414 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
CHAPTER IX.*
WADSWORTH TOWNSHIP—PHYSICAL FEATURES—FLORA AND FAUNA—EARLY FAMILIES IN THE
TOWNSHIP—ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP—ORIGIN OF CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.
WADSWORTH TOWNSHIP derives its name from Gen. Elijah Wadsworth, a native of Litchfield, Conn., who was one of the original proprietors,, and came to Canfield, Ma-honing County, in 1799, to which place he moved his family in 1802. Wadsworth is No. 1 in Range 13 of the Connecticut Western Reserve, 'and is bounded on the north by Sharon, on the east by Norton, in Summit County, on the south by Chippewa and Milton, in Wayne County, and on the west by Guilford. It lays in the southeast corner of Medina County, and its south line, being the line of the Reserve, is on the forty-first parallel of north latitude. The township is five miles square, and should, therefore, contain 16,000 acres of land, but the tax list shows 16,417 acres. The highest elevation on the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railway (formerly the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad), which passes through the southern portion of the township, is 594 feet above the level of Lake Erie, and the land on the old Pardee farm, the old Loomis farm, and also on the old Dean farm, may be about 200 feet higher than the summit of the railway ; so that the highest elevation in the township may be 800 feet above Lake Erie. The lowest ground is in the southwest portion, the bed of the River Styx where the railway crosses that stream, about one mile south of the township line, being only 376 feet above the level of Lake Erie. At the railway station, one-half mile south of Wadsworth Center, the elevation is 545 feet above Lake Erie.
The township is wholly underlaid with sand-
• Contributed by Hon. Aaron Pardee.
stone rock, in many places showing upon the surface, but generally covered with drift from twenty-five to eighty feet in depth. Though there are such considerable inequalities in the face of the land, there is scarcely an acre to be found but what is capable of the highest cultivation. Springs, generally of pure soft water, are found in nearly all parts of the township. These flow north, south, east and west. The River Styx is the most considerable stream of water ; it rises in Montville, and runs south through the west part of Wadsworth to Milton. Wayne County, where it unites with the outlet of Chippewa Lake, which is called the Chippewa. and is a tributary of the Tuscarawas. The River Styx was once quite a formidable stream, its level bottoms from one mile to one mile and a half in width, originally covered with a very heavy growth of timber, were subject to an overflow in wet seasons, rendering traveling across them. at times, quite impracticable, until crossways and bridges could be made. But the stream has been cleared out and straightened, so that at present, the ground is dry, the roads are good, there is no trouble from overflow, and the bottom farms are as valuable as any found in the State. Holmes' Brook, a tributary of the Styx, rises near the Sharon line and runs southerly, emptying into the Styx in the south part of the township. Another tributary is called Blocker's Run. This stream rises in the northeast quarter of the township, and, running through Wadsworth Village, empties into the Styx near the mouth of Holmes' Brook. Both these streams were early utilized for milling purposes. Another stream used for the old
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 415
"Well-house Mill," drains part of the south part of the township, and flows on to the Chippewa. Still another, called Silver Creek, a stream of some note, rises in the southeastern portion, and meets the Chippewa a mile or two west of Clinton, in Summit County. Some of the springs in the north part of the township flow north into Wolf Creek. but the springs of that region generally contribute to form the Hudson Run, which rises near the northeast corner. and, running southeasterly just east of Western Star, and through Johnson's Corners, reaches Wolf Creek near its junction with the Tuscarawas.
From the general elevation, one would suppose the dividing ridge between the Lake and the Gulf would be found here, and that some of the waters would run into Lake Erie; but the fountain heads of the Styx and of the Rocky River, are about a mile from the north-west corner of the township, and it is all the way descending to the waters of Rocky River ; yet, by the intervention of the Styx, the waters are all turned southerly, so that every foot of this territory must be held to be part of the Mississippi Valley.
In its native state, this was a most magnificent timbered region of country. There was scarce an acre in the whole township, on which if its original timber were standing to-clay, but would be more valuable for its lumber than the best acre of improved land. The forest trees were in great variety: On the bottom lauds were elm, swamp oak, black walnut, white walnut, or butternut, basswood, sycamore. white and black ash, hard and soft maple, beech. cherry. hickory and an occasional buckeye, and on the ridges in addition to nearly all the above varieties, were white, black and yellow oak, chestnut, whitewood, or poplar, cucumber, pepperidge or gum-tree and sassafras. The highest lands were called chestnut ridges, and the very lowest black-ash swamps. There were many thousands of white oak, whitewood, white ash and
black walnut trees that. if standing today, might be readily sold for an average of $30 to 550 each. Alas ! how many of these sturdy monarchs of the forest were girdled and killed as cumberers of the ground, or felled by hunters in the night and left to rot and waste ; how many were chopped down in windrows in the clearings ; and, when the dry time came in the spring. were set on fire and consumed, trunk and branch. Besides the more important forest trees above mentioned. there was a numerous undergrowth of smaller varieties, as ironwood, boxwood, slippery elm, crab-apple and wild plum. The ironwood and boxwood were invaluable for levers and wedges. And the boxwood flowers. large, white and lasting, gave the woods in spring a most charming appearance. The wild plums were found on the bottoms in great abundance in the fall, while chestnuts, hickory nuts and acorns. in profusion, lay unclaimed except by wild animals. Of still smaller vegetation there was a great profusion. There were wild roses, blackberries, raspberries. wild currants, gooseberries, upland whortleberries, several kinds of native grasses, leeks, various kinds of ferns, nettles, mandrakes, skunk cabbage, wild turnip, ginseng and winter-green. Such a region of country, in its native beauty. was a delight to the eve, and one will have to go far to find its equal in the United States or elsewhere.
The wild animals found here, when the white man made his first advent. were bears, wolves, deer. gray foxes, raccoons. wild-cats, pole-cats, woodchucks, hedgehogs. opossums, otters, minks, musksrats, weasels, black, gray. red, and flying squirrels, chipmunks and wood-mice. The red fox and wharf-rat are unwelcome emigrants, and not to the manor born. On the Styx bottoms and on Dry Run are the remains of an old beaver dam, but no beaver was ever known to have been caught in this region. Of game, birds, there were wild geese, ducks, and turkeys, partridges, quails and pigeons. The
416 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
droves and flocks of the last four mentioned kinds of birds were innumerable. Then, there were the hawks, the owls, the buzzards, the crows, the blackbirds, the whip-poor-will, the mourning dove, brown thrasher, red birds, blue-jays, woodpeckers, robins, blue birds, ground birds, meadow larks, yellow birds, hang-birds and humming-birds ; occasionally might be found a snipe. an eagle, a crane and a loon.
There were no lakes or natural ponds in the township, and. the streams being small, the fish were in proportion. In the Styx and its tributaries, were found bull-heads, sun-fish, white bass and suckers and other smaller fish. The reptiles were sufficiently numerous to be at times very disagreeable. The large yellow rattlesnake was quite common the black rattle-snake, sometimes called Massisauga, so named, as is said, from a tribe of Indians inhabiting the neighborhood of Mahoning River, where the snake was first found, was common in the low lands of the township, and frequently around springs. Both of these were very venomous snakes. The yellow rattlesnake frequently at tained a length of six to eight feet. The Masaisauga was a short, logy snake, but its bite was as dangerous as that of the common rattlesnake ; fortunately, both of these species are now extinct in this neighborhood. There was also a large black snake ; the spotted adder or milk-snake, so called from its being supposed to be fond of cow's milk, was frequently found in houses, and sometimes in the buttery or in the bed. There was also a small red snake. the common spotted snake and various water snakes. All of the above, except the rattlesnakes, were comparatively harmless. living on frogs, insects, and sometimes on young birds. Of other reptiles and creeping things, there was the common toad, the tree-toad, the common frog and bull-frog. also the land turtle. There were green, black and red lizards and the swift, which was an animal of the lizard species. called swift, because of its swift flight as soon as seen by man ; its body, however, was so frail and brittle that, at almost the least touch, it would break and fly to pieces.
