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CHAPTER XII.*

HARRISVILLE TOWNSHIP— A PIONEER EXPLORER—THE HARRIS FAMILY—EARLY ADVENTURES
—A PROSPEROUS SETTLEMENT—POLITICAL AND CIVIL DEVELOPMENT
CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.

IN bright cluster of townships which today forms the county of Medina, Harrisville stands out pre-eminent as the one in which the first dawn of civilization broke forth, and the one in which the first home of a white man was reared. This township is the richest in pioneer lore, and in the interesting reminiscences of its earliest settlements. The treasures of memory that are culled from the first hardships, and the experiences and vicissitudes of the brave men and women who first penetrated into this unbroken wilderness, are today clothed with a sacred charm. upon which succeeding generations can scarcely look with anything less than veneration. The deeds of personal heroism and the persistent toil accomplished by our forefathers, are indelibly impressed for all time to come upon the fruitful fields, the shady groves, the picturesque valleys, and the bright and happy homes that dot our land.

Linder the land company's survey, Harrisville was set apart as Township No. 1, Range 16. It is bounded on the north by Chatham, on the east by Westfield, on the west by Homer, and on the south by Wayne County. The land of Harrisville Township is somewhat rolling, and affords a variety of soil. In some parts, the land is clayey, and in others slightly sandy. Peat covers over 2.000 acres in this township. One-half of this territory has the deposit not over eighteen inches deep, the underlying being heavy. yet light colored. The average depth of the peat on 1,000 acres is about 5 feet. Most of the western and southern parts of this Harrisville swamp have been plowed. The bed-

* Contributed by Charles Neil. Medina.rock is 12 to 18 feet below the surface of the marsh. The land

can be shaken by jumping on it, although cattle go all over it. The digging of ditches has revealed quantities of shells. but no large fossils, as far as could be learned.

Railroad levels were run in 1853, between Wooster and Grafton. The extreme elevation of the road. as it was surveyed through the marsh, was 340.3 above Lake Erie. The road was to have been run west of the village of Lodi. and the elevation there was 336 feet above Lake Erie. This would give the surface. at the town pump, an altitude of about 350 feet. Harrisville is one of the townships in which the water " divides " to the Ohio River and Lake Erie. The great marsh is drained in both directions. and is much lower than most of the land along the "divide."

Quarrying has been carried on since 1840 in numerous places along Whetstone Creek. a mile southeast of Lodi. The rock is chiefly an argillaceous sandstone, most of the beds being only a few inches thick. and the thickest not twenty inches. The exposures here are twenty-five to thirty feet high. Large crevices run through all the rock, which is badly broken up.

In the fall of 1810, a sturdy young farmer. of the clear-headed, gritty New England type. started out on a journey Westward. after he had gathered the season's scanty crop of corn, wheat and potatoes. In his rude hut near Randolph, in Portage County, he left his young wife with her little babe,, while he pushed on to prospect the land that lay further west, on which he might find a location more suitable to his ambitious desires, and rear thereon a new home.

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The impulse that started him on his journey was somewhat akin to that which impelled the famous Genoese navigator to plow the unknown seas and find a newer and richer land near the setting sun. What the needle of the compass and the starry points of the heavens had been to Columbus. the surveyor's " blazes" on the trees were to the intrepid, coarsely-clad pioneer. Unarmed, save with an ax, and carrying a limited supply of provisions. he took his course through the townships on the southern line of the Western Reserve. Coming to the stream in Westfield, now known as Campbell's Creek, and while crossing it on a log which reached from bank to bank. he heard a bear chopping its jaws. in an unpleasant manner. to say the least. Retreat was impossible. and, putting on a bold front. he advanced upon the beast ! Fortunately. the bear did not wait to try conclusions, and incontinently broke for a place of safety. Scarcely pausing for this episode. he advanced, and before evening. when the sun was yet a half-hour high. he had reached the ridge which runs southward on the east of the valley in which the town of Lodi is now located. Before him. on a line with his eyes, was a waving mass of leaves—a forest of tall and majestic trees. The flickering light of the setting sun was dancing and glowing through the rustling leaves of the stately trees. With the awe-inspiring impression of the grand sight before him. the resolution formed itself in the young pioneer's mind that he would make this his future home.

After he had seen the sun sink behind the thick foliage; he built a fire and camped out for the night The next morning he descended into the valley, and set about exploring the region. The rich virgin soil was studded with clumps of large walnut and oak trees. A small rivulet. a tributary of Black River. came winding through an open gorge from the north, and then bent westward, and, a mile further on, united with the waters of Black River. Further on to the west, he found another swell in the ground, which is again broken, a half-mile further on, by the course of the Black River. From thence there is a level stretch west through the township, slightly undulating. To the north of Lodi a high ridge extends along the west side of the East Branch of Black River into the township of Chatham, sloping toward the northwest down to the banks of. Black River. Toward the south, from this base of location, which is now the center of Lodi, the land rolled out flat, and he found a large area of marsh land, thickly matted with alders. bogs, cranberry bushes and underbrush.

Young Harris set to work with his ax, after he had assured himself of the practicability of the undertaking and the natural resources and advantages for a settlement, selecting a site for a home. He placed his stake on a spot of ground which is now known as the Tuttle lot, a few rods south of the center of the village of Lodi. He kept at work for several weeks, and erected during this time by his own individual exertions, a small, rude log house, and cut down a small tract of timber. This accomplished, he retraced his steps to the mother settlement, near Randolph, in Portage County, which at that time, included the territory in which he had just selected his new home. This pioneer was Joseph Harris, the first settler of Medina County, after whom the township of Harrisville has been named.

The Connecticut Land Company had, in the year 180i, under the old charter, granted by King Charles II, of England, to the Colony of Connecticut, made a division of their lands west of the Cuyahoga River Township, and No. 1, in Range 16, (Harrisville) had been drawn by sixteen incorporators, whose names are as follows : Nehemiah Gaylord, John and Jabes Gillett, Solomon Rockwell and brothers, Hezekiah Huntington, William Battell, Russ Burr, Job Curtis' heirs, Thomas Huntington, Royal Tylee, Wright & Sutliff, Joseph Har-

PAGE 484 - PICTURE OF JOSEPH HARRIS

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ris, Martin Kellogg, Burr & Loomis, Joseph Battell and Eliphalet Austin, which was known as the Torringford Land Company, together with 2,000 acres, in Township No. 1, in Range 15, to compensate for swamp land in Harrisville Township. In the spring of 1810, the township was surveyed by a party sent out by the Connecticut Land Company, and subdivided into lots of 100 acres each. A road was also established during this same year, by the company of Portage County, through No. 1, from the Franklinton road, in Norton, west, through the center, to the east line in Huron County. The Legislature of the young State of Ohio, also during this year, appropriated $800, by a legislative act, to establish a State road, to run from Mansfield to Cleveland, through this township. After the subdivision of the lands in this township had been made, Mr. Joseph Harris was delegated by the Torringford Company, with the power of an agent, to dispose of and effect sales of the land. The price of the land was fixed at $2 per acre, Mr. Harris being granted the privilege of 200 acres as a pioneer settlement—location to be deducted from his undivided portion.

After his return to Randolph, from his journey into Harrisville Township, he set about making preparations to remove his family to the new territory in the following spring. When February came, the young pioneer had all of his affairs in shape, had his household goods and personal effects, few as they were, gotten together, and was now ready to move into the new settlement. On the morning of the 11th of February, 1811, the moving" party started out from the settlement near Randolph, for the new land, that was about forty miles to the west. The train consisted of. four sleds, each drawn by a yoke of oxen. Three of these trains had been^, gratuitously furnished by the neighbors of Mr. Harris, to help him to his new settlement. The ground was covered with about a foot of snow, and the progress of the pioneers wasrather slow. Near the evening of the third day, they arrived in the lowlands south of Lake Chippewa. A halt was made here for the night, on account of the exhausted condition of the cattle, which had found it a wearisome march through the snow that lay unbroken in the road.

Mr. Harris, with his wife and her two-year-old boy, mounted a horse and pushed forward the same day toward their new home, which was about eight miles distant. On the next morning, the 14th day of February, 1811, the ox-teams arrived in Harrisville, and Mr. Joseph Harris, his wife and child, together with a trusty, bright young lad, named James Redfield, who was about eleven years old at that time, settled permanently in the new township ; and it is from this day that the first settlement of Harrisville Township dates.

The life of the settler in this new clearing, miles away from human habitation, was full of hardships and privations. Winter was still on hand with its benumbing coldness, and the ground and woods were alternately covered with snow and slush. The log hut was small, and the only opening in it, serving as a door, was covered by a blanket. The first days were spent in cutting down trees, and making new openings in the woods and laying out roads. A small addition was made to the log hut, and its interior more comfortably arranged. Small brush sheds, for the shelter of the horse and two cattle were erected. With the opening of spring, new life sprang up in this little colony. New work began ; the ground of the cleared tract was got ready, and seeding commenced.

