ridgeville, south by Carlisle, west by Amhert Townships. The southern boundary of the city of Elyria was then the north boundary of Carlisle Township till the corporation line some years ago was extended into that township. The geographical center of Elyria Township is about a mile and a half north of the courthouse. When Mr. Ely first owned the twelve thousand five hundred acres it was a part of Huron County. He soon saw that the wise thing to do, looking to the future of his town, would be to try and have the legislature organize a new county, making Elyria the county seat. There was then no continuous road between Elyria and Columbus. The only way to reach the capitol was on foot or horseback. All the territory now in Lorain County was then contained in the counties of Huron, Cuyahoga, and Medina. Then the east branch of the Black River was the boundary line between Cuyahoga and Huron Counties. On the fourteenth of September, 1818, Mr. Ely, the bachelor, now forty-three, concluded it was not good for man to be alone. While no letters have been preserved, if any were written between Elyria's founder and the lady he brought into the wilderness as a bride, yet no doubt tender missives passed between them looking to the happy event when two hearts should beat as one. The mansion in the forest being erected in his behalf indicated that he anticipated some fair one was to occupy it Early History of Elyria and Her People - 31 with him. Seeing it enclosed with prospects that all would be ready on his return, he again turned his footsteps toward the East on the 14th day of September, 1818. At this time there was a steamboat on Lake Erie called "Walk in the Water," that reached Cleveland on the first of that month on her way to Detroit. It was her first trip west as far as Cleveland, where she remained a few days. Her appearance drew most of the inhabitants of the then village to greet her and the crew and passengers. Her approach was saluted by the firing of thirteen rounds of artillery, to which she replied with a like number. Mr. Ely took passage for Buffalo, by way of Detroit, as she was not to stop at Cleveland on her return. As the little craft steamed out of the harbor, more guns were fired and parting salutations given by hand-wavings and words wishing all a safe journey. The boat reached Detroit on the twenty-first, and the same day started for Buffalo, making that port on the twenty-fourth. He was on the vessel seven days before she tied up in that city. This was the first steamboat that ever crossed Lake Erie, When we contemplate the speed now made in floating palaces on the Great Lakes, with every convenience for comfort that the cunning of man's hand can devise, in which our every whims are anticipated, every mile a joy-ride, and then consider the lack of comforts on such a craft, tossing about like a cork when a little disturbance of the waters brought seasickness, I marvel how blest we are in riding the deep, whether on the saltless seas or boundless oceans. As we recount the hardships of the pioneers, let us never cease to pay them homage for the multiplied blessings that are ours, because they endured and laid the foundations on which we are building. Mr. Ely reached Springfield, Mass., his old home, on the first day of October and on the tenth day of the same month was married to Miss Celia Belden, daughter of Col. Ezekiel P. Belden, of West Chesterfield, Conn. Within eight days they started for Ohio. They were two weeks reaching their destination by the best means of travel. Finding that their dwelling was not yet ready for occupancy, they resided for a short time in the log house he had constructed for the people working for him. When it became noised about that Mr. Ely had arrived from the East with a blushing bride, curiosity soon reached a high pitch to see the new addition to the colony, and especially of 32 - Early History of Elyria and Her People the one who had led the way into the wilderness the previous year, and he a bachelor at that. Among those who had a burning desire to see for themselves were two Ridgeville ladies, one Mrs. Geo. Sexton, and a lady friend whose name has not come down to this generation. The fact that it was a chill November day did not dampen their ardor or deter their going. On foot they made their way for miles through the woods, reaching the log hut where dwelt the object of their curiosity. A rap on the cabin door brought the groom; who greeted them in his gracious way and introduced them to one they had come to see. She at once put them at ease, and so pleasantly and swiftly did the hours pass that they accepted an invitation to remain for tea. Ere they were aware, the shades of darkness began to appear, when they made haste to return, but before they had reached their own habitations they lost their way and were compelled to find lodging in the thicket of a fallen tree top till a rising sun should light them out of their difficulty. In due time their cabins were reached and they were happy in having found so charming an addition to the community. CHAPTER VII ARTEMAS BEEBE, the carpenter and joiner, was a powerful man in build, possessing a striking personality. As heretofore stated, he came to Ohio under a contract with Mr. Ely to do carpenter and joiner work, when he was but twenty-three. In the month of February, 1819, he found his health failing from overwork in laying ashwood flooring. Realizing he needed rest, he purchased a horse and saddle and started for his old home in West Springfield, Mass. He went by way of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York. In June he had fully recovered his strength, when he purchased a wagon, to which he hitched his "little gray horse," as he called him, and returned to Elyria. Capt. Festus Cooley, who had come from the East without his family to conduct Mr. Ely's mills, went back in