But few signs that Indians or other human beings had visited or inhabited this territory before this township was settled, have been found. Flint arrow points and stone axes were sometimes found by the early settlers and some. times later; but there are no well-marked mounds, or graves, or signs of fortifications, made by any prehistoric race or by the Indians, such as exist in many other places. The first white men known to have visited Wadsworth were the surveyors who marked the south line of the Reserve. This line was made by Seth Pease and a surveying party in the employ of the State of Connecticut, about the year 1797. A beech-tree formerly stood on the west bank of Holmes' Brook, near the north side of the Center road, on which was early found in old letters carved in the bark, this inscription :
PHILIP WARD 179;
TD
RC
WV
We are informed by the Rev. Edward Brown, in his memorial of Wadsworth, published in 1875, that he had seen this inscription on the north side of said beech-tree, and that it was legible as late as 1834, when the tree was cut down in straightening the road, but who Philip Ward and his companions were, or for what purpose they visited that locality, is unknown. They may have been part of the surveying party of Seth Pease.
For much that follows, in pursuing the history of Wadsworth, the writer will be largely indebted to the labors of the Rev. Edward Brown. above mentioned, who has embodied in his Wadsworth Memorial,'' many things that the truthful historian could not omit. And, in taking from Mr. Brown's book, quotations will not always be pointed out, but many things will be taken bodily. some of them not original with
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. = 417
Mr. Brown ; but there is much due to him for his faithful investigations into the early history of Wadsworth. and the writer takes great pleasure in giving him the deserved credit.
We quote from Wadsworth Memorial." page 43 :
" The first white man who ever had a habitation in Wadsworth, was a former Indian trader, of English birth, from Montreal, by the name of John Holmes, who, marrying among the Indians, lived among them as a hunter and trapper. and was known to the white settlers as Indian Holmes.' The remains of his old cabin used to be pointed out to me, near the brook that bears his name. But, as he had in a great measure lapsed from civilization, had never purchased nor cultivated land, but lived the roving. unsettled life of an Indian, he is no more entitled to the name of first settler than the aborigines themselves, and, like them, would have been forgotten but for the accident of his name having been given to the stream."
Wadsworth was originally surveyed into nine tracts of land, eight of which were allotted to eight different parties. the ninth being held in common by several persons. Tract 1, or the Wadsworth Tract. was in the southeast corner of the township, extending from the east-and-west center road to the south line of the township, and from the east line of the township westerly about a mile and three-quarters. Tract 2 was on the north side of the center road, bounded east by the township line, and contained about seventy-two acres. Tracts 3 and 4 were very small tracts lying directly north of Tract 2. Tract 5, or the Tappan Tract. was three miles long east and west, and two and one-half miles north and south, including the whole of the northeast corner of the township, except what was contained in Tracts 2, 3 and 4, and also including part of the northwest quarter of the township. Tract 6 was on the west side of Tract 1, containing about forty acres ; and Tract 7 directly north of Tract 6, and extending to the east-and-west center road. Tract 8, or the Ely Tract, was two and one-half miles north and south, and three miles east and west, bounded on the east by Tracts 6 and 7, and embracing the whole of the southwest quarter, and a half-mile in width of the southeast quarter ; all of the above-mentioned tracts were originally surveyed into lots for settlement, generally of 160 acres. Tract 9 remained, held in common, for a long time, and was finally partitioned by proceedings in court. This accounts for the great diversity in the size and numbering of the lots in Tract 9. The lands in Wadsworth, after being surveyed, were held for sale at prices from $2 to $5 per acre, with easy deferred payments, while the Congress land south of the Reserve line, could be had for $1.25 per acre, cash in hand. For poor people, as, the early settlers generally were, to get a credit for their land was a strong inducement, and accordingly the Reserve was settled as soon as the adjoining Congress land.
An account of the first settlement in Wadsworth Township is given by Mr. Brown in his Memorial as follows :
" The first settlers were the families of Daniel Dean and Oliver Durham, emigrants from Vermont. The settlement was begun on the east line of the township, on the ground that is now a part of the village of Western Star. Their arrival was March 17, 1814. The next family was that of Salmon Warner, February, 1815."
Mr. Benjamin Dean, the oldest son of one of these families, attended the pioneer meeting in 1874. He was then a resident of Blairstown, Iowa, and his account, written by himself, was read to the meeting as follows :
"On the 1st day of March, 1814, Oliver Durham and the writer, Benjamin Dean, went seven miles into the wilderness, and made the first beginning in Wadsworth.
"My father, Daniel Dean, and my brother Daniel, came two days later. We built a camp,
418 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
or shelter, by sticking crotches and laying a pole on them, then cut and split planks, or puncheons, and placed them with one end on the pole and the other on the ground. At night, we built a large fire in front of our camp, and wrapped ourselves in blankets, and lay there with our feet to the fire. The wolves howled about us nearly all night, but did not come within sight. Sometimes they would get still ; but, if we would make a little noise or increase our fire a little, they would give us more music. At one time, I rapped on a dry tree, and they yelled at the top of their voices. We soon found that they had a line of travel from Wolf Creek to the Chippewa, and that they passed us every alternate night, following the road, until the settlement became so large that they went around it. But they always, in passing, saluted us with a specimen of their music.
“We cut and drew the logs for my father's house, 18x18, and for Mr. Durham's, 16x18 feet. We had our own help. my father, Mr. Durham, my brother, fourteen years, and myself, sixteen years old ; the rest of our help, seven men; came seven miles. They were Basley Cahow, Jacob Vanhyning (with but one arm), Indian Holmes, Theodore Parmelee, George Hethman, James and George Cahow, and with this help we raised both houses in one day. We got a roof on my father's house, and all moved into it on the 17th day of March.
"At that time there were but eight dwelling-houses between us and Talmadge Mills—afterward called Middlebury—which was thirteen miles distant from our settlement ; they were those of Jackey Cahow, Theodore Parmelee, Indian Holmes (these all lived where Parmelee afterward built his brick house). Pliny Wilcox —who lived near the foot of the hill. where Mr. Perkins afterward built his stone house. Paul Williams and his son Barney—afterward called Col. Williams—lived on the hill beyond where Akron now stands. and betwixt there and the Mills, we passed Major Spicer and Mr, Hasen. (The above was written in Iowa ; I have learned since I came here, to my astonishment, that the town of Akron now not only takes in the Williams farms, but also Maj. ' Spicer's, and the whole of Middlebury.) But to return. The saw-mill and the grist-mill, made of hewed logs, and three log houses, were all that could be seen where Middlebury now stands. There was a log house. and some land cleared, where old Squire Henry Vanhyning afterward lived, on Wolf Creek. and he moved in June, 1814.
"There were. at that time. in the territory afterward formed into Medina County, including Norton, Copley, Bath and Richfield. in Range 12, only twenty families, viz.: Five in Norton. three in Harrisville, five in Liverpool. two in Bath and five in Richfield. My mother saw no woman but Mrs. Durham until August. and Mrs. Durham saw no woman but Mrs. Dean until October, during which time she gave birth to a son, the first born in the township. He was called Alonzo; was born in July, 1814.
"The first store in Middlebury was opened in July, 1814, in a room of Judge Norton's house, by Peleg Mason. In 1815. he and his brother built a small storehouse, and other merchants soon came in. It will be remembered that this was during the war, called 'the war of 1812. and provisions were closely bought up for the army.