The nearest neighbors were, at that time, at Wooster, in Wayne County, a settlement seventeen miles south, on the Killbuck River. Wooster was then one of the trading-posts in the northwest. An Indian trail leading from Sandusky to Wooster, and thence on to Pittsburg, ran through Harrisville Township, a few miles west of the center of Lodi. Hunters and trappers of the different Indian tribes which at that

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time roamed through Northern Ohio, passed often over this trail, taking their hides and furs to market. The location selected by Mr. Harris, had also been, and was then, one of the favorite hunting grounds of the Wyandot and Ottawa Indians, and many of their wigwams—still in a good state of preservation—were standing near the spot he selected for the site of his residence. Still, although the social relations that subsisted at this time between Mr. Harris and these denizens of the forest were of the most friendly and reciprocal character, yet, true to their national characteristics, they preferred retirement from the proximity of the pale-faces, abandoning their lodges, and building new ones from two to six miles distant. A few years later, Capt. Wolf, of the Delawares, a sort of missionary among the tribes of Indians north of the Ohio, and a man tolerably well educated, and who looked after the trapping interests at Chippewa Lake, quite frequently visited the Harrisville colony, and conversed and talked with the settlers. He had been under Gen. Harrison's command, and had been an eye-witness to the battle of Lake Erie, fought by Commodore Perry on the 10th of September, 1812. He gave the Harrisville people a description of the battle as he witnessed it, and told them other adventures of his career, which was all very entertaining. Mr. Albert Harris, son of Joseph Harris, often went, when he was a lad ten or twelve years old, as a companion of Wolf's son —a young buck about the same age—with the Indian Captain to Lake Chippewa, to look over the trapping-ground. The old Indian would put the two boys in a bark canoe, and paddle them back and forth across the lake. The younger Harris is still a resident of Harrisville Township, and has fresh in his. memory the days of the early settlement in this township, when young papooses were the associates of his childhood.

With June of the same year there came an accession to the new colony. George Burr andhis wife and his brother Russell, arrived that month from Litchfield County, Conn., and settled on a lot adjoining Mr. Harris. The month of September brought in two more settlers, Calvin and Lyman Corbin, from the city of Boston, Mass., who purchased and settled on the farm now owned by George Burr, a mile south of Lodi. That fall the first crop of corn and potatoes was gathered in the township. Autumn, with its blustering days, was on hand, and cold winter was fast approaching. The Harrisville colony now consisted of five men, two women and two boys. There were three log huts about one-half mile apart from each other, seven yoke of oxen and one horse and two dogs, with a lot of household furniture and farming tools and wagons. This was the inventory on the 1st day of October, 1811.

About this time Mr. Joseph Harris contracted with one Daniel Cross, a carpenter living near Randolph, to put up a log barn in Harrisville. Cross with his son Avery (who was about eleven years old) came out from Randolph during the fall, with a yoke of oxen, the boy to drive them and haul the logs together, while the old man cut them. The barn was finished in about a month's time. For this job, Mr. Cross received, in payment, a yoke of oxen.

With the declining year came long evenings, and with them the need and desire of sociability and an interchange of views upon topics of common interest to all. The prospects, the new land and the crops had to be talked about ; and, then, there was the old home in the East, with all its dear associations of childhood ; the political affairs of the young Republic. These sturdy pioneers often gathered, during these days, in one of the log cabins, and there sat by day and in the evenings, before the flickering fire of a log or stump burning on the hearth, and discussed, like true, sober-minded New Englanders, matters and events that were of interest to them.

The first intimation the Harrisville people

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had of the serious hostilities which began in 1812 was the arrival of a messenger from Randolph. in Portage County. bringing a newspaper containing the declaration of war, also a letter warning the settlers of their danger. as it was not then known in whose interest the Indians would enlist, and urgently soliciting them to return to the older settlements. A consultation was then held in the evening at Mr. Harris' house. which resulted in the conclusion, that, under existing circumstances. it would be safer to repair to the settlements until something more decisive could be learned in relation to the political affairs on the then extreme northwestern frontier. Accordingly, the next morning. Mr. Harris. Russell and George Burr. with the Corbins. loaded the most valuable of their household goods on wagons. and. with seven yoke of oxen. started for Randolph. George Burr's wife having gone there some weeks previous. Almost at the outset. one of the wagons was unfortunately overturned. throwing Mrs. Harris and the child from the wagon. But. quite undaunted. although badly bruised, she insisted on going forward, and, that the journey might be expedited. she was mounted with her child on the only horse in the settlement. Accompanied by her husband on foot. she reached their friends in Randolph the next morning. having been obliged to lie out overnight in the woods on account of having lost the trail when within a mile or two of the settlement. The settlers, in leaving their homes, of necessity had to abandon their crops ; and, as the prosperity of the settlement depended on their being secured, Mr. Harris. on the following Monday morning, mounted his horse, shouldered his trusty rifle, and, accompanied only by his faithful dog, proceeded on his solitary way back to Harrisville. As he approached the settlement, he discovered that some person had been in the vicinity during his absence. On examining the tracks, he discovered that some had beenmade with shoes and some with moccasins. Dismounting from his horse and muffling the bell (an appendage, by the way, which all early settlers were in the habit of attaching to their domestic animals), he cautiously proceeded to examine the Indian trail leading from Sandusky to Wooster, and, discovering no appearance of Indians having passed along it, he soon came to the conclusion that some white person must have been in the vicinity during his absence.

On entering his cabin, appearances indicated that a number of persons had passed a night there, having̊ used some of his iron ware for the purpose of cooking. It was afterward found out that the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to establish a road from Mansfield to Cleveland passed a night at Mr. Harris' house, cooking their supper and breakfast there. Mr. Harris, finding that his wheat was not yet fit for harvesting, set about hoeing his corn and potatoes. After having been here about ten days, Russell Burr and Elisha Sears came out and harvested the crops belonging to the Burrs, which occupied about five days, and then returned to Randolph. Mr. Harris remained about five weeks, his dog being his. sole companion during the whole time, except the five days that Burr and Sears were with him. His only bed was an old wagon-board, each end of which was so supported that it had a sort of spring motion, and furnished as much rest and comfort to his weary body after a day's hard toil as the modern spring bed gives to the gentleman of leisure.

On the return of Mr. Harris to Portage County, he first learned of the surrender of Hull. at Detroit, to the British, and, at a call from. Gen. Wadsworth, the militia on the Reserve turned out en masse, and Harris, with Burr and others, were out in the campaign some three weeks, in and about Cleveland. After a short service in the Western Reserve Militia during the month of September, Harris,

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with his companions, returned to Randolph. and preparations were then made to return forthwith to Harrisville. The Corbins had sold out their possessions in Harrisville about this time, and Russell Burr returned to his home in Connecticut. This left Joseph Harris and George Burr alone, with their families, of those who once made up the infant settlement. Harris and Burr, with their families. again reached Harrisville in the first week in October. 1812, finding everything quiet and unmolested. Here was again a trying period before them. Winter was again close at hand, and, being almost entirely isolated from the world around them. and away from post roads and post offices. they could, of course, know little or nothing of what was transpiring outside of the settlement, and they necessarily lived in that uneasy state of uncertainty, which, to be realized, must be experienced. Yet nothing occurred to disturb their quiet until some time in the latter part of November, when, in the early part of the evening, was heard what was supposed to be the shrill whoop of an Indian, easily discerned to be in an easterly direction, and supposed to be about half a mile distant. Mr. Burr, whose house was nearer to the point from which the whoop seemed to come, hastily seized his rifle, and, taking his wife and child, instantly started for the Harris cabin, giving the old horse. which was quietly feeding in the woods, a sharp cut, to send him on a keen run toward Harris' house, rattling his bell and alarming his family, together with the old dog, which, barking and bounding about, added considerable to the agitation. Mr. Harris was already on the qui vive. He was out on the trail, with his rifle in his hand, after first taking the precaution to extinguish the light in his cabin. After meeting with the Burr family, the women were barricaded in the house, and the men took positions outside to await developments. Soon footsteps were heard. and then a human form came in sight, nearing the house. Harris drew up his rifle and halted the man. It was then discovered that he was a settler from Randolph named Billy Thornington, who had come out on an exploration tramp to see the country, and, having lost his way, had given the yell. He remained with them for a short time. and then returned to the mother settlement in Portage County.