the summer for a visit and also to get his family. He returned in August. For some months he was the first occupant of the Beebe "tavern" before it was ready for the public. Mr. Beebe boarded with the Cooley's till February of the next year, 1820, when he again Early History of Elyria and Her People - 33 returned to his old home in West Springfield. This trip was on a like mission as that of Mr. Ely's, to secure a wife. His journey is interesting, because of the hardships encountered as the sequel will show. The first day he walked to Cleveland, the next to Painesville, and the third to Ashtabula. He was now twenty-five. Shortly after leaving Ashtabula he was overtaken by a traveler riding one horse and leading another. The stranger was on his way to Onandaga Hollow, on the Cherry Valley Turnpike in New York. He proposed to the gentleman that if he would let him ride the extra horse he would pay for the keep of the animal on the journey. The proposition was accepted and the future builder and proprietor of hotels and conductor and owner of stage lines was soon astride the extra, wending his way toward the object of his affections. He had not proceeded many miles before he found it was easier to walk than to ride a horse without saddle and stirrups. When he had reached a condition of discomfort that made him wish he had not met the stranger, they came to a log cabin where there were two men and a saddled horse. Mr. Beebe asked the owner if he would sell the saddle, and if so, for what price. He assured him he would for the price of one dollar, if he could retain the stirrups and their straps. The bargain was closed. Mr. Beebe then procured a piece of rope and improvised stirrups and straps, both by tying the rope to the pommel of the saddle with loops for stirrups, after which he rode in comfort to the residence of his companion, who invited him to remain over night, a proposition he was glad to accept. The next morning he started on foot for Albany but was soon overtaken by a two-horse sleigh, in which were four Germans on their way to Albany, who asked him to ride, a proposition he was delighted to accept. At that place he walked across the Hudson River on the ice, and there took a stage for West Springfield. Not to be idle while on his visit, he secured employment as a carpenter and joiner in constructing a town house in the place. While thus engaged he boarded with a Mrs. Cooley, the mother of Ann Cooley, who later married Deacon Luther Lane, one of the pioneers of Elyria heretofore mentioned. Among the West Springfield fair maidens was Pamelia M. Morgan, who, to young Beebe, possessed more charms than all others of the fair sex he had ever met. Often while in Ohio her 34 - Early History of Elyria and Her People form and face had appeared before him as the one supreme being with whom he could be happy. He was not long back in the old town before he called to see whether distance had lent enchantment, and lo, she was more comely and charming than he had dreamed. The outcome was, he soon told her, that life in the new country would not be worth the living without her. She was a sensible girl and after listening to his protestations of love and promises she took the proposition under consideration, for a few days and concluded, like Barcas, she was willing to accept and journey as man and wife to the wilds of far-away Ohio. On the 4th day of October, 1820, they went before Rev. Joseph Lathrop of the place, then blind and in his eighty-ninth year, and were pronounced man and wife. Then came the wedding trip, not to Niagara Falls, Long Branch, Saratoga, or Atlantic City, nor was it to Washington to see Congress, and shake hands with the President, riding in a palace, every rod a joy-ride, but the journey was made in an emigrant wagon over almost impassable roads, enduring hardships. Their ambitions were strong to accomplish, so the young couple began preparations. A span of horses was purchased and a covered wagon of emigrant fashion. The wagon box was packed with the necessities of life for beginners. On the twentieth of the month of October, bidding good-bye to their families and friends, the happy couple headed the team toward Ohio. When they came to "Beckett Mountain," for safety, she walked. Before they reached the summit, the team gave out and backed the wagon into a log and tree that saved them from going over a cliff. She remained with the team while he went for help. He procured men with an ox team and chains. The oxen were hitched ahead, and soon the load was at the top of the mountain. From this point to "Walnut Creek," west of Erie, Pa., they did not encounter any serious trouble. Here, however, calamity again overtook them as the horses got stalled on a great bluff. They procured a man with an ox team, who rani a saw mill at the foot of the hill, to pull them out. Just as a point of safety had been reached, the oxen suddenly turned toward the mill, and in so doing upset the wagon, that went rolling down the embankment, crushing the bows of the cover, but fortunately did not injure the contents, as the goods had been so well packed chey escaped damage, nor was the wagon otherwise broken. Early History of Elyria and Her People - 35 The kind-hearted miller and his wife invited them to remain in their log cabin over night. They were glad to accept the hospitality of their newly made friends, and slept on a straw tick, soundly, till called for breakfast, after which they bade the good people farewell, and headed their team for Ohio. On reaching the hotel, November 17, they were heartily welcomed by Captain Cooley and family, who, as stated, had occupied the building in Mr. Beebe's absence. Within a few days they moved out and the Beebe's took possession and commenced keeping hotel. While the rooms were all lathed, they had not yet been plastered. There was, of course, ample good