GOVERNER TOD
CITY OF YOUNGSTOWN
359 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO
YOUNGSTOWN.
CHAPTER I.
INITIAL EVENTS.
Youngstown, the county seat of Mahoning county, is situate in the southeast part of the Western Reserve, nearly in a direct line between Cleveland and Pittsburg, about seventy miles from each city. It is intersected in a direction from the northwest to the southeast by the Ma- honing river, a branch of the Beaver, a confluent of the Ohio. It derives its name from John Young, who purchased the township from the Connecticut Land company in 1796. As will appear elsewhere in this work that company purchased the Reserve from the State of Connecticut, surveyed it into townships five miles square, and after the survey made sale of a few of the townships, or parts thereof, to individuals, prior to the partition by draft among the members of the company. One of the townships thus sold was designated in the plat of the survey as number two in the second range. Its east line is five miles west of the Ohio and Pennsylvania State line, and its south line five miles north of the south line of the Reserve. The precise time of the purchase we are not able to learn. The contract cannot be found, and no public record, as we are aware, exists of the contract of purchase. But among the papers which have escaped loss or destruction, a document was found which casts some light upon the history of the purchase. From this paper it appears that a contract had been made between the directors of the Connecticut Land company of the one part, and John Young for himself and Philo White of the other part, for the sale and settling of " a township of land in the Connecticut Reserve, so called," and which township, by agreement between said directors and said Young, was understood to be township number two in the second range. The document now spoken of, is a map of the township as divided into lots. On one of these lots, which includes about one-third of the township on the east side, is this entry :
Five thousand five hundred acres disposed of to Hill, Shehy and others, by contract with John Young, on which they are to settle with seventeen families.
On the other lots, which are of different sizes, are entered the number of acres and names of their proprietors, Young, White, and Storrs. On the margin of the map is the following entry :
This may certify that we, being equally interested in township number two in the second range in the Connecticut Reserve, do agree to the above sale of the five thousand. five hundred acres to the actual settlers as above, and do likewise agree to 1he division of the remainder in the manner to which our names are annexed in the above sketch.
MIDDLETOWN, January 30, 1797.
The names of those signing the agreement are cut off. They were, probably, John Young, Philo White, and Lemuel Storrs.
On the same sheet with the map is a conveyance from Philo White to John Young for the consideration of $1,050, of all his interest in the original contract, to which it refers. This conveyance is dated February 9, 1797.
In fulfillment of the terms of this contract of sale the Land company, by deed dated April 9, 1800, conveyed to John Young township number two in the second range, called Youngstown, containing fifteen thousand five hundred and sixty acres of land for the consideration or $16,Q85.16.
SURVEY INTO LOTS AND SETTLEMENT.
The survey of the Reserve into townships was commenced in July, 1796, at the southeast corner, consequently this township was one of the first surveyed and its border line designated, and it is probable that John Young contracted for its purchase during the latter half of that year,
360 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
and it is possible that in 1796 or not later than early in 1797, the time named by tradition, he visited the township with Alfred Wolcott, his surveyor, and others as assistants, and possibly with prospective settlers. The assistants of Mr. Wolcott were Phineas Hill, of Western Pennsylvania, axeman; Isaac Powers, of North Beaver, Pennsylvania; Daniel Shehy, who, as his descendants state, came from the State of New York with Mr. Young, and probably others whose names tradition has not retained. They surveyed and laid out the town plat, upon and around which the city now stands, and the remainder of the township into great lots, as they exist at this day. ' Settlements on the lands surveyed were immediately commenced.
Mr. Wolcott married soon after, settled in the township, remained for a short period and returned to the East. Mr. Hill removed his family to the township, was engaged in building the first mill, of which he became the miller, remained here a few years and removed elsewhere. Messrs. Powers and Shehy, then unmarried, soon married, settled on farms, on which they resided during long, useful, and honorable lives, and died on the farms on which they settled, Mr. Powers in 1861, aged eighty-four years, and Mr. Shehy in 1834, aged seventy-five years, each leaving a numerous posterity.
FIRST SETTLER.
Tradition, as already stated, informs us that the settlement of the township commenced immediately after the visit of John Young with his surveyor and assistants, and the survey of the township into lots in 1796 or 97. But the incidents relating to this visit and the meeting of Mr. Young with the man who became the first settler, are differently related in some particulars. As the different traditionary stories may interest the readers of to-day, when all matter of pioneer history are subjects of eager research, we will recount them, leaving each one to form his own opinion as to which is most probable.
Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, published in 1848, has this statement :
In 1796 Mr. James Hillman, when returning from one of his trading expeditions, alone in his canoe, down the Mahoning river, discovered a smoke on the bank near the site of the present village of Youngstown, and on proceeding to the spot he found Mr. Young, the proprietor of the township, who, with Mr. Alfred Wolcott, had just arrived to make a survey of his lands. The cargo of Mr. Hillman was not entirely disposed of, there remaining among other things some whiskey, the price of which, to the Indians, was one dollar per quart, in the currency of the country—a deer skin being a legal tender for a dollar, and a doe skin for half a dollar. Mr. Young proposed purchasing a quart, and having a frolic on its contents during the evening, and insisted on paying Hillman his customary pric e for it—Hillman urged that inasmuch as they were strangers- in the country, and had just arrived upon his territory, civility required him to furnish the means of the entertainment. He, however, yielded to Mr. Young, who immediately took the deer skin he had spread for his bed (the only one he had), and paid for the quart of whiskey. His descendants, in the State of New York, in relating the hardships of their ancestors, have not forgotten that Judge Young exchanged his bed for a quart of whiskey.
This account also says that "Mr. Hillman remained with them a few days, when they accom panièd him to Beavertown to celebrate the Fourth of July, and Mr. Hillman was induced to return and commence the settlement of the town by building a house. This was about the first settlement made on the Western Reserve."
George A. Young, an old resident of Youngstown, who lived with Colonel Hillman several years when a boy, and until 1824, states, as his recollection of Hillman's account of this meeting, as he has heard him relate it, that in one of his voyages up the Mahoning to trade with the Indians, he had reached the site of the future Youngstown, and had encamped on its banks; that Mr. Young arrived with his party, and seeing a smoke arising above the trees, came to ascertain its cause, met Mr. Hillman, and thus commenced the acquaintance and friendship of these two pioneers, whose names will ever be associated and identified with the settlement and early history of this township.
Another tradition relates that Mr. Young met Mr. Hillman at Beaver, on the Ohio, near which Was his home, and employed him to transport Mr. Young and party up the Beaver and Mahoning rivers in his trading boat. But if this was the fact it is highly probable that the children of Mr. Isaac Powers, who was an early settler, and who, as they state from his narrations to them, was employed to assist in the survey by Mr. Young while stopping over night at the house of Abraham Powers, father of Isaac, in Beaver, when on his way to Youngstown, would have made mention, as part of that history, that Mr. Hillman transported the surveying party from Beaver to Youngstown in his boat. But they do not, and had it occurred Isaac, no doubt, would
PICTURE OF DAVID TOD
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 361
have related it, as an important event, to his children, and they would have transmitted it as part of the traditional history of the first settlement.
But whatever may be the true story of this first meeting of these two pioneers, there is no doubt that they met and their acquaintance commenced on this visit of Mr. Young, with his surveying party, and that then inducements were offered by Mr. Young, and arrangements made which resulted, shortly after, in the removal of Mr. Hillman, with his wife and a few household goods, to the new settlement, and of his thus becoming the first regular and permanent settler of the township and of the Reserve. That there were white men who had built huts or shanties, and had temporarily resided on the Reserve, particularly on the lake shore, or at the salt springs, bef0re this time, is altogether probable, but they were merely "squatters," or "transient residents," and James Hillman, we think there is no doubt, fr0m all the evidence we are able to collect, after a period of eighty-five years has elapsed, was the "first settler."
FIRST LOG HOUSE.
The question now rises, in what part of this vast wilderness, of which the township then was part, did he make his settlement, or, more precisely, where did he erect his dwelling; and here tradition differs. A lady now living relates a conversation held with Mrs. Hillman, in her latter days, in which she said that when they came to Youngstown they put up a shanty on the west side of the Mahoning river, between the present Mahoning avenue and the river, that in this shanty they often entertained men from the East who came to the Reserve to purchase land, and at one time as many as eighteen men slept in that shanty, lying on the floor, and so thick that it was difficult to pass over the floor without stepping on some one. What kind of a structure this was we can only conjecture. It was probably a mere temporary shelter, perhaps a hut of poles, or it may have been a shanty built by Mr. Hillman in one of his former voyages up the Mahoning, as a trading place or sort of a store, as this place appears to have been then, as well as prior and many years after, an occasional resort of the Indians.
Another tradition, which is generally accepted, also relates that soon after his arrival here Mr.