" Before harvest, wheat was worth $3 a bushel. flour $17 a barrel, and pork could not be bought at any price. To my knowledge. salt. which had to be brought up in wagons. on account of the British fleet on the lakes. was worth $20 per barrel in Cleveland, or about 10 cents a pound. You may well conclude that these were pretty hard times."
The early settlers of Wadsworth were from the East, and had been accustomed to farm labor. They were a hardy, industrious class of people and were very economical. Their moral character was good. and they were mostly religious. But very few of them had money to pay for
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their land. and had to buy on credit. Some of them had hard work to support their families, till they could raise a crop on their own lands. A very few had money to pay for improvements, after paying for their land. and this helped the poorer class, as it enabled them to get employment in helping to clear land.
It cost much labor to clear up the land, as the timber was very heavy. This. with their laud debts, kept the people embarrassed for a good many years ; but they lived together in peace and harmony. In general intelligence and literary culture they would compare favor-ably with the farmers of this day.
At that time, there was no school law in the State: and, where they got inhabitants enough together, they built schoolhouses by neighborly liberality. and employed teachers at their own option. Each had to pay in proportion to the number of days their children were at school.
"' We had good schools in those days, and the best society I ever was in. I often think of the meetings we had in the old log schoolhouse, mostly by reading sermons, and sometimes a missionary would come and preach to us.
The land in Wadsworth is mostly, as you know. high and rolling. The land in the north-ern part of the township is said to be as high as any in the State. It is certainly as healthful, and naturally as good for fruit, as any in Ohio.
"In 1828, we swapped farms with Steward Richards ; we took his land, where William Freeborn now lives, and he took that upon which we first settled. being what is now called the Duly farm, of Western Star. Our orchard on the location, began to bear in 1824; and, from that time until 1864, when I left Wadsworth for Iowa, where I now reside, the apples were never killed but once. We had a frost in 1834, that killed all the apples in the State.
" In the beginning. our land was cleared by girdling such of the large timber as would kill easily, and a good deal of that timber was per
mitted to stand till it would fall down and rot ; doubtless, a good deal of sickness was caused in this way.
" Before we moved to Wadsworth, the old east-and-west center road had been partially opened. Men owning laud in western townships endeavored to have the road, to encourage settlements. The road was first located by au order from Trumbull County. This was when all this county, and still west of us, was part of Trumbull County. Capt. Bela Hubbard, of Randolph, was the surveyor, and Squire David Hudson, of Hudson. Gen. Campbell, of Ravenna, and Squire Day; of Deerfield, were the exploring committee. Squire Day after-ward had the job of opening the road. I think this was in the year 1808.
" In 1810, after Portage County was organized (including what is now. Medina County), and Owen Brown, of Hudson, was one of the County Commissioners, another appropriation was made, and Capt. Hubbard was employed to make more bridges, and other improvements.
" The surveying party above referred to named the streams in this vicinity. They named Wolf Creek, in consequence of finding the carcass of a deer on its banks, that had been killed by wolves ; and, when they passed Hudson's Run, Squire Hudson named it by cutting his name on a beech-tree. All the rest of the party chose streams, and recorded them in the same way ; but when they came to River Styx and Chippewa, they gave them other names, no one preferring to leave his name for either of them. This statement I had from Capt. Hubbard, in 1814, and afterward from Squire Hudson. BENJAMIN DEAN."
We now quote from Mr. Brown :
"The first settlers of Wadsworth were principally from three States—Vermont, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. From Vermont were the Deans, O. Durham, and his brother Calvin (who wrote his name Dorwin), his father-in-law, Salmon Warner, and sons. Reuben F., Salmon,
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Jr., Daniel, Horatio, Amos, M. D.; (Elisha Durham, brother to O. and C.. died on the way from Vermont, and his widow, daughter of Lysander Hard, married Mr. Henry Wright), Lysander Hard and son Harlow. and step-sons, Davis and Welles Holcomb, and his brother, Abraham Hard, with his sons, Cyrus, Abraham, Jr., L. Nelson ; John M., Peter and Leavitt Weeks ; Timothy S. and Harry Bennett (Abel. Stanton and Elam Bennett came afterward) ; W. H. Wright and Milton Wright, and afterward their father. Ebenezer Wright, and their brother Orris ; Samuel M. Hayden and Hiram C. Kingsbury.
"Of those from Connecticut, first. Orin Loomis, then his father, Joseph Loomis. and his brother, Sherman Loomis ; Benjamin Agard. and his sons, Alvin and Roman L.; Frederick Brown and sons, Marcus, John and Edward ; William S., Harry and Cullen Richards. afterward their father. Jedediah Richards, and his other sons. Jedediah. Mills. Robert U., Ezekiel. Julius, and George. M. D. (part of these live just over the line of Norton); Augustus Mills and sons, Harry A.. Liman P., Philo P., William and C. Curtis ; Allen Pardee and afterward his brothers. John, George K.. Augustus. Aaron. and still later. Sheldon and Ebenezer, and brother-in-law, Phineas Butler : Norman and Cyrus Curtis. and afterward their father, Cyrus Curtis. Sr. The Millses. Curtises and Pardees. though from Norfolk. Conn., resided for a time in Marcellus. N. Y.
"From Torrington. Connecticut. came George Lyman, Gurdon Hilliard, Robert Hilliard. Lemuel North; Abel Beach and his sons, George and Orlando ; Elisha Hinsdale and his sons. Elisha. Sherman, and Albert. From Winsted came Philemon Kirkum and his son. George Kirkum, just over the line. in Norton. From Hebron, Connecticut. William Eyles.
"
From Pennsylvania. Samuel Blocker and sons, David and Eli ; Jacob Miller and sons. George and David ; the Rasors, George. Chris
topher, and William ; old Mr. Everhard and sons, Jacob. John. Christian and Jonathan : Henry, Christian and Israel Ritter ; Lawrence. Adam and Paul Baughman. and sons, and Adam and Jacob Smith : Peter Waltz and sons. John and David ; John Wise and Jacob Wise : Nicholas Long and John Long.
“From Maryland. James Gifford. Henry Falconer and Samuel Falconer.
“The west part of Wadsworth. along the center road was, before it was cleared up, very swampy. and. because of its dismal appearance. was named by the surveyors. .. The Infernal Regions;" and the sluggish stream that oozed through the swamps, was named "River Styx." from the old mythological river of that name. Those swamps and River Styx were a great dread to travelers for many years. The old road was filled with causeways. made of poles : two of them. near. River Styx. each about forty rods long. and one over the Styx. on the Medina road. over eighty rods long. The late Judge Brown changed those causeways into turnpikes. in 1826 and 1828.
" The first house built and clearing made. on the ground where Wadsworth Village now stands. was that of Frederick Brown. in 1816. The next house west of this. at that time. was that of George Burr, of Harrisville. as the road then ran. fifteen miles. Passing Harrisville. going due west, the next settlement was at Upper Sandusky ; the next at Fort Wayne. Ind.. and no other to the Pacific Ocean."
We give further extracts from Brown's Memorial found on page 64. which he entiries Humorous, Poetical and Prose Narrative Aaron Pardee, Esq.," read at the Pioneers meeting :
" My dear boys and girls, come and sit down beside me While I tell of the early days, things that I know. At the age of sixteen, a tall Yankee, they found me In Wadsworth, one morning, a long time ago.
There were four of us, John. sister Julia, and mother. And John's wife and children, and Allen, my brother.
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John, he drove one wagon, and Allen the other, And I drove two cows, and I think I drove slow.
" We were two weeks in coming from old Onondaga, We stopped every Sunday, at noon for a bite.
Turned off before reaching the bold Cuyahoga, And in Tinkle's Creek Hollow we stayed over night. On through the Old Portage, by Josh King's we came twining
Our way round the hills, by old Henry Vanhyning.