wood for the taking, so that the fireplaces were kept going, making people comfortable, notwithstanding the lack of plastered walls. Mr. Ely and the villagers and settlers for several miles around were naturally anxious for mail facilities. This necessitated a post office, which Uncle Sam would not grant, without a name. Mr. Ely began to reflect over the subject. His cogitations carried him in memory to France, where he had spent, as stated in a previous chapter, many months. While there Napoleon compelled the government of. Austria to cede to France her "Illyrian Provinces." This name appealed to Mr. Ely as a charming one, by which to christen his newborn township and village. He therefore adopted the name "Illyria," but wrote it with an "E," and left out one "I." The grandson of the founder, the late Hon. George H. Ely, not long before he passed away, told me this is the way the name came about, and his statement is confirmed by his widow in a letter I just received in which she not only tells how the township and village received their name, but the county as well. It reads: "Mrs. George H. Ely, "119 Columbus Street, "Elyria, Ohio. July 10, 1928. "My dear Mr. Webber: "While on a European business trip, Heman Ely visited Paris in 1809, the year in which Austria ceded the `Illyrian Provinces' to Napoleon. "Eight years later, in 1817, the town of Elyria, in the Connecticut Western Reserve, was settled and given its name from 36 - Early History of Elyria and Her People Illyria in France. The county receiving its name from the province of Lorain, also in France. "These are the facts which you can use as may seem best to you. "I am cordially yours, "Annie M. Ely." After the usual delays in such matters in satisfying the authorities at Washington that justice demanded a post office at Elyria, it was established on the 23d day of May, 1818, one hundred and ten years ago, and Mr. Ely was appointed postmaster by President Monroe, a position he held under succeeding administrations for fifteen years, but was finally succeeded by John S. Matson on the 1st day of April, 1833, who was appointed by President Jackson. An effort was made during President Jackson's first term to put Mr. Ely out of the office on the ground that he was not as favorable to Jackson as he should be, but to no avail, till near the end of Jackson's second four years, when his political enemies succeeded. Silas Wolverton was the first mail carrier for the route, from Cleveland to Lower Sandusky (now called Fremont), passing through Elyria, a position he held till 1826. During that period until the roads were made passable, the mail was carried on horseback. On the last date mentioned, Mr. Beebe and Ezra S. Adams bought out the mail route from Wolverton and improved the service by putting on more teams and assistants. While the partnership lasted, Mr. Beebe carried the mail from Cleveland to Elyria, and Adams from Elyria to Lower Sandusky. The partnership ceased at the end of a year by Mr. Beebe purchasing Adams' interest in the contract. He then improved the service by making three trips a week, the driver going up one day and back the next. The following year Mr. Beebe visited the Postmaster-General in Washington, Hon. John McLean, who later was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, with letters of introduction from Mr. Ely, Elisha Whittlesy, and others. The object was to talk over the future relative to what the Postmaster-General thought would be required to make the postal service more efficient. The knowledge obtained was satisfactory, and resulted in Mr. Beebe preparing for the future by establishing the first stage- Early History of Elyria and Her People - 37 coach line that ever ran out of Cleveland. Mr. Beebe was then but thirty-four years old. It was a six-passenger. This he changed to a nine-passenger by putting in a middle seat. The contract Mr. Beebe had with the government was to carry the mail by stage, to start at Cleveland, then to make the following points: Rockport, Dover, North Ridgeville, Elyria, Amherst, Henrietta, Florence, Milan, Norwalk, Monroeville, Four Corners, Lyme, York, Green Creek, ending at Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). It was an enclosed vehicle after the pattern of the stage coaches of that period, drawn by four horses, the driver perched outside on a high seat. The stage drivers of those days were as proud, if not more so, of their position driving four-in-hand over the stage routes, than a locomotive engineer in this clay is of his Twentieth Century Limited making a mile a minute. Those who lived in that period and saw the first Beebe stage coach make its initial trip, said it caused more excitement on the part of the people and aroused more curiosity along the way than did the first Lake Shore railway train that came nearly twenty-five years later. Crowds gathered to see the coach-infour. The driver was an object of envy by the boys and men who believed their ambition would be complete if they had such a position. The first coach left Cleveland for its destination in the fall of 1827. Staging in those days, a hundred years ago, was not what the multitude suppose. Mr. Beebe's stage coach had to start at Spangler's tavern in Cleveland at four o'clock in the morning. After passing the then-known Taylor farm, west of Cleveland, the road ran through the woods to Rocky River. Here serious trouble began, owing to the dangerous clay banks bounding the stream. The mails had to be at their respective offices on time. There was no bridge over Rocky River. Occasionally a serious accident occurred. At the point where the stage forded the river, there was a mill race that it was necessary to cross. In January, 1828, there had been a flood. The river and race were high. Silvanus Smith was driving the coach. He attempted to cross the race. The water proved too