Hillman, assisted by his wife and an Indian, who happened along at the time, and perhaps others, raised a log house on the northeast bank of the Mahoning, on Front street, a short distance east of Spring common, on a lot now owned and occupied by Samuel Atkins, and formerly by Moses Crawford, known as the Crawford place, and that this was the first log house erected in the township. Mr. Hillman resided here for a time, but afterwards moved across the river to a farm, now built up as part of the city, on the west side of Mill street, and Moses Crawford purchased this log house and lived in it as early as 1805, and in it, about that time, W AS held the first meeting for public worship, by members of the Methodist Episcopal church, about six in number, who then formed a church organization, the first of that denomination in the Reserve, and the pionee1 of the present large and flourishing Methodist churches of Youngstown.
ABORIGINAL YOUNGSTOWN.
The Mahoning valley was the home of the Indian before its settlement by the white man. Indications throughout this region, found in the pioneer times and some remaining to this day, record this historical fact. Earthworks, relics, Indian trails, etc., form part of the record, and the traditions learned of the Indians by the pioneers confirm it, and show further that where Youngstown city now stands, with its vicinity, was an Indian camping ground or town. We will cite a few items of evidence in proof of our assertion :
The late William Powers, whose father, Isaac Powers, and grandfather, Abraham Powers, were among the earliest settlers, and who visited thè valley on hunting or other excursions many years prior to its occupancy and settlement by the whites, states, probably as learned from them, in an article in the Mahoning Valley Historical Collections, that the place where Youngstown now stands " had once been cleared, but that the Indians had left it about twenty years before the survey (in 1796 or 1797), and at that time it had grown up to bushes about as high as a man's head 1iding on horseback."
In excavating for the foundation for a furnace at Hazelton, about two miles southeast of the Public square in Youngstown, on land bordering the Mahoning river on the north side, an Indian burial place was found. A large number of
362 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
human bones and articles of an Indian character were exhumed. What stronger evidence can be required to prove that in the vicinity of that Indian burial place there was an Indian town? Indian arrow-heads have also been found in various parts of the township, denoting Indian battles in the
former days.
Mr. William Powers, also at the pioneer reunion in 1875, in a recital of the traditions of the pioneer days, related an Indian story, as occurring in the history of Abraham Powers, his grandfather, in February, 1778, which is of interest in this connection. Abraham then lived in Ligonier valley, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Here were a number of families gathered, and it was one of the most westerly settlements in Pennsylvania. The weather was cold, and the snow lay deep on the ground. About the first of the month a band of Indians entered the settlement, murdered a family, burnt their cabin, after taking such of its contents as they fancied, and left for the west. A number of the settlers, able bodied men, all mounted, Mr. Powers one of them, started in pursuit in a few hours. They followed the Indians to the Allegheny river, which they crossed about thirty miles above Pittsburg, down the Allegheny and Ohio to the mouth of Big Beaver, and up that stream and the Mahoning to the first inhabited village they saw, which was on the farm afterwards settled by Isaac Powers, son of Abraham, and in the southern part of the township of Youngstown. With their utmost exertions they cou'd travel no faster than the Indians, who were also mounted, and they usually camped at nightfall, where the Indians had camped the night before. Upon their discovery of the Indian village, they were saluted by the rapid firing of single guns. They returned a round or volley at the only Indian in sight, who fell wounded, but rising partly on his knee continued firing. At the second round from the pursuers he fell dead, with seven balls in his body. Captain Pipe was as brave an old man as ever faced an army alone. There was no one with him but his daughter, a girl about fourteen years old, concealed behind a log. She loaded the guns, of which they had several, while the chief did the shooting. The pursuing party scraped the snow away, covered the body with leaves and brush, and taking the girl with them, followed the trail of the fleeing Indians to the salt springs, few miles further up the Mahoning, where they held a council of war, and learning from the girl that a large number of warriors were collected at Sandusky, released her and returned home, having been absent about two weeks. In 1802, when Isaac Powers settled on his farm, he and his father found the bones of the brave warrior and gave them such Christian burial as they could. The site of the town was overgrown with bushes and small trees, mostly hickory and black walnut. They cut down all but one black walnut about three inches in diameter, which they allowed to grow to mark the grave of Captain Pipe, and the site of Pipestown. This tree stands alone on the south bank of the Mahoning, opposite the mouth of Dry run, about eighty feet high, and a conspicuous object.
We add a few Indian stories of the pioneer days. Isaac Powers told that when engaged in the survey of the township, and while at breakfast in their camp near Spring common, they heard the report of a gun not far distant in a northerly direction. They were somewhat surprised at this as they supposed the Indians had all gone, and they knew of no other white men than themselves in the vicinity. Mr. Powers and another went in the direction whence had come the report to learn who had fired the gun. They soon came up with an Indian who had shot a deer, ripped it open, taken out the entrails, put part of them under his blanket and next his skin in his bosom, and was standing with both his feet in the body of the deer to warm them.