At length. just at night, while the sun was still shining,
The house of Phin Butler, it just hove in sight.
“This was in September, 1824. Butler married my sister Sally. They lived on the corner, where the road turns to Akron. The house stood on the south side of the stream, on Slanker's land now. Butler and Judge Pardee moved from New York State into Wadsworth. six years before, and Al went back to help us move.
"For the next three years following, I think I was busy ; I worked on a farm, and I planted and sowed.
To think how I whirled round e'en now makes me dizzy,
And though tall then as ever, I " specs that I growed." At all parties and meetings and gatherings you'd find me
At evening, on horseback. with some girl behind me. I smile, and I weep. when old memories remind me
Of the right arms around me those nights. as we rode.
" I knew every boy and girl in Wadsworth then, and everybody else. Here at the Center, were Judge Brown's folks. Levi Blakslee and Hiram C. Kingsbury. We moved on to the Tim Hudson farm, now called Rasor farm. Samuel Blocker's folks were on the Yaukey farm ; then old Jake Miller and John Sprague. Next came, as you go east, Squire Warner, Gus Mills, Stew Richards, and old Uncle Jed, Cal, Zeke, Mills. George and Jule. (I believe they could all fiddle, that is, the Richards could.) Then there was Capt. Cyrus Curtis, lived on the little stony knoll this side of Western Star, and Col. Norman on the hill north; Henry Wright along the town line ; then old Lysander Hard owned the Pogue farm ; John Nesmith on the other side of the road. Capt. Lyman owned the Doolittle farm ; but I think he was in Canton, teaching school. Uncle Ben Agard on the Sowers farm ; Judge Eyles, and Uncle Joe Loomis, and Orin and Abel Beach. Then there were Lewis Battison, Alvin Agard, and Lemuel North. Moody Weeks lived down in the hollow, since a part of the old Glasgo farm. Moody Weeks died in February, 1825 ; his funeral was the first I ever attended in Wadsworth. Then there were Peter and Leavitt Weeks, Tim Bennett, Jimmy and Nancy Spillman, Elder Newcomb, Richard Clark, Gurdon Hilliard and Robert, Ben Dean, and his father, Daniel Dean. Judge Pardee then lived on the farm now owned by Jacob S. Overholt, and Harry Mills between them and Butler's. Then it was woods, over to Ete Moody's and Ira's. Then old Abram Hard, old Dr. Smith, on the Hanchett farm, Luther Hemmingway, Tom French, " Spider Hanchett," Abel Dickinson and Josh Shaw, where Benjamin Tyler now lives ; then, Chauncey Hart. Then you come over toward the Center, and you find George Beach and Sherman Loomis.
" All the southwest quarter of the township was woods, except George Beach's farm. and David Bier's, who had a house opposite the house of O. Beach. Then, to come back into the southeast quarter, we find the Everhards, the Rasors. Christian, Christopher (called Stofel), William and George ; the Smiths, Jake Smith and Big Jake ; Samuel Hayden, the Falconers, Henry and Sam ; William and Benjamin Simcox ; James Platt, and Reuben Warner ; Platt lived just south of the depot, and Warner where the pine trees stand.
" So now let's go back to the scenes of our childhood, Our youth, or our manhood, and log-cabin home, With the small spot of clearing reclaimed from the wildwood
Where the wild deer and wolf unmolested could roam. Dream on, dear old man, or dear lady, thy dreaming
422 - HISTORY OF .MEDINA COUNTY.
Gives joy to thy heart, on thy countenance beaming; Or, perhaps, may awaken those tears that are streaming
Down the deep furrowed cheek, for the days that are gone.
" The township of Wadsworth once shone in wild glory, As she came from the workshop of nature and God. The trees of her forests stood lofty and hoary, Giving shade to the soil where no white man had trod. But we took her and gave her a thorough reforming; Her children are now her unrivaled adorning.
We present them, all happy and smiling, this morning : Our jewels are here, in the image of God."
The first child born in Wadsworth. was Alonzo Durham. The first persons married were George Rasor and Margaret Smith. February 25, 1817. The rite was performed by Salmon Warner; who was one of the first Justices of the Peace. The first religious meeting was July. 1814, at the house of Oliver Durham ; the services were conducted by Squire Warner and Daniel Dean. The first sermon was preached by Rev. O. G. Gilmore in 1815. The first church organized was the Methodist in 1816. The first township election held after Wadsworth was detached from Wolf Creek Township and organized, was April 6, 1818. officers elected : Joseph Loomis and Salmon Warner. Justices of the Peace ; Frederick Brown, Jacob Miller and Daniel Dean, Trustees ; Samuel Blocker and Joseph Loomis, Overseers of Poor ; Samuel M. Hayden, Lister ; Lysander Hard, Treasurer ; George Lyman and William C. Richards. Constables ; Sherman Loomis, Clerk ; John Wilson and Jacob Miller. Fence Viewers. George Lyman was Constable two years, did all the business. and his fees amounted to $1, which was for selling a stray horse. The first law-suit in the township was, John Reed vs. Henry Falconer. Reed had sold a piece of tallow to Falconer. containing about three pounds of green beech wood. Squire Warner decided that Reed should pay the cost and have nothing for his tallow.
Benjamin Agard cleared the first field of timber in 1818, and built the first frame house in 1825. The house is still standing, on the Sowers farm. Timothy Hudson built the first frame barn in 1819. The first tannery was carried on by Levi Blakslee. The first shoemaker was James Platt, the next Reuben F. Warner.
“We also had shoemakers and tailors. who went from house to house and did the work for the whole family. This was called ' whipping the cat. Our grindstones were made by Samuel M. Hayden. In 1819; Hiram C. Kingsbury set up a blacksmith-shop on the bank of the brook. east of the present Village Corners. He was also an ax-maker. The first retail store was owned by Allen and John Pardee : the second by George Lyman; the third by H. B. Spelman."
Mr. Brown then says :
" The first settlers came just at the close of the war with Great Britain, called the war of 1812. From the Genesee River westward, the whole country was new ; mostly heavily timbered forest. The emigrant on his way. found not even a common turnpike road. The family of my father, Frederick Brown. accompanied by Sherman Loomis. were six weeks on their way from Connecticut with a three-horse team and wagon. That of Elisha Hinsdale eight weeks.
“The immigrant who could not hew out a new axle or a new tongue for his wagon. from a forest tree. was often in a sorry predicament. Goods for the country stores were brought from Philadelphia. over the Alleghenies. in what was known as a Conestoga wagon a large vehicle. about double the size of a common wagon, with box about three feet deep ; the wheels double-tired. to keep from sinking in the mud. The wagons were almost invariably painted blue. and covered with canvas stretched upon poles : a large tar-bucket for lubrication, hanging below the hind axle.
" Our tinware and notions,' were usually
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 425
brought to our doors by peddlers, mostly from Connecticut, who bore an opposite character to the Pennsylvania teamsters. Far too many of them for the good name of their State, and to the grief of the moral New England settlers of the Reserve, sleek, polished knaves—so that the honest yeomen from the counties south of us. judging the race by its vagabonds (as was very natural), when they came among us. were on the lookout lest they should be 'yankeed '—a synonym for swindled—and the horn gunflints and wooden nutmegs that gave the sobriquet of the . Nutmeg State' to Connecticut, passed even into song.
" Salt was first brought from Pittsburgh ; afterward—about my first recollection—from a little village on the lake shore. called Cleaveland, which the Cleaveland Herald, in 1824 (fifty years ago). told us—contained 100 houses. Since then. it has lost a letter from its name, and added considerably to the number of its houses.