deep and swift for the horses, and they were swept off their feet, and into the flood waters of the river and drowned, save one called "Prince" that broke loose from the harness and swam ashore. The dead horses floated onto an island below and their harnesses were saved. The coach and robes went 4 38 - Early History of Elyria and Her People into the lake and were lost. No person was drowned. The mails had been removed before attempting to cross the stream, and they were finally gotten onto the other side and sent along by a hired team. Mr. Ely's efforts to secure the organization of a new county with Elyria as the county seat began in the winter of 1821-1822, when he visited Columbus, to see the legislators. He started on horseback, the only means of travel in that direction, as stated, save on foot. He had only a compass for a guide. The day was cloudy and the paths uncertain. Before he had gone many miles, he lost his way, probably in LaGrange woods, and was compelled to spend a night there. At daybreak he retraced his steps as the only means of ascertaining where he had made his mistake. After a hearty meal and care of his horse, he again headed toward the capital. This time he had no difficulty in reaching his destination. His trip failed to bring the desired results, but it was not wholly futile, as it turned the attention of the legislators to this part of the State, and resulted the next winter, when Mr. Ely again made the trip, in getting results, for on the 22d day of December, 1822, an act was passed by that body, defining the boundaries of the new county to be called as Mr. Ely desired, Lorain, after the province in France. The new county was made up of territory taken from Cuyahoga, Medina, and Huron Counties. There was, of course, general rejoicing in the settlement over the great event. CHAPTER VIII THE previous chapter gave an account of the organization of Lorain County by the legislature, December 26, 1822, taken as stated, from the then counties of Cuyahoga, Medina, and Huron. It embraced seventeen and one-half townships as follows: Brownhelm, Henrietta, Amherst, Russia, Elyria, Carlisle, and those parts of Black River and Sheffield that lie west of the river, all of which territory was taken from Huron County. From Cuyahoga County, the following: Avon, Ridgeville, the west half of Olmsted. Eaton, Columbia, and the parts of Black River and Sheffield lying east of the river; from Medina County: Camden, Early History of Elyria and Her People - 39 Pittsfield, LaGrange, and Wellington. While the foregoing constituted the new county, it was not authorized by legislative enactment to function till January 21, 1824; the territory named was till then to remain respectively under the jurisdiction of the three counties from which it was taken. The new county remained thus constituted till January 29, four years later, when the townships of Grafton, Penfield, Spencer, Homer, Huntington, Sullivan, and Troy were detached from Medina County and made a part of Lorain County, and at the same time the west half of Dover Township, that was made a part of Lorain County, was given to Cuyahoga County. This then made twenty-five townships for this county. This continued for thirteen years, when the townships of Spencer and Homer were given back to Medina County. Six years later, in 1846, the townships of Sullivan and Troy were given to Ashland County. This left Lorain County with twenty-one townships. Avon was, in acreage, the largest township in Ohio till it was divided a few years ago. The governments of Great Britain and the United States, having years before fixed by treaty the boundary line between the two countries in the center of the Great Lakes, it makes the northern boundary ofLorain County, the center of Lake Erie, so that this county has substantially the same number of acres under water as above. Between the date when the legislature organized the county in December, 1822, to the time in 1824, when the organization was completed, the question naturally arose in the minds of the people as to the location of the new county seat. .Contesting townships for the prize and honor at once arose; they were Elyria, Black River, and Sheffield. There was no newspaper to take a hand in the contest, no telephones, no paved roads. The anxious pioneers, however, were busy making friends for their particular township before the authorities appointed by the legislature had shown up. That body had appointed a committee to visit the county, canvas the claims of the contestants, and stick the stakes for the courthouse. While the gentlemen thus empowered first came to Elyria, they gave no intimation of what was in their minds till after they had visited the other two townships. Mr. l ly engaged Mr. Beebe, the pioneer, running the hotel and stage line, to take the committee the rounds with a team. Black River was first visited. Her 40 - Early History of Elyria and Her People people received the gentlemen and pointed out to them the fact that Cleveland in Cuyahoga County had been rightfully selected for the county seat, being on the lake and river, hence why not Black River Township with a better natural harbor. Mr. Beebe then drove them to the center of Sheffield to look over the land and site now on the old Day and Burrell farms at the head of river navigation. The natural beauty of the groves and surroundings and location on the river were pointed out by the anxious inhabitants, after which they made their way back to Elyria, when Mr. Ely made the following proposition to the committee: "I will put up a temporary courthouse, one story high, on the corner of Main Street and Middle Avenue, large enough to accommodate the business until a new courthouse can be built, when I will donate the site and two thousand dollars in money toward building it and erect back of it a jail, which shall be the residence