He related another and singular incident which occurred while they were building the first mill in the township, which was erected at the Mahoning falls on Mill creek, in 1797. Mr. Powers and John Noggle were in the adjacent woods felling timber for the mill. In the forenoon two squaws came from the west, one carrying a pappoose or Indian baby, fastened on a piece of bark, and the other carrying bows and arrows. They placed the bark with the pappoose upright leaning against a tree, and went into the woods, leaving the two choppers as custodians of the child. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon the squaws returned, bringing the hide and carcass of a deer they had killed, took the pappoose and returned in the direction from which they came in the morning. The child, true to its Indian nature, had not even whimpered during the
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 363
several hours it was leaning against the tree.
Mrs. Edward Potter, a venerable lady formerly of Youngstown, but now residing in Trumbull county, says that in 1798 her late husband, then a boy about five years old, came here with his parents. They had put up a tent between Crab creek and the Mahoning, near the present Basin street. A band of Indians came along. One of them took hold of young Edwards, stroked his hair and raised him in his arms to the great terror of his mother; who feared they would carry him off. But after a few moments the Indian placed him on the ground without harming him, to the great relief of his parent. That good lady in relating the story in after days would add: "The Indians were very plenty round here at that time."
Roswell M. Grant, uncle of General Grant, who came with Jesse Grant, his brother, the General's father, and with their father to Youngstown in 1805, and lived several years with Colonel Hillmanr writes: "I remember the Indians coming down the river in canoes and camping in Colonel Hillman's sugar camp, at the lower end of the farm, upon the river bank. They would stay some days. Also the old chief would come to see Colonel Hillman to settle some dispute between them. They would bring thirty or forty warriors with them. They would stop at the plum orchard at the upper end of the farm. These visits were often."
John Ague, one of our oldest citizens and born in the township in 1806, remembers that when he was quite young a tribe of Indians camped opposite the house afterwards the residence of the late Dr. Manning, on East Federal street, in the woods and bushes, on what is now South Walnut street; that at that time all south of Federal street in that part of the city was woods and bushes. He thinks this was before the War of 1812.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
At the first court of common pleas and general quarter sessions of Trumbull county, held at Warren August 25, 1800, the county was divided into townships for civil purposes. Youngstown township, as then organized, comprised the territory of the townships now organized as Poland, Coitsville, Youngstown, Boardman, Canfield, Austintown, Jackson, and Ellsworth, in Mahoning county, and Hubbard and Liberty in Trumbull county. James Hillman was appointed constable of the township, and the oath of office was administered to him.
At the February term, 1802, of the court of quarter sessions, it was ordered that town meetings be held in the several townships, previously organized, on the first Monday of the ensuing April. The first town meeting was held on that day at the public house of William Rayen. The following is a copy of the record of this town meeting:
At a legal township meeting begun and held in and for the township of Youngstown, in the county of Trumbull, at the dwelling-house of William Rayen, on the fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred arid two, the following proceedings were had, viz :
The persons hereinafter mentioned were duly chosen to the offices respectively affixed to their names—John Young, chairman; George Tod, town clerk.
Voted, that there be five trustees chosen. Accordingly, James Doud, John Strouthers, Camden Cleveland, Samuel Tylee, and Calvin Pease were duly elected.
Voted, that there be three overseers of the poor chosen. Accordingly, Archibald Johnson, James Mathews, and John Rush were duly elected.
Thomas Kirkpatrick and Samuel Minougn were duly elected fence viewers.
James Hillman and Homer Hine were elected appraisers of houses.
George Tod was chosen lister of taxable property.
William Chapman, Michael Simons, James Willson, Benjamin Ross, William Dunlap, Amos Loveland, John Denison, William Perrin, and Thomas Packard were elected supervisors of highways.
Calvin Pease and Phinehas Reed were elected constables.
Voted, that the next stated town meeting be held at the house now occupied by William Rayen aforesaid.
This meeting was then adjourned without day.
Attest,
GEORGE TOD,
Town Clerk.
Of the trustees elected, James Doud resided in the present township of Canfield, John Strouthers in Poland, Camden Cleveland and Calvin Pease in Youngstown, and Samuel Tylee in Hubbard.