"Mr. Dean tells us of paying 10 cents per pound for salt, in 1814, and Mr. George Lyman S11 per barrel in 1817. My father moving from Connecticut in 1816—the memorable cold slimmer '—it was exceedingly difficult to find food enough to subsist the family upon the road ; often able to buy or beg only enough for the little ones, and retire fasting, to find food on the road some time in the forenoon. Wheat, when it was to be had at all that year, was $3 a bushel, and corn S2. The bear, the deer and the wild turkey, under the well-aimed rifles of Orin Loomis, David Blocker and William Simcox. furnished the supplies that kept the neighborhood from starvation. To that corps of hunters were afterward added Phineas Butler and Timothy Dascom. All these were mighty hunters' in those days.
"Our limited trading was done at Middle-bury, until Mr. Porter opened a store at the cross roads, then called Harveystown, eight miles southeast of Wadsworth. They advertised that they would give a high price in goods for dried ginseng root, and the woods were searched over the next fall to find the precious root, for there was money in it. My brother and I dug and dried enough to buy for each of us our first white cotton shirts, at the low price of only 50 cents per yard ; and the next Sunday, you may believe that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Do you think that we wore any coats on that day and hid the white arms ? No, indeed ! Though late in October, it was too warm, so we carried them on our arms.
“But the day of high prices soon passed away. as the farms were cleared up, and then came on the great financial pressure, with its low prices, before the opening of the Erie and the Ohio Canals. when it was hardly possible to raise enough in money from their farm products to pay taxes. I can remember when rye for distilling brought a better price than wheat for bread. The first grinding was done at Norton's mill—afterward known as Tallmadge Village, afterward as Middlebury, now a part of Akron—and at Wetmore's mill, in Stowe. a mile above Cuyahoga Falls, and at Northampton Mills. I can well remember when they used to put up at my father's house, going and returning from Middlebury with their grists, from as far west as Sullivan, Huntington and Wellington. Afterward, Rex's mill, east of New Portage, was built ; then the mill so long owned by George Wellhouse, in Chippewa."
Many of the houses in those days were built independently of saw-mills or planing-mills or nail or glass factories. An ax, a hammer, an iron wedge, an auger, a frow, a broad-ax, a log chain, a yoke of cattle and a few neighbors were all that was necessary to make a dwelling-house or barn. Many a building had the logs cut in the forenoon, drawn and laid up in the afternoon and covered with long shingles.
The shingles would be rived out and put on,
426 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
and held down by weight-poles, all finished the same day. Roofs made in this manner would not only shed rain and keep out the snow, but would last for a long time. Oak, chestnut, or whitewood timber, hewn on two sides, split through the middle and laid down hewed side uppermost, constituted the floor. A stick chimney, paper windows and a puncheon door, with the frame work and wooden hinges fastened together with pegs in gimlet-holes, the chinks between the logs plastered up with mud, and the house would be complete. In a timbered country, such as this was, such a house would be warm and comfortable. As illustrating the scarcity of materials, it is related that on the death of Julia, wife of Sherman Loomis, in 1820, Jacob Miller, in making the coffin, could find but eighteen nails in the township, and Mr. P. Butler, by the light of a torch, on the evening before the funeral, drew out fourteen more from the boards of his new house, which nails he had brought with him from Onondaga County, N. Y.
The uplands of the township were first settled, and clearings were commenced by cutting and piling all timber except oak, chestnut, whitewood and such others as would die by being girdled. In the driest time, the fallow, as it was called, would be set on fire, and, if the wind and weather were favorable, the brush heaps, leaves and rotten wood would all be consumed, and the ground all burnt over black. Timber left on the ground was then logged and burned, the standing trees girdled, the rails split and fences made. A field, such as described, was then suitable for corn in the spring, which might be hacked in with the corner of a hoe, or in the fall a bushel of wheat was sown broadcast to the acre. A good yoke of oxen hitched to a drag with nine teeth, would thoroughly mellow and " get in " an acre of wheat in one day. The surface of the land was rich in vegetable mold, and the first crops were generally very fine. After several years cultivation in corn, oats and grass, the girdlings would be chopped down and niggered, which meant burned in two, or else cut, and, when logged and burned up, the land would be finally cleared. Good crops were obtained by clearing land in this way, and much time and expense saved. Girdlings, however, were not unmixed blessings. They were dangerous in a high wind. Men, cattle and fences must stand from under. Old Mr. Dean was once asked why the fences were so often broken down and so few cattle were killed by the falling limbs and timber. His answer was : " Cattle can dodge, but the fence can't dodge." In a very dry time the girdlings would get on fire ; trees would burn from bottom to top : the sparks would fly from one to another until the whole would be ablaze. New settlers generally find out what it is to fight fire. But some of the land was cleared clean from the beginning.
Many acres of new land were originally chopped and cleared for $10 per acre. The soil on the ridges was a dry, sandy loam, and on the bottoms more inclining to sand. The soil was deep, and mixed with rich vegetable mold. and adapted to the cultivation of all kinds of grain. grapes and vegetable productions. and fruits, such as apples, pears, peaches, plums. cherries, and small fruits of all varieties. Wheat has always been a staple crop in Wadsworth. but our best farmers have always practiced the rotation system.
They would take a farm, say one hundred and sixty acres, and clear off all but forty acres. Put in each year twenty acres in wheat ; seed in the fall to timothy, and in the spring to clover. Twenty acres in oats ; after harvest put on manure and sow in wheat. Twenty acres in corn ; the next spring in oats. Twenty acres in meadow. Twenty acres for rye. flax, potatoes. orchard, garden, grapes, berries, dooryard, barnyard and lanes; and twenty acres for pasture, which ought to adjoin the woodland where the stock were allowed to range. What
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY - 427
is seeded down every year becomes meadow, or pasture, and then some of the grass land is plowed up for corn. Thus by alternating, and saving his manure, the farmer is growing rich, and his farm richer and more productive every season. Many of the early settlers were too poor to pay for their farms in the beginning. but. by judicious farming and steady industry and economy. have become wealthy. No man could be more independent than such a farmer. He raised nearly everything necessary to support his family. All his grain, meat, wool and flax for cloth ; fruits. potatoes. garden vegetables, butter. eggs. sugar. if he chose to tap his maple trees : land. with some of all these to sell. and much wheat and other grain. with cattle. horses. sheep and wool. the farmer was truly independent, was rich and growing richer.
The excellencies and advantages of Wadsworth Township have always been appreciated by its inhabitants. More than forty years ago, at a celebration of the Fourth of July, this was among the regular toasts. It was believed to be true then. and is undoubtedly true now
" Wadsworth Township
“Where is the town but five miles square,
That can with this of ours compare :
Her fields and fruits are rich and rare,
Her waters sweet; and pure her air.
Her sons are wise, her daughters fair :
Where is the town that can compare
We ask, and echo answers—where
But. to return from this episode to the more early history of the township. we find that the first saw-mill was built in 1824. In the spring of that year, Joseph and Sherman Loomis and Abel and George Beach commenced a saw-mill on Blocker's Run. upon the same site where Yoder. Screen & Co.'s saw-mill now stands. They made the clam by putting in log cribs. extending from bank to bank, and so as to raise the water about fifteen or sixteen feet. These cribs were then filled with dirt, and the flume constructed for a flutter-wheel at the bottom. A fine frame saw-mill was then erected directly over the flume, and all completed about the 1st of December. A log was rolled in ; saw all set ready for business, only waiting for the water to fill the dam. The season had been dry, but about this time the rains began to descend and the floods came in the night, the banks of the stream were filled, the water was too heavy for the cribbing in the dam; suddenly the dam gave way, taking mill, saw and saw-log, tools and every vestige of the cribbing, and everything, down the stream, scattering it in a thousand pieces. The saw was found about a quarter-mile below, badly bent. but still fastened to the frame. This was a great back-set to the proprietors, and a great discouragement to the neighbors, who had already drawn in a large number of saw-logs. but the proprietors made a rally, and the next season, profiting by their experience, put in a framework and spars for a dam, and, using many of the old timbers for the saw-mill, soon got it in operation. The next saw-mill was made by George Lyman and Cyrus Curtis, on Holmes' Brook. In 1830, Alen and John Pardee erected a grist-mill on Blocker's Run, below the saw-mill of Loomis & Beach. The same frame is now standing, and occupied for a grist-mill by John Yoder. in charge of D. V. Lehman. The Pardees got their mill-stones of Samuel M. Hayden, who procured them of Dr. Crosby, from an old plaster-mill below Akron, near the old forge. Hayden had intended to make the millstones himself (as he was a worker in stone), from some granite bowlders in the neighborhood, but they were found to be imperfect. In 1832, Nicholas Long erected another gristmill below, on the same stream.