With the beginning of the new year. 1813. snow commenced to fall and covered the ground several feet deep. The young settlers were almost completely snowed in, and it was nearly an impossibility to visit one of the sister settlements. Then a biting cold frost set in and continued until the latter part of February. After that the weather moderated. On the night of the 6th of March, a foot messenger arrived at the house of Mr. Harris and informed him that Henry Chittenden. in charge of five teams loaded with forty barrels of flour, being forwarded by Norton & Adams. contractors at Middlebury, to General Perkins' camp on the Huron River, were detained by the deep snow in the wilderness in the neighborhood of the Chippewa, and were entirely destitute of forage and provisions, having been five days out from Middlebury. The messenger had come to solicit aid from Mr. Harris. He promptly responded and proceeded at once to their camp. with a supply of provisions for the men and a bag of corn for the team. He left his house about midnight in company with the messenger, and arrived at the camp at 4 o'clock in the morning. .His reception by the half-starved men at the camp can better be imagined than described. The provision train was now only thirty-two miles from Middlebury, their starting-point, and forty-five miles had yet to be traveled through an unbroken wilderness, to reach the camp of the American army on the Huron River. Their teams were overloaded and underfed. Their only reliance for succor and help seemed to be Mr. Harris, his place being the only settlement on the route. He came very generously to their

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relief. Furnishing the men with provisions such as his own scanty supply afforded, and giving forage for the teams, he hitched up his own ox-team; and, thus lessening the load of others, he started next day with them for the camp at Huron. After a slow and laborious journey, they reached the camp on the eighth day out from Harrisville settlement. The return trip to this settlement only consumed about four days. The commission firm from Middlebury referred to, continued thereafter to supply the American army under Perkins on the shores of Lake Erie. Their trips in forwarding these supplies were made more expeditiously after a road had been cut through, but the provision trains always found it convenient to stop at the Harrisville settlement on their journeys back and forth.

In the spring of this year, many of the militiamen in the Northwestern army, from the counties of Knox and Wayne, and from other counties in Southeastern Ohio, passed through the settlement, their terms of service having expired. Mr. Harris often entertained companies of from ten to twenty of these returning soldiers at a time, and always furnished them the best his scanty board afforded. During the winter of 1812, a detachment of troops from Pennsylvania was stationed at Wooster, Wayne County, under the command of Gen. Bell. Provisions for soldiers, as well as for the horses employed in the service, were scarce, and commanded high prices. Tempted by the prospect of gain, Avery Cross, of Randolph, in Portage County, set out the latter part of December, with a load of oats for the army. He was accompanied by his son Samuel, a young man of about eighteen years. On arriving at Wooster, they found teams were so scarce that the army had not the means of transportation, and, by the offer of high prices, Cross was induced to go with the army as far as Mansfield; and aid in transporting baggage and forage. At Mansfield. he was paid off, andstarted for home. On the road between Mansfield and Wooster, he purchased seventeen head of cattle, with which he arrived at Wooster on the last day of December. The next day. he and his son started up the valley of the Killbuck, intending to reach the settlement of Joseph Harris, with whom they were well acquainted. Soon after they left Wooster, there came on a terrible snowstorm, which lasted three days. Nothing further was heard of Cross and his son, until the March following, when, his family becoming alarmed at his lengthened absence, sent another son in pursuit of them. Finding they had left Wooster on the 1st day of January for the north, the son sent in pursuit of them took their trail up the . Killbuck to Harris' settlement, where he ascertained they had not been there, and that several cattle had been taken up during the winter, for which no owner could be found. It was now evident that they had perished. The few settlers in that region turned out to find them. In the valley of the Killbuck, they found the trail of the cattle, but, instead of following it, which would have led them to Harris', it seems Cross got bewildered, and, when within a mile of the settlement, which lay northwest, he took another valley, which led them a southeastwardly course into what is now Westfield. Here, almost three miles from Lodi, they found the skull of Cross, and some of his bones, the flesh having been entirely eaten off by wolves. Near by, was found a jack-knife and a small pile of sticks, where he had tried to make a fire, but failed. Pieces of clothing, and his great-coat, were found near by, showing the place where he and his son lay down to sleep after they had failed to make a fire. The bones of a yoke of oxen, still in the yoke, and chained to a tree, were lying near by, and the bones of another yoke of oxen, still in the yoke, a little further off. From all of them, except the last yoke, the flesh had been entirely eaten. It was evident that one of them

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had not been dead long, as the flesh was but partly eaten, and the blood in a fluid state. The trail was very plain to be seen where this ox had drawn his mate around. after he was dead, while the living one was trying to get something on which to live. No remains of young Cross were ever found. The bones of the old man were gathered up. and buried in a field just south of the village of Lodi. An inscription carved on a beech-tree. marks the place of the pioneer's death. Nothing but a natural mound. in which he was buried. marks his burialplace.

Another incident in these early days. of less tragical outcome than the one just related, but giving a glimpse of the life of the pioneers. has been related by James Redfield. Their grain. at that time, had to be carried on horseback to a mill in Wooster, seventeen miles distant. At one time. when James Redfield was a boy about twelve years old, Mr. Harris had balanced two bags of grain on his horse, and placed the boy on top, and started him for Wooster. The boy proceeded all right until about half-way to the mill, when the bags overbalanced. and slipped from the horse. The boy had not strength sufficient to replace the bags on the horse, though he labored desperately for an hour or more. Returning to the settlement for help, he found Mr. Harris had gone. So his wife mounted the horse behind the boy. and the two rode back where the bags had been left. Replacing them on the horse, she started the boy for Wooster. walking back through the woods to her home.

In February. 1814. Russell and Justus Burr reached the settlement from Connecticut. and settled in the immediate vicinity of the two families already located. In March of the same year, young James Redfield. a lad fourteen years of age. who had remained in Randolph after the flight from Harrisville in 1812. again made his advent in the new settlement, and took up his abode with the family of Mr. Harris. He was a hardy. plucky boy. and the career ofhis life is inseparably connected with the development of Harrisville Township. and the history of Medina County. It was in the years closely following his return to the new settlement, when James was fast ripening into young manhood. that he became one of its notable and interesting characters. He became noted for his prowess and dexterity in trapping and hunting wild game. in a large measure taking away from the Indians in this neighborhood their occupation. In the period of a very few years. he caught 122 wolves. for which he received a bounty given by the State Government. He related to the writer, that. having at one time caught one of those beasts by the end of the forefoot. and fearing that in its struggles it would get its foot out of the trap and escape. he pounced upon it. cuffed its ears. and put the foot into the trap. carrying it in this way into the settlement. This wolf. it would seem. was about as passive as old Put's. when he applied the twist to its nose, for it offered no resistance. and seemed completely cowed." Another hunting adventure told by him occurred in the earlier days of the settlement. Finding his traps tampered with. of which he had out a large number. in a circuit of several miles from the settlement. and the game taken therefrom. he secreted himself with his trusty gun in the crotch of a tall sycamore on the Black River bottoms, where he remained overnight to await events in the morning. In the morning. he espied several redskins sneaking along the river banks, and killing and taking from his traps whatever animals were caught. He waited until one of the scoundrels came within easy range of his rifle. and then let him have it : the Indian made a big jump in the air, and he and his companion beat a precipitate retreat west of Black River. His traps were no more molested after that. In the spring of 1816. when James was a boy seventeen years old. he took a contract to chop out a road from the center of Harrisville to the center of Medina. for which

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appropriations had been made by the State Legislature. It was a distance of ten miles, on which he made fifty-seven rods of bridge and causeway. principally bridge. He proceeded from day to day with his work, following the prescribed survey, having a small supply of provisions with him. When night came, he would build a fire. eat his supper, and then peel off a large sheet of bark from an oak-tree, and roll himself up in it and go to sleep. He had the road cut out through to Medina in the fall.

New families came into the settlement in the spring of 1814. The first were Timothy Munson, of Vermont, and Loammi Holcomb, from the State of New York, who with their families came in April and settled on the west bank of Black River, about two miles from Mr. Harris' house. From that year on. the influx of settlers increased and permanent settlements were made in the close neighborhood. In the spring of 1815, there arrived Timothy Burr, Alvin Loomis. Collins Young and Job Davis, with their families, and to these were added in the year 1816. the families of Carolus Tuttle, Isaac Catlin. Nathan Marsh, Elisha Bishop. Perez and Nathaniel Rogers and James Rogers, who came together in the spring. Later on in the same year, came Charles Lewis. David Birge, Josiah Perkins and William Welsh, all of whom located permanently in the township, at various points, from a quarter of a mile to three miles distant from the original location, where Mr. Joseph Harris had placed his homestead.

More came in the spring of 1817, whose names are Noah Kellog, Jason Spencer, Noah Holcomb, Thomas Russell, Isaac Rogers, Orange Stoddart, Daniel Delvin, Henry K. Joline, Cyrus and Arvis Chapman, Jonathan Fitts, David Rogers. Cyrus Curtis, George Hanna, and Dr. William Barnes, quite a genius in his way. He assumed the functions of preacher. doctor and miller in the colony, and soon after his adventbecame a man of considerable importance to the people of Harrisville.

A notable event occurred in the settlement on the 15th of April, 1815. It was the birth of a daughter to George and Mehitable Burr. There was great rejoicing over the arrival of this little messenger from heaven, among the pioneers. It was the first child born in the township. It lived but a few years, dying in July, 1817. It was buried on its father's farm. The funeral services were simple but impressive ; all the settlers with their families attended. Dr. William Barnes conducted the services, and preached a sermon over the grave of the child.

In the spring of 1818, there came nine more families, among them being Lomer Griffin and his wife and six sons and one daughter. Lomer Griffin was destined to become one of the most remarkable and most widely-known men of Harrisville Township and Medina County, on account of the unprecedented age he attained.