The following gentlemen, in addition to those above named, have been elected township trustees at successive annual elections, up to the spring of 1830, inclusive, several of them being re-elected, and serving one or more terms, viz : Aaron Collar, Thomas Kirkpatrick, Caleb Baldwin, Turhand Kirtland, Benjamin Ross, Asahel Adams, James Applegate, Barnabas Harris, Josiah Robbins, Moses Latta, Hlranimus Eckman, Joshua Kyle, Samuel Bryson, Hugh Larimore, James Hillman, Henry Wick, William Thorn, John Beard, Isaac Powers, William Potter, John
364 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
Parkhurst, John Rush, George Hayes, James Wilson, Jonathan Stout, William Morris, Abraham Kline, John E. Woodbridge, Homer Hine, Philip Stambaugh, Thomas Farrell, James Mackey, John Gibson, Samuel Hayden, Henry Manning, William 0. Rice, Robert Kerr, John Kimmell, James McKinnie, Singleton King, Benjamin N. Robbins.
The following gentlemen were elected township clerk in the years named, viz : George Tod, 1802 to 1804; William Rayen, 1805 to 1808, and 1810 to 1812, and 1816; Samuel Bryson, 1809, 1815, and 1817; Luther Spelman, 1813; James. Mackey, 1814; Jabez P. Manning, 1818; Robert Leslie, 1819 and 1821; Caleb B. Wick, 1820 and 1824; William Reid, 1822, 1825, 1826, 1829, and 1830; Cornelius Tomsen, 1827; Jonathan Edwards, .188:
The gentlemen above named were active business men and men of note in those early days. Very many of them are represented here by their descendants who are among the active business men of to-day. Only one of them is now living, William 0. Rice, who was a trustee in 1826-27, now aged eighty-seven years. He is, and for several years has been, a resident of Painesville. The last survivor residing in the township was John Kimmell, trustee in 188, who died about a year since (in 1880) aged eighty-four years.
At the first meeting of the board of trustees, held at "the dwelling house of William Rayen, inn-keeper," on April 12, 1802, they divided the township, consisting of the ten surveyed town ships, into nine highway districts, and assigned a district to each of the nine supervisors recently elected. As evidencing the amount of labor required of the "pathmaster," as he was designated, in lieu of the longer statutory name, in those days, and the lucrative nature of the office, we copy from the records two accounts presented to the trustees, viz:
Township of Youngstown to James Wilson, one of the Supervisors for said township for the year 1802:
Dr. To 7 days superintending persons laboring on roads Doll's - 8.75 cts.
" a do in warning hands to work - 4.00
Dollars - 12.75
Cr By amount of delinquencies - 6.00
Balance due - 6.75
Youngstown March 4, 1803—(signed) James Wilson. Also,
Township of Youngstown, April 4, 1803, to Benjamin Ross supervisor
Dr To 5 days warning hands to work - D. 6.25 cts
Cr By delinquencies - 1.31
Total $4.94
The elections were held at the dwelling house or inn.of William Rayen up to 1813, after which they were held at different public houses until the town hall was built about 1850. They were there held until the city was divided 1nto wards in 1870, since which each 'ward has been an election precinct for those residing in the ward, and the town hall is still the place of voting for the inhabitants of the township outside of the city.
YOUNGSTOWN AS A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION.
Shortly after the settlement of the township of Youngstown, John Young laid out a town plat, which he caused to be recorded on the records of Trumbull county. This plat extended from the eastern side of the present store building of John F. Hollingsworth, on West Federal street, easterly to the east line of the Dr. Henry Manning, lot, a distance of 1,752 feet, and from Cole, now Wood street, on the north, to Front street on the south. Afterwards, he extended the plat, by what he called out-lots, west to Holmes street, east to a short distance west of Crab creek, and south to the Mahoning river,
INCORPORATED.
In 1848 the citizens applied to the Legislature for a charter as a village, and an act was passed incorporating so much of the town of Youngstown as was included in the recorded town plat.
EXTENSION OF LIMITS.
No action of organization was had under this act, but we find this entry on the village records:
In accordance with the prayer of a petition from a majority of the legal voters residing within the incorporation, the commissioners of Mahoning county, at their regular session in June, A. D. 1850, and upon due notice given, extended the limits of the town so as to include therein all the territory wiuhin the following boundaries, to-wit: Beginning on the east line of the Kyle farm, so called, and now owned by William J. Edwards, in the township of Youngstown, sixty rods south of the Youngstown & Austintown road, thence east, parallel to said road, to the north bank of the Mahoning river, thence down the north bank of said river to the west bank of Crab creek, thence northerly along the west bank of said Crab creek, to the north line of William Rice's land, thence West along the south line of Bryson farm, so called, following the several courses of said line to the south' east corner of land owned by the heirs of Charles Dutton, thence continuing west along the south line of said Dutton’s.