of the sheriff as well." After the proposition was made, the visiting gentlemen took under advisement all the claims of the three townships, Mr. Ely and the citizens pointed out in Elyria the natural water power, and the fact that the location was more centrally located to accommodate the people of all parts of the county. The committee concluded Elyria had the best of the argument, and before they turned their faces homeward, in company with Mr. Ely, stuck the stakes for the courthouse that later was erected on the ground now occupied by the present beautiful structure, and went on their way. One of the sorely disappointed Black River men was John S. Reed, the owner of much land about the harbor, the father of one of the later leading citizens of that place, Capt. Conrad Reed. He dined them while there and made the best argument possible, but the inducements held out by Mr. Ely and the natural facilities here turned the scale. Mr. Ely at once proceeded to carry out his agreement by erecting a courthouse on the spot now occupied by the Wilder cigar store, and those business places immediately adjoining. Then came the jail, a two-story frame dwelling of good size he erected just back of the present courthouse site, in which he partitioned off a part with hewn logs for safety for a prison, with iron-barred windows. When the next jail was erected on the spot of the present one this building was removed to its present location on the south side of East Third Street, as a dwelling, for Early History of Elyria and Her People - 41 which purpose it is still occupied, known as the Pomeroy homestead, in which Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Pomeroy, deceased some years, raised a large and cultured family. The first courthouse was moved east a little and for several years was used for school purposes and by the Presbyterians also as a place of worship. Later it was moved back of the furniture store of Snearer & Waldecker, and converted into a work shop, and later, when the Sharp block was erected, it was moved still farther east, and went up in flames when a fire consumed several old structures in that locality. Thus ended the first temple of justice built one hundred and four years ago by Elyria's founder. The courthouse was no sooner up and in shape for occupancy than deep interest was aroused among the scattered settlers, as to who should constitute the officials of the county. While the positions hardly afforded salaries sufficient to support the incumbent, the honor to be among the first to hold a county position made it an object for those with political ambitions to get busy. When the day came for the opening of court, there was a good turnout of interested citizens, for the then population to witness the choosing and installation of officials. The first session of court was on the 24th day of May, 1824, one hundred and four years ago. The laws of the State then provided that there should be four judges on the bench, one of whom should be a lawyer and the other three laymen to the profession, who were to assist the one learned in the law in weighing the evidence and passing on the facts. The presiding judge at this opening of the new court was George Todd, of Trumbull County, whose circuit included Lorain County. He was an Eastern man, had graduated from Yale College, served several terms as State Senator, and had been a member of Ohio Supreme Court. His laymen associates were Moses Eldred, Henry Brown, and Frederick Hamlin, all, of course, residents of this county. This position of associate gave to all who held the same the title of judge. The sheriff on this occasion was Josiah Harris, of Amherst. On the opening of court the judge appointed Woolsey Wells, then the only lawyer in the county, prosecuting attorney. The Journal entry of this first term of court reads as follows: "Be it remembered that on the 24th day of May, A. D., 1824, at Elyria, in the County of Lorain, in pursuance of a statute law 42 - Early History of Elyria and Her People of the State of Ohio, passed on the tenth clay of February in the year aforesaid, entitled an act regulating the time of holding judicial court, the first court of Common Pleas, in and for said County of Lorain, was opened in due form by the sheriff thereof, Josiah Harris, holding said court; George Todd, president of the Court of Common Pleas for the third circuit in this State, in which circuit is Lorain County, and his associates: Moses Eldred, Henry Brown, and Frederick Hamlin, before which court the following proceedings were had, to-wit: Woolsey Wells, an attorney of record in the court, was appointed attorney to prosecute the pleas of the State for this county during the pleasure of the court." Attorney Wells was also appointed at the same opening of court, clerk thereof. This court also had jurisdiction of such matters relating to estates as now belong to the Probate Court, as there was no Probate Court at the time. The first official business disposed of was the appointment of Lucinda Holcomb, widow of Almond Holcomb, as executrix, and Edward Durand as executor, jointly of the estate of her husband. The first action commenced was Simon Nichols against Thomas G. Bronson, seeking a judgment in the sum of $1,427.27-in which the plaintiff later recovered the amount. The second day of the first session Ebenezer Whiton was appointed clerk in place of Prosecutor Woolsey Wells, as it was deemed not in accordance with law to allow one person to hold two county offices at the same time. Wells was glad to surrender the position, as he was a man of high character, in whom all had the utmost confidence as the sequel will show. He was a product of the "Old Bay State." He was educated in the schools of the State of New York, admitted to the bar in 1823, and settled in Elyria a few months previous to the first term of court. He was