There were now thirty-five families in the settlement. Clearings were made on every side. and the area of soil on which the sun threw its beneficent rays and rewarded human labor with crops of grain, grew larger every day. Joys had also come to the sturdy pioneers. One of these was a marriage feast, the contracting parties to which were Levi Holcomb and Miss Laura Marsh, which occurred in November, 1816. There being no Justice of the Peace in the township at that time to solemnize the marriage contract. Mr. James Rogers volunteered his services to procure the needed official dignity. Setting out on foot, he started for Wadsworth, and there secured Esquire Warner, who readily assented to come out the next day and legalize the ceremony. Mr. Rogers stayed overnight to return with the official next day ; but Mr. Warner was taken severely ill during the night, and it was quite impossible for him to fulfill his engagement. Here was a dilemma. The wedding

492 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

had been set for that very night, and no one on hand to perform the ceremony ; but Mr. Rogers, true to his purpose, pushed on east to Norton, to Esquire Van Heinans ; but this gentleman was out on a deer hunt, and did not return until night, when be informed Mr. Rogers that he could not go with him. This, to most men, would have been a settler ; not so to Mr. Rogers. These reverses and backsets only stimulated his zeal the more. for, on learning that there was a Justice of the Peace in Coventry, he forthwith went there and engaged the services of an Esquire Heathman, and the two together arrived at Harrisville the next day after the wedding should have been. However, the affair was closed up that evening. This was the first wedding in Medina County. Other festivities and excitement of a general kind, at this time, were wolf-hunts, for the purpose of destroying and driving out these troublesome beasts.

There lived, during the years from 1830 to about 1839, an old and strange character near the Harrisville settlement. Nobody knew whither he had come ; and. when he, in the latter year, disappeared, it remained unknown where he had gone. He was known to the settlers as " Old Cherryman," and was supposed to be a half-breed, as traits of Caucasian and Indian blood mingled in his features. He inhabited one of the little cabins, back in the woods, that had been abandoned by its builder. He wore a pair of buckskin trousers, and a cloak made out of wolfskin ; on his head he wore a squirrel cap, and his feet were clothed in leather moccasins. His hair hung in long strings over his shoulders, and his sal-low, brown-colored, peaked face was covered with a grizzly beard. His sole companion in the woods, and at his lodgment were two rifles, which he invariably carried about with him on his tramps. When he spotted any game, he would drop one of his guns. He was taciturn and uncommunicative, and would talk with no person more than the disposal of his slaughtered game, and the buying of ammunition, required.. One of his ways to track the deer and bring them within reach of his rifle was to start with a burning hickory torch and burn a line of the dry leaves and grass through the woods for a considerable distance. This sometimes caused great annoyance and trouble to the farmers. as, in many instances. the fire would extend, and, quite often. burn down timber. The deer would approach the fire line, but would be afraid to cross it, and pass along its entire length, while the old hunter would post himself at some convenient spot. and kill the deer as they passed along. The farmers of the neighborhood finally made efforts to have him stop this practice. as they feared that great injury might be done to their property by the fire. He stolidly listened to the remonstrances. and made no reply. He suddenly disappeared. and was never seen again in the locality.

The first symptom of political organization manifested itself in 1816. when an Earmark " and Estray Recorder was appointed. Alvin Loomis being the person who was endowed with this function. This was unquestionably the first office held by any person in Medina County, This is the direct antecedent of the much maligned pound-keeper " of today. It was an outgrowth of necessity at that time. There were no fences, and the cattle ran at large. To distinguish the ownership of the cattle and sheep and hogs, a distinct and separate earmark by every owner of stock in the colony. was required. and the mark properly recorded in a book kept by the " Earmark " Clerk. The first entry in the book reads as follows : " Harrisville Township, Portage County, State of Ohio, April 16, 1816.This day Joseph Harris entered his earmark for his cattle, sheep and hogs, which is as follows : A half-penny on the under side of the left ear." Then follows Timothy Burr, whose mark is " a swallow tail in the end of the right ear." Rus-

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 493

sell Burr, " a square crop off the right ear." Five more were recorded in this year ; two in 1817 ; one in 1818. Then follow records every year up to the year 1865. A complete political organization of the township was effected in April, 1817, and the new township then included all the territory which now belongs to the townships of Harrisville, Westfield, La Fayette, Chatham. Spencer. Huntington, Rochester, Troy, Sullivan and Homer. Twenty-nine votes were cast at the election held for township officers on October 6. 1877, at the little schoolhouse erected in the spring of that year. The poll sheet of this election has been lost, but the following were elected as township officers for the ensuing year : Joseph Harris, Loammi Holcomb and Isaac Catlin, Trustees ; Isaac Catlin. Justice of the Peace ; and Timothy Burr. Township Clerk. The first is a list of the taxable property of Harrisville Township, made out by Willey Hamilton in the spring of 1819. There are eighty-one names listed, and their personal property comprises 49 horses and 211 neat cattle. This included territory north. east and west, other than what constitutes Harrisville Township today. although at that time it all came within its political boundaries. The next election occurred in Harrisville on the 12th day of October. 1819; at which time, State, county and township officers were voted for by the Harrisville people. Thirty-nine votes were cast at this election. At one of the township elections in the early years, forty-seven candidates were voted for, though there were but thirty-one votes cast. This included all the different township offices, such as Road Supervisor, Overseer of the Poor, Fence Overseer and " Earmark " Recorder. Some of the candidates had the honor of receiving ballots for four and five different offices. From this, it may be inferred that there was as much strife for office among our forefathers as there is among the politicians of today. This is again well illustrated at a special election held on July 3following, to elect two Justices of the Peace. Twenty-nine votes were deposited, and they were divided among eleven candidates, as follows : Waynewright De Witt, 23 : Leonard Chapman, 24 ; Elijah De Witt, 2 ; James Rogers, 2 ; William Burr, 1 ; Amos Witter, 1 ; Joseph Harris, 1 ; Jonathan Fitts, 1 ; Lomer Griffin; 1 ; Carolus Tuttle, 1 ; and Ebenezer Harris, 1. The names of the voters at this election, the first Presidential held in Harrisville Township, were Aaron Loomis, Reuben Chapman, Arvis S. Chapman. Joseph Harris, James Rogers, Seeva Chapman, Cyrus Chapman, Loammi Holcomb, Carolus Tuttle, Timothy Burr and Levi Chapman. At the next spring election, forty-seven votes were polled. This increased, at the election on April 7, 1828, to fifty-six. During the fall of that year, the people of Harrisville were thoroughly aroused in the Presidential canvass that was being. waged between Andrew Jackson (Democrat) and John Q. Adams (National Republican). Sixty-five citizens came out that day for the Adams Electors, and one solitary vote had been cast for Andrew Jackson. Then indignation arose. Who could have been the traitor in their midst, who had presumed to vote for Andrew Jackson and the Democratic ticket ? When it was suggested by Waynewright De Witt that the man who had presumed to vote the Democratic ticket should be rewarded by a free ride on a rail, and the scorn of the entire colony, Josiah Perkins arose and defiantly declared that he had been the man, and intimated to the suggestor of the free ride that he was ready, right then and there, to sustain the virtue of a free ballot with a little more forcible argument than mere words. But it did not go ' further than words, and the political excitement soon subsided, and pleasant good feeling was restored. At the Presidential election held on November 2, 1832, 86 votes were cast. The Henry Clay Electors (Whig) received 45 votes, and the Andrew Jackson Electors (Democrat)

494 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

41. Four years later, the vote ran up to 171 votes, the William H. Harrison Electors receiving 100 votes, and the Martin Van Buren Electors 71. On November 3, 1840, the total vote in Harrisville Township amounted to 240, the Whig candidate receiving 138, and the Democrat 102. The most intense excitement known in the election annals of Harrisville Township was created at the Presidential election held in 1844. The anti-slavery sentiment of the North was asserting itself all over the country, and it had come to the surface in the new settlement. Five of the citizens of Harrisville, whose names are Timothy Burr, Milo Loomis, Ebenezer Munson, L. M. Grant and John Grant, voted the " Free-Soil " or " Third-Party " ticket at this election.

In connection with the growth and development of the township, stand the men and women whose names will ever be associated with its history. First and foremost stands the founder and pioneer settler of the township, Judge Joseph Harris. His life's career has been told in the foregoing pages. He helped and sustained all laudable and beneficent enterprises, social, religious, political and industrial, that were advanced and consummated, until the day when his eyes were closed in death. He died on the 2d of October, 1863, at the age of eighty-one years, at the home which he built in the town of Lodi. As prominent by his side is the life of his wife, Rachel, who followed him to the grave about ten years later. She came with him to the settlement, and endured all the hardships, struggles and privations of the pioneer life, and with him enjoyed the sweet reward of their energy and industry by his side. She died on the 5th of October, 1874, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Henry Ainsworth.

Another life. graven in the township's history, is that of James Rogers, one of its first pioneers. His public labors will go down with it to coming posterity. He died November 20. ' 187 7.