Some time, perhaps about the year 1828, Cyrus Hard erected a carding-mill, the first in the township, on Blocker's Run. between Pardee's mill and Long's mill, the site of Hard's carding-mill being now used for a grist-mill,
428 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
erected by Hard and occupied by Myers & Leatherman.
The first store in the township, as before stated. was started in 1826, and carried on by John and Allen Pardee. on the hill east of Wadsworth Village. now the Rasor farm. In 1830, they moved to the nominal center of the township. now the village. and erected the stone building which stands on the southwest corner of the public square. and at present occupied as a grocery store. In this old stone store A. & J. Pardee continued to trade in goods of all descriptions for a long time. and customers from great distances. even as far west as Harrisville. frequented this store.
In 1827. the Freemasons established a lodge in Wadsworth. holding their meetings in the chamber of A. & J. Pardee's store ; they continued to hold meetings in the township for several years. but. finally. removed to Seville. where the lodge is now said to be acting under the same old charter. In 1867. a new lodge of Freemasons was established. and they have their bimonthly meetings in their lodge-room. in the third story of Odd Fellow Block. south side : their Worshipful Master. at present. is W. E. Beardsley. Esq.: their membership is about sixty.
In 1848. a lodge of I. O. O. F. was established. which has continued in working order to the present time : their Noble Grand. at present, is H. H. Bricker. and their membership about one hundred, They own the north part of I. 0. 0. F. Block, hold their meetings in the third story. and derive quite a revenue from rents of the remainder of the building.
There is also a lodge called Knights of Labor. who hold their meetings in Hickox building ; the number of their membership and names of their principal officers are not known.
The first school taught in Wadsworth Township was by Harriet Warner. a daughter of Salmon Warner: Esq., in a room of her father's double log house. The first log schoolhouse was erected on the farm of Jacob Miller, at the crossroads, one mile and a half east of the village. The first school taught in this house was by Marcus Brown, son of Frederick Brown. The second by his sister, Catharine Brown, afterward Mrs. T. Hudson. About a year later, another house was put up. near the residence of the late Judge William Eyles. The first school taught in this, was by Miss Lodema Sacket (now Mrs. Loomis). in 1819. Those houses were. for many years. known as the north and south schoolhouses. The first school at the Center (now Wadsworth Village) was in a log house owned by Frederick Brown, and was taught by Dr. William Welton. These were also the only houses of worship for several years.
Of the early teachers of Wadsworth. Sherman Loomis, George Lyman. Lemuel North and John Nesmith deserve particular mention. And not a few who have made their mark as scholars. and in the learned professions, received their first inspiration in those log-house seminaries.
In 1837. Wadsworth Academy was incorporated, and the octagon building erected for that purpose.
We sometimes meet with a man of brilliant mind, who seems to have been born with a mission—successful in one direction. and in that one alone. yet that success so marked as to outdistance all competitors. Such a man was John McGregor. He seemed to have been made for a teacher. In those days, the fame of Wadsworth Academy, which was simply John McGregor with a house to teach in, extended far and near, and was known even beyond the limits of the State. But few teachers have had so many pupils who have been successful in after life. mainly through the impulse given to them by one mind. His method was simple, perfectly natural. yet inimitable. Graduates of a modern normal school would have found much to criticise in the order he kept. But
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 429
what cared the enthusiastic Scotchman, so long as his scholars were daily drinking in his instructions, and catching his enthusiasm, while their lessons were not conned over, but learned till they knew that they knew them ?
He scorned all codes of rules for the government of his scholars. " You are gentlemen and ladies," he would say ; " you have come here for one purpose, and that alone. It is your school, not mine, and you will see to it that nothing shall call me from the one work of giving instruction. I rely solely upon your own self-respect and sense of propriety and honor." It was very rarely that he reproved, but. if it had to be administered. it left a scar. But such was his simplicity of heart, and sincerity, that if. on reflection, he thought he had done any injustice to a pupil, he would voluntarily ask pardon before the whole school. He loved and took a pride in his pupils, and his pupils loved and were, proud of their teacher.
In 1828, the young men met in the log schoolhouse, and organized a lyceum. under the name of the Wadsworth Literary Club. The same company also formed a rhetorical school, and chose Capt. George Lyman as teacher. They held weekly evening schools for speaking, acting of dialogues and colloquies, at the house of Benjamin Agard. and concluded with an exhibition in the unfinished upper story of the new house of William Eyles. The exhibition, after the ancient style of dramatic performances, was opened by the recitation of a prologue. composed for the occasion by one of the young men, which is given verbatim from memory, and will answer as a specimen of Wadsworth pioneer poetry :
PROLOGUE.
Unused to come before an audience
To speak or act, or any such pretense,
Our youthful faces, with confusion glow,
When we consider what a depth below
Perfection's standard our endeavors all,
At such a time as this, must surely fall.
But still, my friends, if you will bear in mind
The many disadvantages we find,
Our chance of practice limited and small,
Our talents trifling, almost none at all,
Our education poor, our means confined
I say if you will even keep these things in mind
Greatly surprised, perhaps, you will not be,
Our imperfections and our faults to see.
Some surly critic, mixed among the throng,
May snap and snarl, and say that all is wrong—
That not a sound salutes his ear aright,
And not a graceful action meets his sight.
So he may criticise, detract and rail,
And say, in every point, we wholly fail.
But stop, my friend, prithee don't be so fast!
You may be partly wrong yourself, at last!
Lend me your patience, while to you I tell
An anecdote, that fits your case full well.
A beggar boy once met upon the road,
A kindly man, who generously bestowed
A meal of victuals on the hungry coot,
And a refreshing pot of beer to boot.
The beggar ate; then turning, when he'd done,
Unto his benefactor, thus begun:
" Your meal of victuals was not worth a curse,
Your bread and cheese were poor—your beer was worse.
I do not thank you for such stingy fare,
When you have cakes and pies, and wine to spare."
Ungrateful wretch ! " the generous man replied ;
“I gave it you—what could you ask beside?
“It was the very best I could provide ;
And with the best you are not satisfied.
Go—thankless cur! Go, villian, stay not here :
And, nevermore, in human sight appear!
‘Beggars should not be choosers ; ' so now clear :
" And now, my good friend, just hear one word more
And then my prologue will all be said o'er.
There is a maxim which you all have seen,
Which near expresses every word I mean;
Never look a gift-horse in the mouth. Amen!
Criticism being thus disarmed, the exhibition was, by universal consent, pronounced a " success." This exhibition was enlivened by an orchestra, consisting of a flute, clarinet, bass-viol, violin and bassoon ; played by Uriah M. Chappel. W. S. Richards. James Newcomb, Julius Richards and Ezekiel Richards.
430 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
About 1829-31, the township was finally districted for school purposes, and more commodious frame structures built. These have since given way to still larger ones. principally built of brick, with the modern improvements. This brings us to the history of the public school building of Wadsworth Village.