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 365
land to the Holmes road, and thence west across the Thomas L. Wick farm, so called, to the east line of the Dabney farm, thence south along the said Dabney's east line to the center of said Mahoning river, thence westwardly along the center of said Mahoning liver to the northeast corner of said Kyle farm, thence south along the east line of said Kyle farm to the place of beginning.
ORGANIZATION.
Immediately upon the action of the county commissioners, the following notice for an election was posted in all the public places:
Notice is hereby given to the qualified electors of the borough of Youngstown, Mahoning county, Ohio, that an election will be held on Saturday, the 15th of June, instant, between the hours of to o'clock A. M. and 4 o'clock P. M., at the Union House, kept by W. H. Ross, in said Youngstown, for the purpose of electing by ballot one mayor, one recorder, and five trustees, to serve for one year, according to the act of Assembly in such cases made and provided.
Youngstown, June 5, 1850.
W. EDSON
CYRUS BRENNEMAN,
JAMES FOWLER,
B. F. HEINER,
JAMES CALVIN,
A. MCKINNIE,
GEORGE MURRAY,
R. W. TAYLER,
J. R. Homoms,
G. G. MURRAY,
T. GARLICK,
GEORGE W. SEATON,
JOHN HEINER,
WILLIAM S. PARMELE,
BENJAMIN H. LAKE.
ELECTION.
Said notice having been duly given and posted up as requited by law, an election was held at the time and place and for the purpose aforesaid. Asahel Medbury and Edward G. Hollingsworth were judges, and John H. King clerk of said election, and were severally sworn by Andrew Gardner, a justice of the peace of said county, agreeable to law, before entering upon the discharge of their respective duties. The number of votes cast at said election was 108, as follows: Fo1 mayor, John Heiner 91, Henry Manning 15; recorder, Robert W. Tayler 106, Jonathan Warner r; trustees, John Loughridge 105, Abraham D. Jacobs 65, Francis Barclay 105, Stephen F. Burnett 106, Manuel Hamilton 104, Henry Heasley 84, Joseph Montgomery 5, William Rice, Paul Wick, Myron I. Arms, Peter W. Keller, and John F. Hollingsworth, 2 each and Richard G. Garlick, I vote.
FIRST CORPORATION OFFICERS.
The judges of said election thereupon declared the following persons elected, that is to say: John Heiner, mayor; Robert W. Tayler, recorder; John Loughridge, Abraham D. Jacobs, Francis Barclay, Stephen F. Burnett, Manuel Hamilton, trustees.
FIRST COUNCIL MEETING.
The first meeting of the council was held at 7:12 o'clock of the evening of the same day on which the election was held, at the office of R. J. Powers, Esq., when all the officers elected were present, and the official oath was administered by proper authority to each one. On that day, thirty-one years ago, Youngstown commenced its existence as a municipal corporation, and was thenceforth styled "The Incorporated Borough of Youngstown ; " afterwards under the classification, by the State laws, of municipal corporations, it became "The Incorperated Village of Youngstown."
CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS.
In June, 1867, a census of the village was taken, and the number of inhabitants found to exceed five thousand. This fact was certified by resolutions of the council to the Secretary of State, in order to the advancement of the village to a city of the second class. On reception of the certificate Youngstown was declared a city of the second class.
SECOND EXTENSION OF LIMITS.
The city having long since outgrown its boundaries, and there being nothing in the appearance of the land occupied by buildings to show where the city ended and the country began, the council passed an ordinance on March 2, 1868, to extend the city boundaries, and order a vote of the people to ratify or reject the proposed extension to be taken at the ensuing April election. A proclamation was also issued to elect, at the same time, officers of a city of the second class.,.
FIRST ELECTION OF CITY OFFICERS.
The whole number of votes at the election was 60, of which George McKee received 391, John Heiner 197, and a few scattering. The officers elected were George McKee, mayor; Owen Evans, marshal; Thomas W. Sanderson, solicitor; Robert McCurdy, treasurer; Joseph G. Butler, Chauncey H. Andrews, Homer Hamilton, Richard Brown, and William Barclay, councilmen. The vote on extension of city limits was yeas 593; nays 10.