Quite as brilliantly in this gallery of historical characters, stands James Starr Redfield. His life is told in the history of the township. Another personage, perhaps the widest known the world over, is Lomer Griffin. A few years ago, the world knew him as one of the most remarkable men of the day. He attained an age that no man with well-authenticated record of birth and age had ever reached before. A few years ago. at the time of Mr. Griffin's death, the writer prepared the following obituary. which was published in the leading journals of America and England : " The last mortal remains of Lomer Griffin, the man whose life covers a century. and who has exceeded the Scriptural allotment of years given to man by nearly two scores. have been borne to their final resting-place. There are but few mortals to whom such a rich harvest of years are given. He was contemporary with times and events that have gone into history generations ago. When he first saw the light of day, this Republic, whose existence now covers a period of over a hundred rears. was unborn, and was yet but the dream of a few brave men. The grand struggle for freedom, on this side of the Atlantic. had not yet commenced. He was yet a boy when those burning lines that gave birth and liberty to a great nation were indited and proclaimed to mankind, and, as a boy. he shared in the triumphs and glory of the Revolutionary host. The vast domain west of the Alleghanies was yet one unbroken wilderness, and the numberless treasures hidden within them were undreamed of by man.

“The old man is dead now. and he rests well in his grave. His last breath passed from him on Monday evening, and he died peacefully. Life ebbed slowly away. It was an easy. natural death. He clung to life as long as there was a spark of vitality left in him, and it was some days after parts of his body had turned cold that he fell into the never-ending slumber. " Just seven weeks ago today. Mr. Griffin

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PAGE 496 BLANK

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. -. 497

walked out in his back yard on a rainy morning to split some kindling wood, and do a few chores, as was his wont. He was found prostrate on the ground shortly after, having met with a fall. He was carried in the house and placed in a bed. from which he never rose again. He lingered along bravely, but, within a week or so, it became apparent that he could live no longer. The machinery of life was worn out, and, on Monday evening, the news passed out that Lomer Griffin, the oldest man in America, was gone forever. The funeral took place in the Congregational Church in Lodi on Thursday afternoon, September 19, 1878, and was conducted by the Rev. William Moody. of La Fayette, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Whitman, of Chatham. After the services, the corpse was placed in a convenient spot in the open air, to give the large crowd of mourners who had gathered, a parting look of the remains. After the viewing of the body, it was conveyed to the village cemetery, followed by a large procession. The following gentlemen, all advanced in years, and old settlers of this county. acted as pall-bearers : Albert Harris, Dyer Strong. John Holmes, B. F. Criswell, Albert Brainard and Henry Obers. The body was placed by the side of his first wife, who died in 1830, and lies buried in these grounds.

" The precise age of the deceased, which has long been under dispute, has, at last, been conclusively settled, and he was, beyond a doubt. now, one hundred and six years six months and twenty-five days, on the day of his death. Mr. Griffin was born in Granby (formerly Simsbury), Litchfield Co., Conn. We have been furnished with a copy of the family record of the Griffin family, as recorded in the Archives at Granby, and we give that part of the record pertaining to the birth of Lomer Griffin : . Chedorlaomer Griffin, the son of Nathaniel Griffin, by Abigail, his wife, was born in Simsbury the 22d of April, A. D. 1772.

"The reason that this. record of the birth was not sooner discovered and all disputes about his age at once settled, was that he had been given such a singular name, ' Chedorlaomer,' which was abbreviated and corrupted into the short ' Lomer,' and investigators were led to error in the difference of these names. We have been furnished some very interesting information in regard to the ancestry of this remarkable man, and find that the family is widespread, and, in many instances, some of its descendants have held high social rank. John Griffin came from England about the year 1640, and first settled with a party of emigrants in Dorchester, Conn., and afterward moved to Windsor, in the same State. He stopped some time in Windsor ; but, hearing that there was plenty of pine timber over the mountains west, he started on an excursion in that direction, passing through the gorge at Loupville, and settled down on the north bank of Tunxus River, in a region which the Indians called Massawa, where he established a manufactory of pitch, tar and turpentine. The Indians burnt up his works, and, to settle with him, gave him a deed of the land in that region. He gave away several tracts of land to settlers from Windsor, but reserved for himself a tract three miles square, which was for many years known as ' Griffin's Lordship.' In the year 1647, John Griffin married Anna Bancroft, and by her had six daughters and four sons. The names of the sons were John, Thomas, Ephraim and Nathaniel. The last, Nathaniel, was the youngest, and was born May 31, 1693. This Nathaniel had a son Nathaniel, who was the father of Chedorlaomer, the subject of this sketch. This finishes the genealogical tale of the first ancestors of Lomer Griffin from the time they left England.

" As already stated, Lomer was born in that part of the village of Simsbury which is now known as Granby, Conn., on the 22d of April. 17 72. No surprising events marked his boy-

498 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

hood days. His father was a sort of farmer, and the boy's life passed along as farmers' boys' lives usually do. The first event in the life of Lomer Griffin, of which we have any information and record, is his marriage to Miss Charity Moore, which occurred April 15, 1797, from which union there were seven children, namely, Parley, Willis, Ralzimond, Andrew, Thomas, Lydia and Harlow, of whom three, settled in Harrisville Township, are still alive. Another event which has lately been brought prominently before the public, as, in some respects, proving his age, was his enlistment in the Connecticut militia company commanded by one Capt. Moses Heyden, in August, 1813. and serving until October of the same year. On the strength of this enlistment, he, in the year 1850, made an application to the Government for bounty land, which stands recorded in the Pension Office at Washington, and was recently brought to light by another application made by Mr. Griffin last spring for the same service in the militia company, under an act of Congress passed last winter, giving a pension to soldiers of 1812. Mr. Griffin's application was at once made special, on account of the extreme age of the applicant, and his claim was granted. He has been drawing a pension since last spring. and was the oldest pensioner on the list in the Government offices. In the beginning of the year 1818, early in the month of January, Lomer Griffin, who had by that time become the proud and happy father of five children, collected his family treasures about him. loaded a large box on bobsled runners, drawn by a pair of oxen, and moved out West. During the latter part of March, he arrived in Harrisville Township, and at once went to work and put up a rude log cabin on a part of the Harris farm, two miles north of Lodi. which is now known as the Hoag farm. The rest of this man's life is given in the history of the township in which he lived to the day of his death, taking a lively interest in its affairs. During

the last five years of his life, he became .a celebrity, talked about the world over as the American Centenarian."

Jeremiah Higbee, for a number of years a resident in Lodi, during the earlier existence of the Harrisville Settlement, exerted a commanding and wide-felt influence in its business and civil affairs. He was a man deeply interested in the social and religious movements that were propagated during his life in Lodi. He removed to Cleveland in 1858, and there became the founder of one of the most prosperous business establishments in that city. He died in the fall of 1878.

An active part was played by several of the Harrisville people in the anti-slavery movements in the North, during the two decades preceding the war of the Rebellion. Quite prominent in this matter, stood Uncle Timothy Burr. who then lived in the large brick building west of the village of Lodi, and now occupied by Mr. E. W. Minns. He, with a number of his neighbors, was in accord with the sentiments of the Abolition party that was manifesting itself throughout the North ; and they together made their best endeavors to help the cause. The Burr House, near Lodi, became a famous station on the " underground railroad." on which the fugitive slaves who had escaped their masters in the South, were transported during the night to places of safety in the Northern States and Canada. Numbers of the colored people, who had left their shackles of bondage in the South, came to the Burr House and there found shelter. protection and food. Oftentimes there were ten and fifteen negroes secreted in the house. and some of them remained for days. Most of them traveled from there on to Oberlin and other points of safety. Laura, the wife of Mr. Burr, and Rachel Norton. a young girl who then lived with them, and is now the wife of E. W. Minus. nobly assisted in giving succor to the fleeing slaves.

The industrial and commercial life of Harris-

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 499

ville Township commenced with its first colonization. As a stripling boy of sixteen or eighteen years, James Redfield opened up a traffic in wolf hides, and, by his shrewd energy and industry, earned a good many dollars through the reward given by the State of Ohio for wolves killed. It is said that in a period of several years, he killed as many as 125 of these beasts. He captured and killed them in a systematic, business-like manner. At one time, he traveled to a settlement some twenty miles distant, in Wayne County, and bought an old, decrepit horse of which he had heard, for $2. He brought the horse back to Harrisville and led it out into the thick woods and shot it. He set his traps on the dead carcass, and, in a short time, captured as many as fifteen wolves. Aside from the capturing and killing of wolves. the young pioneer early devoted his attention to other industrial pursuits. Among the first was the establishment of an ashery for the production of " black salts." This he carried to Elyria and exchanged for merchandise, which he disposed of to advantage in the home settlement. He was soon joined in the enterprise by Reuben Chapman. forming, in 1826, a partnership, and opening up a small village store.

Another store, with an assortment of general merchandise. was opened in the year 1828 in the center of the village, by Barker & Siza. A few years later, another country store was added to the business world of the Harrisville settlement, by Archibald Miles and Charles R. Deming. This made three stores, and the country trade naturally drifted into the settlement. The store buildings were small, and the stock of goods rather limited, yet sufficiently large for the immediate wants of the early settlers.