prosecuting attorney for two years, for which he received the sum of one hundred and twenty dollars. He was then appointed collector of tolls in Akron, on the Cleveland-Akron Canal. At the expiration of two years he resigned, as his duties required him to serve in that capacity on the Sabbath, which he calculated was not in accordance with the Scriptures. Sometime later he was made postmaster in Akron by President John Quincy Adams, and then by his successor, Andrew Jackson. He also held the office of justice of the peace in that Early History of Elyria and Her People - 43 place for nearly five years, when he resigned, in order to give his entire time to the duties of traveling agent for the "Ohio State Temperance Society," of which organization Governor Lucas was president. At the expiration of a year, he resigned and reentered the practice of law in Elyria, as partner of Herman Birch. Two years later he moved to Cleveland, where lie practiced for about three years, when he returned to Elyria and became so deeply interested as an anti-slavery agitator that he practiced his profession but little. He was heartily in accord with the stand Oberlin colony and College had taken on the great question, and was ever ready to bear the odium attached to those who dared to speak out in defense of the downtrodden race. There was at this time a highly educated physician and prominent citizen residing in the county by the name of Dr. N. S. Townsend, whom the free soilers had elected to the legislature. He secured an appointment for Wells as agent for the sale of "Western Reserve School Lands," which necessitated his removal to Defiance, in Williams County, where he resided nine years. He then went to Fort Dodge, Iowa, having ,been appointed United States land agent for that point, where he spent the remainder of his life. He has come down to us through the records of the courts, old newspapers, and recorded recollections of citizens who knew him for his integrity of purpose and diligence for the common weal, as one possessed of the courage of his convictions, a noble character, who, by his life, left a deep impression on his fellows for the best. He was a lover of truth, and once having discovered its location, went straight toward it. The grand jury of that first term of Common Pleas Court was made up of men of character, some of whose descendants are with us in the county to this day. They were Heman Fly (foreman), Benjamin Brown, Eliphalt Redington, Gardner Howe, Erastus Hamlin, Simon Nichols, Silas Wilmot, Thomas G. Bronson, James J. Sexton, Abraham Moon, Phineas Johnson, Mahel Osborn, Edward Durand, and Harry Redington. After judge Todd had the grand jury sworn, he charged them concerning their duties as a body, whereupon they retired and after spending two days, reported to the court that there seemed to be nothing for which they should remain in session, and they were discharged for the term, with the thanks of the court. The court finished all the contests that came before it 44 - Early History of Elyria and Her People in three days, during which a few matters administering estates came up and were disposed of, as well as the issuing of several licenses for keeping tavern in the county, when the court adjourned for the term. What marvelous changes have taken place in the volume of court business since that day! Now from twelve to fourteen hundred cases are on the docket each term. Lorain County now has more civil cases commenced within a year than any one of the eighty-eight of the State save eight; these are the large city counties. It would take the civil cases of Erie, Huron, Ashland, Medina, and Crawford Counties all put together that are commenced within a year to make our civil docket in the Common Pleas Court, notwithstanding in the city of Lorain is a municipal court that has jurisdiction up to a thousand dollars, which relieves very much our Common Pleas. The county is growing rapidly. At the next term of court that commenced in September, 1824, the first license to solemnize marriages was issued to Rev. D. W. Lathrop. The first person indicted by the grand jury was Joseph Coleman, for assault and battery. It was disposed of without trial. The spring term of the next year, 1825, Reuben Doud and Abel Farr were indicted, tried by a jury, and convicted for stealing hogs. They escaped prison by paying a fine each of ten dollars. A disappointed Amherst citizen who failed to get appointed an associate judge, when three laymen sat with a presiding judge, relieved himself somewhat in his feelings by remarking to a group of citizens after his fate was known, "Justice in Lorain Common Pleas Court ought to be speedily executed, for that court has a thousand judges." When asked for an explanation of his talk on riddles, he replied: "There is Judge Brown, he's nothing; there's Judge Hamlin, he's nothing; there's Judge Eldred, he's nothing; and there's Judge Todd, the lawyer, he's one; and one and three nothings make a thousand." CHAPTER IX THE previous chapter gave an account of the first Common Pleas Court held in Elyria in the first courthouse, and the opening thereof, by Judge Todd, presiding with Moses Eldred, Henry Early History of Elyria and Her People - 45 Brown, and Frederick Hamlin as laymen associates. Eldred was the one who kept the log tavern at the corner of the intersection of Cleveland Street and Case Road, about two miles and a half east of Elyria, where Mr. Ely made his headquarters when he first visited his lands in 1816. This court thus organized continued for six years, when Ruben Wood as presiding judge took the place of Judge Todd the March term 1830, with the associate laymen named. In the fall of that year Mr. Ely, the founder, was made one of the associate judges, a position he held for twelve years. The following spring, 1831, Josiah Harris and E. W. Hubbard became with