This was begun in 1869. The draft for the building was made by the late Col. S. C. Porter. architect, of Cleveland. It is a large brick building erected at a cost of S25.000. The money was raised by bonds at 8 per cent. The interest and a part of the principal paid each year.* The building is of' three stories, with Mansard roof. The whole upper story is furnished for a hall.
The Wadsworth Village High School. occupying the above-described building. has been continued to the present time ; it is under the superintendence of Hiram Sapp. with five assistants. The average daily attendance during the past school year was 241. Total enumeration. 400.
The first physician in the township was Dr. John Smith, who lived a short time in the eastern part of the township, and then removed just over the line in Guilford, on the Medina road. Dr. Samuel Austin was the next, at Western Star. The first at the Center. now the village, was Dr. Nathaniel Eastman. The next. and for many years the only one at Wadsworth Village, Dr. George K. Pardee.
The first death in Wadsworth was that of Daniel Ware, in 1817. He was buried in the south burial-ground. The funeral discourse was preached by John Wise, of Chippewa. His coffin was made by Reuben Warner and others. from puncheons split from a tree, and hewed clown to thin planks.
" The next death was that of an infant daughter of Frederick and Chloe Brown. July 15, 1817. This was the first burial in the Center ground. The second buried in that ground
* Now nearly all paid
was Abraham Falconer, son of Henry Falconer ; died. 1817. The first adult burial was that of John Curtis ; died of consumption in 1820. The second adult burial. Julia. wife of Sherman Loomis. and daughter of Augustus Mills, in 1820. The next. Mrs. Wright. wife of William Henry Wright. and (laughter of Lysander Hard, in 1821. The first buried in the town line ground was the wife of Ebenezer Wright. and mother of W. H. Wright. in April. 182. The next, John Sprague, in 1826. The next. Lyman Brown ; killed by falling under a cart loaded with stone. at Akron. in 1826.
The first post office in the township was kept by Abel Dickinson. on the Medina road, established in 1822. which was removed to the Center in 1826, and kept by Frederick Brown. The first at Western Star. established at the same time, was kept by Mills Richards. The first at River Styx, by David Wilson. Previous to this, the old citizens received their letters from Talmadge, Canton. Old Portage. New Portage, or whatever office was to them convenient.
The first mail route was from Canton to Norwalk. by way of Medina, established about 1821. The mail was carried by Josiah Price. of Canton, who brought our news from the Canton and Medina offices to our doors. calling us out with a tin horn.
About the year 1824. John Wilson. Esq., of River Styx, began to carry the mail over the Medina and Canton route on horseback once a week. and continued for several years. During Jackson's first term. Abel Dickinson was Postmaster superseding Judge Brown, and John Pardee was his deputy or assistant, and kept the office in Pardee's store. Afterward. Pardee was Postmaster, and held the office in the stone store for a number of years. when Dr. George K. Pardee became Postmaster. holding the office in a building standing where the residence of John Lytle now is. At his death in 1848,. it was changed several times. and held between Charles J. Pardee and Sherman Mocker, Esq..
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 431
finally settled with Pardee for quite a time. Orlando Beach held the office also for a short time. It was afterward held by John G. Houston. who was succeeded by H. C. Pardee, who held the office in the town hall. where it is at present located. under the charge of his successor. Eli Overholt. Esq.
The first settlers of Wadsworth were mostly accustomed to sustain the institutions of religion : yet. coming from different sections of the country and springing from different nationalities. each was naturally tenacious of his own belief and his accustomed mode of worship. They suffered. as new settlements generally do. more from too many church organizations than too few ; each society being too feeble. for many years. for efficient work. yet from the earliest they were accustomed to the public worship of God.
Mr. Brown. in his Memorial. says : The first religious meeting was held at the house of Oliver Durham. in July 1814. The attendance was by the families of Messrs. Dean and Durham, and Mr. Salmon Warner, a brother-in-law of Mr. Dean. and father-in-law of Mr. Durham. who had visited the place to select a farm for himself. Moving there the next February, regular prayer-meetings were established at his house. so that public worship may be considered to have been established in February, 1815. the families of the first three settlers composing the assembly ; that of Mr. Dean being of the Baptist, and those of Mr. Warner and Mr. Durham of the Methodist denomination. These meetings were continued at the house of Mr. Warner. until the erection of the first schoolhouse. in 1816. In May of that year, emigrants from Connecticut. the families of Frederick Brown. Benjamin Agard and Joseph Loomis, having arrived, they, with some other new arrivals, helped to sustain these meetings.
“I have heard my father, in my youthful days, relate the pleasing incident of his first introduction to Mr. Warner. and the arrangement they made together to set up the Sabbath worship in a more public and permanent manner. He had just arrived the previous week, and with his family was staying at the house of Benjamin Agard, who had preceded him a few months. Hearing that religious meetings. were then held at the house of a man by the name of Warner. the three families went on Sabbath morning. through the woods, to his house. The meeting was conducted by Mr. Warner: those who were singers assisted in that part of the worship. and my father taking part in speaking and prayer.
After the meeting, Mr. Warner called my father into the other part of his double log house, for private conference. : First.' said he, I wish to know who and what you are ?' My father replied. . We are Congregationalists, from Connecticut. Mr. Warner replied. My parents were Congregationalists ; I am a Methodist, and have been almost alone in keeping up meetings the past year ; and now I propose that we unite, and we can sustain meetings every Sabbath. I see you are singers ; that will be a great help. And now your people have a practice that I like, that of reading a sermon when you have no preacher. Have you any volumes of sermons you can bring to read from ?' My father replied, I have, but many of the sermons are highly Calvinistic. and you may not approve their doctrine ; so I will hand you the book beforehand, and you may select such as you can call orthodox, and they shall be read.'
" The meetings were conducted jointly by those two men, in the manner agreed upon, at the house of Mr. Warner, until the erection of what was called the South Schoolhouse, in the autumn following (1816), when they were held in the schoolhouse. Here began a fraternal union between those two old pioneers, who may, without any injustice to others, be termed the first founders of the Methodist and Congregational Churches—a union that was never broken. To the end of their pilgrimage, they
432 -HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.
loved each other as brothers, and consulted together for the social, moral and religious welfare of the settlement.
" In 1816, a Methodist class was formed, consisting of Salmon Warner, Mrs. Lucina Warner, Miss Harriet Warner, Oliver Durham and Mrs. Lamira Durham, William H. Wright and wife and Mrs. Polly Kirkum. As no record remains, the name of the minister who organized the class is not preserved, nor can I learn the names of the first Methodist preachers, except Ezra Booth and William Eddy.
" The Congregational Church was organized August 8, 1819, Rev. John Treat the officiating minister. The original members were Frederick Brown, Mrs. Chloe S. Brown. Augustus Mills, Mrs. Martha Mills. George Lyman, Mrs. Ophelia Lyman, Benjamin Agard, Sherman Loomis and Jacob Lindley.
" On the 25th of August, 1817. a Union church and society was formed by members of the German Reformed and Lutheran denominations. The names of the original members can not be obtained. The elders were Peter Waltz, Sr. and Christian Everhard. Trustees, Jacob Everhard, Adam Baughman. Benjamin Faust, first Pastor.
" A Baptist Church was organized under the pastoral charge of Obadiah Newcomb, in 1821. This was afterward the nucleus of the Disciples' Church. Of its original members, were Obadiah Newcomb and wife, William Eyles and wife. Samuel Green and wife and Mrs. Battison and Mr. and Mrs. Donor, of Chippewa. Another Baptist Church was afterward organized in the northwest part of the town, by Elder Dimmock, in 1836. The original members of the Disciples' Church were Obadiah Newcomb, Satira Newcomb, Matilda Newcomb. Victory Clark, Samuel Green, A. B. Green and Polly Eyles.