The immediate interests of the people of the township are agricultural. The desire of the American farmer is to excel. This is manifested in agricultural fairs held all over this broad land. Harrisville had its fair at an early day. The first exhibition of farm products andstock was quite limited, and conducted in an informal way. A few head of farm animals were shown on the green, and products were exhibited in the village tavern. This occurred for two or three seasons, and some years after an agricultural society entitled the Harrisville Agricultural Society, was organized in the summer of 1859. The following were chosen a board of officers, at the first meeting of the society. held on the 15th of September of the same year : E. H. Sibley, President ; H. Selders. Treasurer ; N. Harris. Secretary ; and Lyman Mihills. Dyer ' Strong, T. G. Loomis. H. Selders and Isaac Rogers as Board of Trustees. The first fair was held on the Redfield farm one-half mile east of Lodi. on October 25 and 26. of 1859. It was a grand success for the first exhibition. Two more fairs were held in the following years. —the last being a complete failure on account of the inclemency of the weather. The society then died out, and the leading farmers of the township have joined the County Agricultural Society of Medina.

Harrisville was established as a post office in 1834. The first mail line was run by James Redfield. who had a Government contract to carry the United States mails from Wooster to Elyria. by way of Harrisville, Spencer, Pennfield and Turner's Mills. The mail was carried twice a week. There is no authentic record to show when and at whose suggestion the name of the post office was changed to Lodi. There is now a triweekly mail passing from Burbank, on the N. Y.. P. & 0. R. R.. to Belden, on the C., T., V. & W. R. R.

The population statistics of the township since its earliest settlement. are slightly suggestive of the different changes that have passed over it since its civil existence. In 1818, at an enumeration taken by the State of Ohio. the population numbered 231. This number rapidly augmented. until, by 1850. the United States census returns exhibited a total population of 1,477 persons. In 1860. this

500 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

number had decreased to 1,226, and, in 1870, there were only 1,182 persons living in the township. The United States census returns for 1880, show that there are 1,382 persons, and 197 farms in the township.

Lodi is an unincorporated village of 439 inhabitants. The town is located just one-half mile east of the geographical center of the township, at the northern extremity of the Harrisville swamp. The East Branch River skirts the town on the north, while gently rising slopes extend to the east and north. The first settlement of the township was made right near the center of the village, and from that day it has formed the nucleus of the township. The first stores were built at this center. A tavern was erected there at a very early day by Orrin Chapman. In the spring of 1818, William Barnes came from the East, after having stopped in Cleveland and in Portage County for a short time, into the little settlement in Harrisville Township, and located at Lodi. With his coming, the industrial interests of the colony commenced. He had his projects ripe and ready for execution soon after his arrival. The first was the construction of a dam up the "gully," on the East Branch River, and then, running a race-course for water-power down into the settlement. A grist-mill was put up, to which, a few years after, a distillery was added, and, later, a carding-mill. A number of other additions were made to this building, and, in the course of time, it has been used for various purposes. From 1870 to 1873, it served as a cheese-factory. Mr. Jeremiah Higbee built a large store-building, and opened up a local mercantile business in Lodi in the year 1835, on an extensive scale. The structure is today intact and serving the purpose for which it was originally erected. The spacious and commodious room caused the people to wonder at the time it was erected. and they all looked with astonishment upon the advancement that was beingmade in the commercial affairs of the town. This soon became the great village store, and, when Harrisville was set apart as a post office, in the year 1835, the office was located in this building, with Mr. Higbee as Postmaster. This store was for many years the center of home trade in the country about. Another business structure, somewhat on the style of Mr. Higbee's. was erected in the " forties," on the site where now stands the large brick block owned by H. Ainsworth. Aside from a storeroom, it contained several shops for trades-people. Business was carried on here by the Ainsworth Brothers. This opened up a healthy competition, and made business lively in Lodi. This building, with all its contents. was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1858. The conflagration caused a great commotion among the people. It was on a Sunday morning, when nearly all of the inhabitants of the village were attending divine service, that the fire broke out. It had its origin from a defective flue. The entire building. with storeroom and stock. harness, tailor and shoe shops, and an adjacent dwelling. were consumed.

In 1859, the Harrisville Masonic Lodge, in connection with a Masonic Hall, built a large store building on the south side of the public square in Lodi. The room was occupied by J. H. Warren as a hardware store for several years. In May 18 7 0, it burned down. with all of its contents, caused by the explosion of a lamp.

James Richey came up from Wooster in 1834. and built a woolen factory and carding-mill on the Little Killbuck River, two miles south of Lodi. This was, at a later date, owned and used by James Moore for a number of years, until the progress of the country left no demand for this business, when the small factory buildings became dilapidated, and all traces of it have since entirely disappeared. An iron foundry. for the making of agricultural implements. was established a few years before

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 501

the late war, by Mr. Joseph Warren. It has remained in successful operation, though it has undergone a number of changes in the proprietorship. The most notable factory in Harrisville Township today, is the wood-turning establishment owned and controlled by A. B. Taylor. A considerable force of hands is employed, and various articles of manufacture are turned out. In 1868, a large grist and saw mill was removed from Penfield, Ohio, and erected south of the center of the village. The Snow Flake Flouring Mill was built in 1875, adjacent to the old cheese-factory. and where, fifty years ago, the first flouring-mill in Medina County had been put up.

The Crawford Cheese Factory, built two miles west of Lodi. by Christ Albert, was put in operation in the year 1876, under control of the Crawford Cheese Company, embracing the well-known cheese firm of Horr, Warner & Co., of Wellington, Joseph Crawford and Christ Albert, each one of whom owns a third share in the company.

The most prominent business building in Lodi now is the brick block built and owned by Mr. Henry Ainsworth. It contains several large salerooms, warerooms, private offices. public halls, etc. It was completed in 1866.

The new Masonic Block also claims attention by the elegance and spaciousness of interior, and its adaptability for mercantile business. An unusual prominence was given to the commercial affairs of Lodi, when. in 1863, the organization of a National Bank was effected. The organization took place on the 7th of August, 1863, and the original stockholders were Joseph Harris, W. W. Prentice, H. Ainsworth. John Taylor, William Walcott, H. Selders, Asa Farnum. Leonard Tuttle, J. Higbee, J. N. Holmes, Josiah Nafzker and L. A. Shepard. The first officers were W. W. Prentice, President, and H. Ainsworth, Cashier. The former died some years after the organization, and John Taylor was chosen in his place. Thebank was known as " The First National Bank " of Lodi. On the 11th of January, 1876, the company went into voluntary liquidation, and its affairs were closed up. A private banking business has since been carried on by H. Ainsworth, in Lodi.

Various and persistent efforts have been made by the people of Lodi, to have a line of railway pass through the town. So far, the attempts have been futile in the completion of an iron highway. Numerous surveys have been run through the township from east to west and north to south. The first railroad agitation in Lodi commenced when projects were set afoot by capitalists of Northern and Central Ohio, to have a railroad built between Cleveland and Columbus. A line of survey was run through Harrisville, passing one-half mile west of Lodi. Considerable stock was subscribed by the citizens of the township for this project, and Jeremiah Higbee was appointed and acted as one of the directors of the projected road. Through the efforts of Alfred Kelley, a wealthy quarry man at Berea, the road was finally built and finished in 1851 through Berea, on to its southern terminus, passing about twenty miles west of Harrisville. There was no more railroad talk in the settlement until the year 1871, when it again commenced in earnest. The Black River road, running north and south, was the first project which was incorporated under the name of the Wooster & Muskingum Valley Railroad. Harrisville subscribed $30,000 for the building of this road. Nothing has ever come of this road, except the establishment of lines of surveys. The next railroad project *as the Wheeling & Lake Erie line, and intended to run from Wheeling, W. Va., to Toledo, in the northwest corner of the State. Harrisville subscribed $48,000 to this line. Henry Ainsworth was made one of the directors. Work commenced on this road, in the township, in the fall of 1874, and three or four miles were graded, and

502 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

then, from several causes, work was abandoned until 1877, when another spurt was made, and a few more miles graded, the effort then being to construct it as a narrow-gauge railroad. This also failed. Then work again commenced in the fall of 1880, Harrisville subscribing $5,000 of additional stock. The grading in the township for this road is now completed, and the prospects are of the decided indication that the road will be completed in the near future. The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, from Pittsburgh to Chicago, has a line of survey established through the township. and strong hopes are entertained by its people that connection will be made on this line with the branches of this great railroad enterprise.

The commercial and financial convulsions of 1837 and 1857 passed through the country without any visible material effect upon the interest of the people of Harrisville. The panic of 1873 was quite different. The village just then, in the years following the war. had reached the heyday of its prosperity. With the collapse of the banking house of Jay Cook & Co.. and the failure of the Northern Pacific, $200.000, the money invested by citizens of Harrisville. was swept away. Business and manufacture commenced to stagnate ; other business failures in Ashland, Akron and Wooster followed, and a number of thousands of dollars that had been invested by Harrisville people. were lost.