Mr. Ely, associates. This court continued for three years till the spring of 1834, when Judge Ezra Dean supplanted Judge Wood with Mr. Ely, Josiah Harris, and Franklin Wells as his laymen associates. The next year Ozias Long became one of the associate judges, and two years later Daniel J. Johns. This court continued thus constituted for three years, when John W. Wiley in 1840 became presiding judge. He died the next year, when Judge Reuben Hitchcock was appointed to fill the vacancy till January, 1842, when he was succeeded by Judge Benjamin Bissell, with said associate judges, Franklin Wells and Daniel Johns and Joseph L. Whiton, a new layman associate, who took the place of Mr. Ely. Three years later, in 1845, Elijah De Witt and Daniel T. Baldwin became associate judges, along with Joseph L. Whiton, named. This court thus constituted continued till the April term, 1848, when Benjamin C. Perkins was appointed. The following year, 1849, Judge Bliss became presiding judge, when William Day was appointed associate. The court thus made up, continued till the new State constitution went into effect in 1852, seventy-six years ago. This did away with associate laymen judges of the State, created under the first constitution in 1802, that had been in vogue for fifty years, after which date only lawyers were eligible to the bench elected in the common pleas districts, which order continued till the law was amended a few years since, giving to each county in the State one or more common pleas judges according to the population. Having given a history of the Common Pleas Courts to the present time from the organization of the State, I will now return to the early settlers. The first holiday of the American republic universally observed from the beginning was the Fourth of 46 - Early History of Elyria anal Her People July. Come what might, that day, in commemoration of our national independence, has been observed religiously in some manner in every community under the flag as the years have come and gone. The Elyria pioneers were not to be deprived of the right to its observation in some manner, notwithstanding their primitive surroundings and lack of facilities to give vent to their patriotic feelings befitting the day. To that end the matter was talked over, resulting in announcing to the scattered settlers, for miles around, that the day would be celebrated at Elyria, to which all were invited. Most of the pioneers were located in Ridgeville and Grafton and Carlisle. Gladly did they respond. Many came in the two-wheeled ox carts, so common in pioneer days. This was in 1819, one hundred and nine years ago. Was it a happy gathering without pavements, automobiles, picture shows, radios, flying machines, and ice-cream parlors? The earlier historians tell us they had a ,,glorious time." The first greeting given the approaching guests, as the oxen came in sight tugging away at the carts, was the firing of an anvil, as rapidly as the gunmen were, able to reload, making the forests ring with its vibrations. This was followed by martial music, discoursed by the Gibbs Band, of Carlisle, led on the fife by David Gibbs, a natural musician, in whose hands a drum or any wind instrument could arouse the patriotism of the most lethargic. There was, of course, the Stars and Stripes given to the breeze. Following the burning of powder and the discoursing of martial music, came the first patriotic oration ever delivered in the prospective city. The orator was Eldridge Gerry, of Ridgeville, who recounted the deeds of valor of the Pilgrims and Revolutionists to whom we are indebted for the right of a free press, free speech, and to worship God according to the dictates of our consciences. He was loudly applauded in his climaxes. There being no cannon with which to celebrate, John Gould, a patriot indeed, suggested that he would act as a gun carriage by getting on all fours with a flintlock shotgun strapped on his back in place of a cannon, the same to be fired after each toast of the after-dinner talks. Bending his hack, the improvised implement of warfare was loaded and touched off with a red-hot poker. No such celebration would be complete without a sumptuous repast. The entertainers had made ample provision for the inner man, for when high noon Early History of Elyria and Her People - 47 came, to and behold the spread in the "Beebe Tavern" was a sight for the gods. At the head of the table was a roast pig with a cob in its mouth, as if captured before he got away. Roasted venison was steaming at the other end. There were vegetables of all description in abundance, piping hot from the brick oven, and pots of the fireplace. The first celebration ended by a grand ball in the tavern, at which one Thaler, of Ridgeville, known in his day as a "fiddler," drew the bow with such consummate skill, that the joyous pioneers so far forgot their hardships, as they kept step to the soothing strains, that the midnight hour was passed unnoticed. There being then no highways between Grafton and Elyria, through the dense woods save such as were marked by blazed trees, the guests from the township were compelled to remain till morning with their ox teams. This pioneer gathering exemplifies the sayings, "happiness doth not consist in the abundance of things," "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." These days in this part of Ohio we see cranberries only in the market. The Elyria pioneers discovered a large marsh between Elyria and the infirmary, where it was easy to gather them and (lid by the bushel. Wolves, bears, and deer inhabited the woods of Elyria Township as late as 1840. The howlings of the first made nights hideous, then the havoc wrought by all of them to the property of the settlers became a serious menace, as fences were no hindrance to their depredations. The deers jumped the highest and ate and tramped