" About the time of the separation of the Methodists from the Congregationalists, Mr. Brown was joined by George Lyman, a young man from Torrington, Conn., who took an active part in sustaining the meetings. They were held every Sabbath, twice a day, in the old style of New England. After singing and prayer, and singing again, the leader either read a sermon or called upon some other to read. The most frequent reader was Sherman Loomis, whose musical voice and rhetorical delivery is still one of the pleasant memories of those days. Of those who were occasion-ally readers. I can recall George Kirkum. Harry Lucas. Lemuel North. John Sprague, Allen Pardee. Dr. George K. Pardee. Aaron Pardee and George Lyman.
" On the erection of the next schoolhouse, then called the North Schoolhouse. the meetings were held alternately in each place. From 1821 to 1824. Mr. Lyman was absent from the township. and Mr. Brown was assisted in conducting the meetings. by Ebenezer Andrus and William Graham, of Chippewa, a portion of the time being occupied by Rev. Obadiah Newcomb, the Baptists and Congregationalists uniting in his support. He preached a part of the time in Norton and Coventry. He was a man of ability, much respected ; and his services much demanded on funeral occasions.
" The western part of the township, and eastern part of Guilford, were settled by members of the Mennonite denomination. I have no record of their churches (embracing each of the divisions known by that name)."
The two churches are called Old and New Mennonites. The Old Mennonites still worship in their log meeting-house, in the west part of Wadsworth, on the Seville road, on the hill. The new church established a college in Wadsworth Village, said to have been the first by that denomination in the United States. Their school has been removed, and the college building is now occupied as a private school institute, in charge of T. J. Dague, Esq. But the church remains, and they hold weekly meetings in their meeting-house on the Medina road.
HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 433
The Universalists maintained preaching for several years, from 1824. Their first minister was a Mr. Williams, who afterward became a minister of the Disciples' Church. The next was a Mr. Tracy.
The next, a Mr. Rodgers. But no church was ever formed.
The first house of worship built in the township was the Lutheran and German Reformed log meeting-house, on the town line between Wadsworth and Chippewa. The next, the old Congregational House at the Center, built in 1830. on the site of the present one, which was erected in 1842. The Disciples erected the house they now occupy, in 1842. George Hinsdale was the architect of both these houses, and died the same year. The Methodist House was built in 1835. The Congregationalists have continued from the time of their first organization with various degrees of prosperity till the present time. Their Pastor is the Rev. G. C. Reed. and their members number about sixty. The first settled Congregational Minister, Rev. Amasa Jerome. was installed November 1. 1826. He was followed by Revs. Fay, Boutell, Johnson, Brooks, Tallcutt, Wright, Wilder, and. after an interval of some years, Rev. T. W. Browning, of the Methodist Church, was employed for a time, and he was followed by Rev. D. E. Hatheway, then by Rev. Edward Brown. in 1874. afterward by the present Pas-tor.
A church was organized about 1875 in Wadsworth, who call themselves the Church of God, and number about forty members. They occupy the building formerly used for the Wadsworth Academy, which is an octagon building, standing at present on the corner of Lyman and Prospect streets.
The Methodist Church has continued from its first institution, in 1816. in the township, meeting in various places until the erection of the present meeting-house. in 1835 ; always under the charge of an itinerant ministry, and, like the other churches, having their seasons of revival and depression from various causes, until, in 1867. their house of worship was enlarged and remodeled. Their church is now in a prosperous condition, their house commodious, and a convenient parsonage, at present under the pastoral charge of Rev. F. S. Wolf. Their communicants number about 150. The Disciples have continued their worship in their church, finished in 1842, under various Pastors, among them Revs. A. B. Green and H. Jones, and the last of whom were Rev. J. F. Rowe, Rev. J. Knowles from April, 1869, to April, 1872 ; then Rev. C. F. W. Cronemyer. and after him Rev. J. A. Williams. The present condition of the church is prosperous. with good congregation and interesting Sunday school. Under the pastoral charge of Elder C. W. Henry. The members number about 100.
The organization of the Reformed Church was effected on the 24th day of October. 1858. Its first Pastor was Rev. Jesse Schlosser, who began his labors here about four months previous to the organization. During his pastorate, the services were held in the Congregational and Disciples' Churches, furnished by their congregations.
Six members constituted the church at the beginning. Their names, in the order in which they appear upon the record, are Henry Yockey, Catharine Yockey, John C. Kremer, Lydia Kremer, E. K. Kremer and Isaac Griesemer. The first officers were Henry Yockey, Elder, and J. C. Kremer. Deacon.
The second pastorate was that of Rev. Jesse Hines, who began his labors June 1, 1860. It was under his pastorate that the old octagon academy building, and lot (elsewhere mentioned in this work), were purchased of Aaron Pardee, for $150. and converted into a house of worship. It was dedicated October 6, 1861, Revs. S. B. Leiter and William McCaughey preaching the dedicatory sermons.
Rev. S. C. Goss, the present Pastor, entered on his labors August 1. 1866. At the begin
434 - HISTORY OF MEDIA COUNTY.
ning the membership numbered forty-three. The present numerical strength of the congregation is one hundred and sixty.
There are in Wadsworth Village and township seven meeting-houses, and, within five miles of Wadsworth Center. may be found eighteen more, making twenty-five. and there are resident ministers in Wadsworth Village to the number of at least twelve. showing that there is no excuse for Wadsworth to be called an irreligious community.
It is refreshing to turn to a narrative furnihed for Mr. Brown's Memorial by Sherman Blocker, Esq., an old resident of Wadsworth. and hear him speak of the pioneers as follows : While there were some theological differences of opinion, yet, taken as a community together, there never was a more honorable, upright and conscientious set of people found on this broad continent than were the early pioneers of Wadsworth." He says : " They were as a unit in promoting each other's welfare and happiness, each seeking to move and work in that sphere best calculated to render the most good. in which he was born and reared.
" At first there may have been some distrust, but in a very short time all distrust vanished into thin air as soon as they came to know each other ; and soon, the mass of early pioneers came to be like brothers and sisters, promoting each other's welfare in all possible ways. Would to God that such a spirit now prevailed among all the people as ruled the mass of pioneers in Wadsworth fifty to sixty years ago!"
Every one who has gone through the vicissitudes of pioneer life is aware of the fact that its tendency is to beget a spirit of adventure. to the extent that comparatively but few of the first settlers of a frontier town. or their children. whose earliest impressions were amid the adventurous beginnings. are known to remain and spend their lives there. Especially is this true of those of Anglo-Saxon. or Celtic origin. So that the same individuals are often found among the adventurous frontiersmen in two or more States ; often moving on till old age overtakes them upon the frontier.
The rapid opening of the States of the interior, westward of Ohio. became an incentive to new emigration. to such as had been among the first settlers. or their children who had grown up while as yet all things were new. This period was consequently marked by great changes of population : so great that many names of' the old families that counted not a few upon the poll books and muster rolls. nearly or quite disappeared. Particularly was this true of the New England portion. Selling out and moving on the front wave of civilization, and their old homes passing into the hands of the wealthier but more conservative Teutonic race, or what are sometimes termed "Pennsylvania Germans," till the proportion of the two races was reversed. This also seriously affected the original churches, particularly the Congregational and Methodist, which. through these causes. became. during this period. almost extinct ; while a large church of the German Re-formed denomination, and another of the Mennonite. the members of both being chiefly of German descent. attracted the major part of the church-going population. till the revival of business by the location of the railroad and the discovery of the coal mines, brought again members of those two denominations, and a resurrection of their churches. During that period also, the old Wadsworth Academy was suspended, and the octagon building occupied for that purpose was converted into a church.