The darkest days in the annals of the town are those in 1864. when the small-pox broke out in Lodi. in the spring of that year, and made the fair town look desolate and forsaken for a number of months. The disease was brought into town by two tramp soldiers, who had stopped for a night's lodging at the village hotel. then kept by S. L. Stringham. In a few days the infectious contagion broke out and laid the inmates of the hotel prostrate. The hotel became. by necessity, a pesthouse, and was isolated from the rest of the village. andheld under quarantine. The disease died out after several months' ravages, and after exacting a number of victims.

The wave of patriotism that electrified the North in the spring of 1861, struck the Harrisville settlement in the month of April of the same year. The news of the firing on Fort Sumter had aroused the people, and it had arrived in Lodi. The call of President Lincoln for troops to suppress the rebellion had been issued : it caused intense excitement in Harrisville ; a war meeting was held in the Congregational Church at Lodi ; the house was densely packed with anxious people ; stirring and patriotic addresses were made by a number present. A few days later, half a dozen of the young men of the town started to enlist in the war ; they enlisted in the Eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was then in course of formation in Cleveland. In September of the same year, a contingent of fifteen more left their homes to fight for the Union. Harrisville furnished about 100 men to the armies of the North. F. R. Loomis, J. C. Bacon, W. M. Bacon, S. W. DeWitt, C. C. Eldred, W. F. Ford and J. H. Green, were the boys who answered to the first call to arms.

The Harrisville Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, No. 137, was organized as a lodge on the 23d of October, 1846. For several years previous the question of formation had been agitated by the leading citizens of Harrisville, and meetings under a charter of dispensation had been held. It was on this day that a char= ter was granted them. It reads as follows :

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

We, the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Ohio, convened in the city of Dayton ; whereas, a petition has been presented to us from Joseph Hildreth, James S. Redfield and Benjamin Kidder, all Free and Accepted Master Masons, stating that they have heretofore assembled together under a warrant of dispensation from the Most Worshipful Grand Master ; they therefore pray for a charter extending and con-

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 503

firming unto them the rights and privileges of a regularly constituted lodge of Master Masons; and whereas, the aforesaid petitioners having passed a proper term of probation and exhibited to this Grand Lodge satisfactory evidence that they have conducted business of Masonry agreeably to the original design ;

Now, therefore, be it known, That we, the Grand Lodge aforesaid, reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and wellknown attachment of the aforesaid petitioners to the sublime principles of Masonry as originally taught, and earnestly believing that the true interests of the institution will be promoted by granting the prayer of said petitioners, have constituted and appointed, and do by these presents constitute and appoint them, the said Joseph Hildreth, James S. Redfield, M. Hoag, and their associates, a regular and constitutional Lodge of Master Masons, by the name, style or title of Harrisville Lodge, No. 137, and we do hereby appoint Brother Joseph Hildreth First Master; Brother Calvin Holt, First Senior Warden, and Brother Hamner Palmer, First Junior Warden; hereby giving and granting unto them and their successors full power and authority to assemble together on all proper and lawful occasions as a legal lodge within the town of Lodi and State aforesaid; to initiate good men and true who may apply to be made acquainted with the sublime principles of the several degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, etc., etc.

And furthermore, We do hereby declare the precedence of the Harrisville Lodge in the Grand Lodge, constitutional brethren to attend their Grand Lodge, etc., etc.

And furthermore, We do hereby enjoin it upon them to conform in all their doings to the constitution, law and edicts of the Grand Lodge, and, in failure thereof, this charter and these powers herein granted are to cease and be of no further validity.

In testimony whereof, and by virtue of the high power and authority in us vested, have hereunto set our hands and caused the seal of the Grand Lodge to be affixed, at Dayton, the 23d day of October, 1846, era of Masonry 5846.

WILLIAM B. THRALL, M. W. G. M.

John L. VATTIES, R. W. D. G. M. M. Z.

KREIDER, R. W. S. G. W. J. N.

BURR, R. W. J. G. W.

B. F. SMITH, W. G. Sec'y.

The first regular meeting under the new charter, was held on November 27, 1846, and thefollowing officers chosen for the ensuing year : Benjamin Kidder, W. M. ; Calvin Holt, S. W. ; James Redfield, J. W. ; James B. Richards, Secretary ; J. Yocum, S. D. ; P. Holt, J. D., and W. S. Moore, Tiler. The installation of these officers took place a month later. In a few years, the lodge, through wise and judicious management, had sufficient funds at its disposal to erect a building, and apartments in it were furnished for a Masonic hall. Lodge-meetings were held in it until the spring of 1871, when it was destroyed by fire. The lodge then transferred its quarters into the large business block that had been erected by Mr. Ainsworth, and held its business sessions there for a number of years. A new Masonic hall was erected on the old site in the summer of 1878, and was finished for occupancy in April, 1379. The apartments used by the Masonic lodge in the upper story are elegantly furnished, and are probably the best lodge-rooms in the county. This is the only secret organization that has ever existed in Harrisville Township. It has steadily grown in affluence, and is now one of the wealthiest lodges in the State. It numbers among its members the best citizens of Harrisville Township, and holds the foremost position as a fraternal organization in Medina County. The different officers of the lodge for the year 1880 were Allan Pomeroy, Worshipful Master ; John Warren, Senior Warden; A. A. Joline, Junior Warden ; J. C. Van Orman, Secretary ; N. Harris, Treasurer ; J. H. Warren, Senior Deacon ; A. H. Vanderhoof, Junior Deacon ; S. L. Stringham, Tiler. Its regular monthly meetings are held on the Friday before the full moon.

Pawnee is a post office, situated in Harrisville Township, three miles west of Lodi, in the western part, on the line of Homer Township. It was formerly known as Esselburn's Corners. There are about a dozen houses clustered together, and the inhabitants are all mostly Germans. In 1872, Louis Esselburn erected a

504 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

large store building—the largest in Medina County—at this point, and carried on an extensive trade. The property is now owned by D. B. Dudley. The hamlet was set apart as a post office in 1879, and is supplied with a triweekly mail from West Salem.

Crawford's Corners forms a small settlement in the southwestern part of the township. It is located about three miles from Lodi, and contains about seventy-five inhabitants. The first settlement was made in this vicinity by Josiah Perkins, in 1819. Several years later, Joseph Crawford moved with his family from Wayne County, and settled in this locality. He opened up a store, and; also erected a tavern. People traveling from Cleveland to Columbus frequently stopped at his place. After him the settlement was named.

In the fall of 1816, the Rev. Mr. Bigelow, a circuit rider of the Methodist Church, whose station was in Kentucky, came into the Harrisville settlement while on his way from Cleveland to Columbus, and preached a sermon to the pioneers. He was accompanied by Mr. Harris as far as Wooster, on his way to the State Capital. The Rev. Royce Searl, Rector of St. Peter's Church, in Plymouth, Conn., preached a sermon in April, 1817, in the little log schoolhouse that had been put up that spring near the center of the town, on Timothy Burr's farm. Other ministers of different denominations came into the settlement about this time ; among them, the Rev. Mr. Jones, a Baptist Minister, who was stationed at Wooster, and who held meetings at the different cabins in the settlement. This was the first religious life of the little colony.

The origin of church societies in Harrisville Township, dates back to the fall of 1817. Religious worship and devotional exercises had been held during and previous to that time in the little colony. It was on the 5th of October, 1817, that the first Christian Church was organized in Medina County in the log schoolhousein Harrisville Township. It was formed on the Congregational model of the Pilgrim Fathers. During the summer previous, there had been a revival among the settlers in the township, and all those who felt the need of salvation must be gathered into a church for their own safety, and that they might save others. On the 3d of October, all persons having a desire to form themselves into a church, met at the school-house, and gave the reason of their hope, and their views in uniting together as a church. The Rev. Luther Humphrey, settled in Geauga County, and Rev. Amasa Loomis, a home missionary from Connecticut, were the ministers on the occasion. The examination was completed on the 4th, and on the 5th twelve persons came forward and formed a church. Their names were Isaac Catlin, Eunice Catlin, Loammi Holcomb, Hannah Holcomb, Nathan Hall, Pemibri Hall, George Burr, Mehitable Burr, Cyrus Curtis, Russell Burr and Carolus Tuttle. On the 6th of October, 1817, the church voted to enter into connection with the Grand River Presbytery, according to their rules of practice, and, on the third of the following February, their delegate appeared in Presbytery at their meeting in Tallmadge.

There is nothing left on record to show what the confession of faith and covenant of the church was in these early days. No doubt, they were the same or similar to the other Congregational Churches on the Reserve, which were connected with Presbytery on the " accommodation plan." This plan was formed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States in 1801, and was approved by most of the New England ministers. Its aim was to relieve the new settlements, composed of mixed populations drawn partly from New England and partly from other States, and so partly Presbyterian and partly Congregational. By uniting these elements for a time upon a fixed plan, they hoped to strengthen the weak church. It was conceived in a Christian

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 505

spirit, and no doubt for some years accomplished good. It was abrogated by the old-school branch of the Presbyterian Church in 1837, and, on the 31st of July, 1841, this church voted to withdraw their connection from Presbytery. They some time after joined with other Congregational Churches in conference, and now belong to the Medina County Conference.