down the gardens and grain fields. The bears and wolves destroyed the calves, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Their night incursions extended farther and farther as their ability to exist on the game and food of the wilderness because of cleared lands lessened. This condition existed throughout the Western Reserve to such an extent that it became necessary for the settlers in Medina, Cuyahoga, and Lorain Counties to devise some way of exterminating, so far as possible, their common enemies. In these days, instead of wild animals to fight, bugs and worms are the farmers' pests. Who conceived the idea of a great animal drive, to take in the territory of the counties named, with the hilly township of Hinckley, Medina County, eighteen miles south of Cleveland as the slaughter ground, has not been recorded. What has come down to us is the authentic account, recorded in Howe's 48 - Early History of Elyria and Her People History of Ohio, confirmed by all later Ohio historians, that the greatest animal hunt ever known in United States took place on the 24th day of December, 1818, the day preceding Christmas in Hinckley Township. It required weeks to work it up and organize for safety and success. Hinckley was then an unbroken wilderness, without an inhabitant, containing sixteen thousand acres, being five miles on each side or twenty miles around, and known as the hilliest piece of territory in northern Ohio, filled with wolves, bears, and deer, that went long distances to reach the settlements of scattered pioneers for food. It was the only township without settlers. Those in Elyria and adjoining townships, who were suffering from the marauders, took a hand. Nearly all the townships of three counties joined in the expedition. The war of 1812 had been over but a few years, so the guns used in that conflict were largely in the hands of those who participated, as they had been required to own shotguns. The names of few who participated are known, but the fact that approximately five hundred made up the company is authenticated by history. Among the participants were those who had been officials in the service and understood how to command men. They, of course, were chosen to lead. Committees were formed and meetings held, from time to time, to better perfect the organization. Surveyors were sent to Hinckley to blaze a circle on the timber a half mile from the geographical center of the township. Every man with a dog was to have him at the hunt, and those possessing horns or conch shells were ordered to bring them ready for use. All were to start at the same time toward Hinckley. Those who resided farther than walking distance, by ox teams and with dogs and horns, drive the game toward the township. Before reaching Hinckley, one hundred deer had already been killed. These were taken along on the sleds. All were on their respective sides of the township lines as ordered at sunrise. Previous orders had been issued to not go farther till the word "ready" was given by the commander. Just as the great orb appeared above the trees the word "ready" went the rounds in forty seconds, which was not bad wireless for that day and generation. Thereupon the dogs were let loose and the forests resounded with the shouts of men, the barking of dogs, and the loud notes of the conch shells and horns. The frightened game from every quarter sought escape, Early History of Elyria and Her People - 49 only to die. This common slaughter continued unabated as the hunters came closer and closer, till they reached a point where it was no longer safe to fire, when the best marksmen were ordered to climb trees and shoot down at the game. With alacrity they obeyed, and the end came when there was not a live hear, wolf, or deer within the circle. The count showed they had killed twenty-one bear, seventeen wolves, and three hundred deer. The small game like coons, wild turkeys, and foxes were not counted. The next move was to properly celebrate Christmas the following day. The young men were sent to their respective homes, to care for the chores, with the right to return for the festivities. Whole carcases of bear meat and hunks of venison were roasted before bonfires and Christmas was celebrated in 1818, at the center of the now noted township all over Ohio, because of its groves, springs, and hills. It has lately been taken into the Cleveland Park system. In it are located the noted "Whipp's Ledges," situated in the bend of the east branch of Rocky River, where an artificial lake of a hundred acres has just been made; the dam cost a hundred thousand dollars. Summer homes are to be built on its banks. The animal extermination resulted in great relief to the inhabitants. The game was divided without disputation, and the scalps of the seventeen wolves were disposed of to the State for fifteen dollars apiece, the magnitude of the bounty offered by law. Albert A. Harris, in 1833, then a resident of Elyria, who became a prominent editor in Cleveland, met a bear and her cubs on what is now Lake Avenue. The mother bear fled on being shot at, and the cubs took to a tree. These he captured and exhibited in Elyria. The last-known wolf in Elyria Township was followed by hunters as far as New Haven, Huron County, in 1844, where it was shot and its skin stuffed and placed in the Natural history rooms then in the Ely block that burned. Mr. Fly's office, where he met the people to whom he sold lands and his employees, was located at the elbow in the yard of his dwelling, the spot now occupied by the Simpson Motor emporium. At times, in the early stages of the growth of Elyria, for years ox teams stood in front, while the owners were inside transacting their business with the judge. He was a just man and benevolent citizen, very ambitious to do the best things possible, to not only build up the business interests of the town,