The boundaries of the city, as established by that vote, and which are its present boundaries, extended north on Wick avenue a short distance beyond McGuffey street; and on Liberty street, north of J. M. Owens' house; west, to near Eagle
366 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
furnace; south, on Mahoning avenue to Mill creek hill; and on Flint Hill road to south of A. S. Kyle's land; east, on East Federal street to near G. Wilson's, and on Shehy street to Riley street.
On September 13, 1870, the population have increased to eight thousand one hundred, the council divided the city into five wards. In 1880, the population of the city, as shown by the Federal census, having increased largely, and especially in the First and Second wards, these were divided. The west part of the First being made the Sixth and the east part of the Second being made the Seventh.
THIRD EXTENSION OF LIMITS.
In January, 1880, the population of the city having increased to nearly three-fold its population at the time of the second extension of limits, and the city having again not only outgrown its boundaries, but continuing rapidly to grow, a petition signed by four hundred and sixty-nine citizens, most of them prominent business men, and only a fraction of those who would have signed the petition had it been deemed requisite to obtain their signatures to accomplish the object sought, was presented to the council, asking for further extension of the city limits.
The petition included as part of the city, as proposed to be extended, the northeast part of the township, and reached west and south sufficiently to include Brier Hill, West Youngstown, Hazelton, Lansingville, East Youngstown, and other named plats. Action was had by the council, and afterwards, on February 18, 1880, the city civil engineer submitted a report upon the extension, defining its limits, but embracing much less territory than was described in the petition. This report left outside of the proposed new limits Hazelton, a prominent manufacturing locality, East Youngstown, Crab Creek, and some other thriving, growing, and booming embryo cities or clusters of houses, etc., desirable as parts of the extended city.
An ordinance was passed by the council extending the city according to the report. It then was submitted, as the law requires, to the county commissioners for approval, and the matter was discussed before them. Their decision appears in the following entry, extracted from their journal of November 18, 1880: "The board met at 10 A. M. On motion the prayer of the petition for the extension of the city limits is ordered not granted and petitioners pay the cost."
The decision caused great surprise and much bitter comment. The necessity for the extension, then plainly apparent, becomes more so day by day, as we witness our rapid increase in manufacturing works, in population, and the very large number of new houses, built and building. The extension is only a question of time, and we trust that when a petition, embracing even larger limits than that submitted to them, is again presented to the commissioners, it will receive their unanimous approval without any hesitation.
MAYORS OF YOUNGSTOWN.
The following is a list of the mayors of Youngstown, from its incorporation as a village and first election, held June 15, 1850, with the dates of election. The mayors of the village were elected for one year:
John Heiner, June 15, 1850.
Robert W. Tayler, April 7, 1851.
Stephen F. Burnett, April 5, 1852.
William G. Moore, April 4, 1853; re-elected April 3, 1854.
William Rice, April 2, 1855.
Thomas W. Sanderson, April 7, 1856.
Reuben Carroll, April 6, 1857; re-elected in April, 1858, 1859, 1860, and 1861.
Peter W. Keller, April 7, 1862.
John Manning, April 6, 1863.
Thomas H. Wells, October i6, 1863, to fill unexpired term of J. Manning, resigned.
Brainard S. Higley, April 4, 1864; re-elected April 3, 1865.
George McKee, April a, 1866; re-elected April 1, 1867.
The following were elected mayors of the city, for two years.:
George McKee, April 6, 1868; re-elected April 4, 1870.
John D. Raney, April 1, 1872.
William M. Osborn, April 6, 1874.
Mathew Logan, April 3, 1876; re-elected April 1, 1878.
William J. Lawthers, April 5, 1880; re-elected April 3, 1882.
FIRST MARRIAGE.
The first marriage in this township, of which
TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 367
we have any record or tradition, was celebrated on November 3, 1800. The following is the rec0rd in book "A" in the recorder's office at Warren, Ohio:
This may certify that after publication according to law of the Terri", Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush, both of Youngstown, were joined in marriage on the third day of November, x800.
By WILLIAM WICK, V. D. M.
Received and Recorded November 25th by me,
JOHN S EDWARDS, Recorder.
The married pair were among the earliest settlers and had come out from Western Pennsylvania with their relatives and other pioneers. But this was not the first marriage between pioneers of the Mahoning valley. According to a record kept at Canfield, Alfred Wolcott, of Youngstown, John Young's surveyor, who had come out with him, was married to Mercy Gilson, of Canfield, February 11, 1800, nearly nine months prior. But they were married in Pennsylvania, for the reason that there was no person in the vicinity authorized o solemnize marriages. Was the marriage at Youngstown on November 3, 1800, the first marriage on the Reserve? Tradition relates that a wedding occurred at Cleveland in the log cabin of Lorenzo Carter in 1797. The parties were Mr. Clements, of Canada, and a hired girl living in Carter's family. It so happened that Rev. Seth Hart, who had at some period of his life, in an Eastern State, been a preacher of the gospel, but was not then engaged in ministerial work, was in Cleveland as an agent of the Land company or one of the surveyors. It was decided that he was minister enough for the occasion, and accordingly he officiated in "tying the nuptial knot," and a right merry wedding was had. This was, undoubtedly, the first wedding on the Reserve. But as some of the requirements 0f the Territorial law were absent on the occasion, it may justly be claimed that the first legal marriage on the Reserve was that of Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush, at Youngstown, and there was solemnized the pioneer marriage and there was celebrated right joyously the pioneer wedding.
FIRST FUNERAL.
The first death of a white person which occurred in the township, after its settlement, of which we have any record or tradition, was that of Samuel McFarland, who had been a short, ime a resident of the place,, engaged in teaching vocal music. He is said to have been a very estimable young man, and in his death the infant settlement sustained a great loss. He was buried in the northwest corner of the west lot of the old graveyard, as it was designated on the town plat laid out and recorded by John Young. The late Nathan Ague, then a lad about seven years of age, was at the funeral, and said that John Young and all the population were also present. The grave was a short distance east of the Disciple church on Wood street, A plain sandstone slab stood at the head. Near the top of the stone are the figures "1811" probably the date of its erection. Then fellows this inscription:
In memory of Samuel McFarland, teacher of vocal music, late from Worcester, Massachusetts, who departed this life September 20, 1790, aged twenty-eight years.
Oh, how his music charmed our ear,
While he was in our land;
And now we hope he sings the song
Of Moses and the Lamb.
But little more is known of his biography than is contained in this inscription. The stone, a few years since, was removed to the 'rest part of the Mahoning cemetery.
THE FIRST SHOW.
Youngstown is a famous show place. All the great traveling circuses and menageries here spread their tents, and on show days thousands from our own city and the surrounding country fill them and enjoy the sights. A large opera house, one of the finest in the country, erected in 1874, is occupied very often by theatrical and opera companies, and the citizens have the opportunity and pleasure of witnessing the rendition of the best dramas, operatic, and other entertainments by the best artists. Joe. Jefferson, Edwin Booth, Anna Dickinson, Mlle. Rhea, Mrs. Scott Siddons, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Chanfrau, Remenyi, Buffalo Bill, John Ellsler, Effie Ellsler, Newton Gotthold, Sol. Smith Russel, Couldock, the Florences, Raymond, Edwin Forrest, and many other noted players have exhibited their great talents to large and appreciative audiences, and all carry away with them a love for the brisk and energetic iron city of the Mahoning valley, and promise other visits.
By aid of the memory of one of the oldest living native citizens we are enabled to present a reminiscence of the pioneer show exhibited in the village in its early days. John Ague, born
368 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.
here in 1806, when quite a small boy, with his parents and brothers and sisters saw this first show. It was a lion in a cage, attended by two men, and was exhibited in the barn of Colonel Hillman, who then kept a tavern in the house on the northeast corner of East Federal and Walnut streets, afterwards the residence of the late Dr. Henry Manning. The price of admission was twenty-five cents, and the citizens all thronged to see the show.
ARKS ON THE MAHONING.
The following item from the Western Reserve Chronicle of May 3, 1823; notes an incident in the history of Youngstown enterprise :
THE MAHONING.—The great advantages of this stream, which have hitherto been hardly observed, or but little attended to, are beginning to emerge from the lethargy of darkness, and to assume their real importance. Two arks, on the plan of those employed on the waters of the Susquehanna, have lately been constructed by Mr. Isaac McCord, of Youngstown. One was loaded on the 4th ultimo with about seven hundred bushels of wheat and fifty barrels of flour, and the other on the 23d ultimo with about eight hundred bushels of wheat. They started within nineteen days of each other, and both arrived at the Ohio river without accident in ten hours' floating. In a conversation which I had with Mr; McCord the other day, on the subject of navigating the Mahoning, he informed me that there were some mill-dams and other obstacles which still endanger the passage of boats at a middling pitch of water ; but that for one thousand dollars the channel can be completely cleared, so that loaded boats might run with perfect safety on the slightest freshets, from Youngstown to the falls of Beaver, which if my opinion is a circumstance calling for the attention of every citizen who is interested in the improvement of this section of the country.
[Signed,]
A MEMBER OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. [Probably Judge George Tod.]