In the early days of the township, an occasional sermon or a sacramental Sabbath service was obtained from a missionary traveling, or from some minister principally occupied in another settlement. At other times, meetings were held without preaching. In this way Revs. Treats, Simeon Woodruff, Caleb Pitkin, Joel Talrot. John Seward, Varnum Noyes, William Hanford. Mr. Fay and Alvan Coe assisted the infant church. Rev. T. H. Breck was the first stated minister of the church, but it does not appear how long he continued in charge. The Rev. Joseph Edwards was the next stated minister—he served but one year. This was in 1831. There is no record to show the names of the ministers who were stationed here during the time intervening from the first organization up to this date. In 1832. the Rev. J. McCrea commenced preaching, and continued the whole or part of two years. Rev. Joel Goodell preached in 1834, who was followed for several years by the Rev. Asaph Boutelle. The Rev. B. W. Higbee preached for seven months in 1839. The Rev. Alvan Ingersol commenced a three years' service in 1840. Rev. J. H. Baldwin then served the church for a year. In 1844, November 30, A. N. McConoughey came, and left in 1847. He was succeeded by Rev. Moses Longley, who was Pastor for the year. Then came A. J. Drake, who preached about four years from 1850. From 1855 to 1865, the pulpit of the church was filled for different periods by T. H. Delamater, Q. M. Bosworth, William Russell and Rev. J. N. Whipple, who died in Lodi on the 29th of December, 1865. He was followed by the Rev. James Gray, who continued for a year, and was then succeeded by the Rev. S. F. Porter. After the resignation of Mr. Porter, the Rev. A. H. Robbins became Pastor of the church, and remained such for six years, when he was succeeded by the Rev. L. Donaldson.

The first Clerk of the church, Nathan Hall, was appointed October 6, 1817. Isaac Catlin, was appointed Aug. 29, 1822 ; James Rogers, May 10, 1836 ; Milo Loomis, March 30, 1839 ; Uriel T. Burr, April 29, 1841 ; R. Hunter, December 25, 1852 ; and H. S. Chapman, the present incumbent, March 25, 1864. The church was incorporated on February 14, 1840. The act of incorporation reads as follows :

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That George Burr, Isaac Catlin, Justus Burr, James Rogers, Augustus Phelps, Milo Loomis, William Converse and their associates and successors be, and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic, by the name of the First Congregational Society of Harrisville, in Medina County, and as such shall he entitled to all rights, privileges and immunities granted by, and shall be subject to all the restrictions of an act entitled, " An act in relation to incorporated religious societies," passed on the 5th of March, 1836.

SEC. 2. That said society shall give ten days' notice, by posting up advertisements in three of the most public places in the township of Harrisville. in said county, of their first meeting under this act.

THOMAS J. BUCHANAN,

Speaker H. of R.

WILLIAM MCLAUGHLIN,

Speaker of the Senate.

The meetings of the church were continued in the log schoolhouse, where it had been formed, until the same was destroyed by fire a few years later. The burnt schoolhouse was replaced by a hewed-log town and school house. where meetings of this society were also held. Sometime in 1828, the congregation built for themselves a log meeting house, 24x30 feet, one story high. It was altogether primitive, both in structure and the furniture within—slab, benches, rough board pulpit, etc. The building

506 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

at present used by the society was erected in 1843. It was an enterprise not undertaken by the church, but by Mr. Milo Loomis, assisted by Mr. Jeremiah Higbee. After finishing the house, they sold the pews as best they could for payment. A semi-centennial was held in the church on October 7, 1867. One remarkable fact in connection with this church is, that it has not missed a single Sabbath service during its existence.

The record and origin of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Harrisville is not well known. Religious observances of the Sabbath Day were held by the Methodist ministers as early as 1818, but no organization was formed until several years later, and no record has been kept to show the date. At different times, services were held in the Cotrell Schoolhouse, located a mile and a half northwest of Lodi. In 1825 the Wesleyans and Methodists joined with other denominations, and helped build, with the township, the two-story town and school house on the site of the first log schoolhouse, which had burned down, and there, in the upper story, they continued union worship for a number of years.

During 1846, the first Methodist Episcopal Church organization was formed in Harrisville. In 1847, the church list had a membership of seventy-five, and the Revs. Warner, Dodge, Hitchcock and others were the ministers in the following years. The present Methodist Episcopal Church edifice was erected and finished during the years from 1867 to 1869, and was dedicated by Bishop Clark, of Cincinnati, in August of that year. The church was in charge of the Rev. G. A. Reeder during this year. He was followed by the Revs. Mr. Pope; E. O. McIntyre, B. D. Jones, V. P. Lawrence and G. W. Huddleston. At a revival held in the church in the winter of 1878, there were seventy-two conversions, and there was considerable interest attending the revival meetings. It was the largest religious movement ever knownin Harrisville Township. The membership of the church now numbers 172.

Another religious element which asserted itself in the earlier days of the settlement, and for several years maintained an organization, is the Universalist Church. For several years preceding the war of the rebellion, the Rev. Henry Gifford came at regular intervals and addressed the small congregations at the town hall, and at private residences. An effort was made in the fall of 1871, for a permanent organization of a Universalist Society. It was successful. and remained intact for several years. Meetings were held regularly every alternate Sabbath Day for religious worship, in the town hall. The incorporators, at. this time% of the Lodi Universalist Society, were H. Ainsworth, Joseph Reynolds, A. Pomeroy, Mrs John Warren, N. E. Shaw, E. O. White and Calvin Holt. The Rev. N. Stacey Sage was the resident minister, and preached for three years, when he removed to the West. The regular Sabbath services were then discontinued, and the society gradually died out, only a few meetings having since been held by the society in Lodi. The Rev. H. F. Miller and Rev. Mrs. Danforth have both preached several sermons.

In the year 1840, a Presbyterian Society was formed in the western part of the township. The incorporators were John Douglas, William Finley, William Jeffreys, James Stevenson, Joseph Faulk and Skene Lowe. They held religious worship at the little log schoolhouse, near the corner, with the Rev. Varnum Noyes as minister for five years, and then disbanded and joined the Presbyterian Society at West Salem.

The first public instruction given in the township of Harrisville was in the spring of 1817, in a small log schoolhouse erected on the farm of Timothy Burr, now belonging to E. W. Minns. one-half mile west of the town of Lodi. Miss Diadems Churchill taught school during the summer of that year. In the winter follow-

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HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY - 507

ing, and for several years after that, Mr. Timothy dealt instruction in the rudimentary branches of learning to the few children, numbering from four to eight at a time.

A few years later than this, another schoolhouse was put up by the few settlers in the western part of the township, on the site where now one of the churches at Cherry Corners stands. Miss Harriet Hosford taught there a few terms, and also a Mr. George McQuay. A division of the township in school districts was made on the 10th of October, 1327, with the following boundaries, as given in the original ordinance made by the Township Trustees :

Commencing on the south line of the township, at the southeast corner of Lot No. 156, running from thence north on lot line, to the north corner of Lot 96 ; from thence west, on the line of the lots, to the West Branch of Black River: from thence northwardly, following said stream, to the outer road running east and west; from thence west, to the west line of the township. All that said part of said Township west and south of that line, shall constitute District No. 2. District No. 3, bounded by District No. 2 on the west, and a line running from the northeast corner of Lot 96, running east to the south, to the southeast corner of Lot 87 ; from thence north, to the northeast corner of Lot 68 ; from thence east, to the east line of said township ; said district shall include all that part of the Township south and east of the said line not included in District No. 2. District No. 1 to contain all that part of the Township not included in the other two districts. The following are the names of all the householders in District No. 1: Seth Lewis, Michael Loomis, Alvin Loomis, Justus Burr, Carolus Tuttle, John Jason, Jr., Nedebiah Cass, John B. Utter, Charles Lewis, Lomer Griffin, Willis Griffin, Anson Loomis, James Rogers, Amos Kinney, Timothy Burr, Joseph Harris, Thomas Dunbar, Eli Utter, Michael Simcox, Cyrus Chapman, Henry K. Joline, Asher Loomis, Ira Kingsby, Elijah De Witt, Isaac Catlin, Diodema Birge, John Jason, Moses Parsons, Ralzemond Griffin, Parley F. Griffin, Richard West and Perrin Chapman. District No. 2—Loammi Holcomb, Reuben Harrington, Daniel Delevan, Timothy Munson, Josiah Perkins, John Munson, Nathaniel Rogers, Leonard Chapman, Samuel R. Munson, David Saturn, Roger Phelps, William Rogers, Perez Rogers, Anson Marsh, Jonathan Fitts and Thomas Holcomb. District No. 3—Thomas Russell, Russell Burr, Webster Holcomb, Jeremiah Hill, Elijah Bishop, Levi Chapman, Warren Johnson, Sceva Chapman, Orange Stoddart, Reuben Chapman, Isaae Rogers, Ebenezer Harris, William Burr, George Burr and Celina Young.

We, the undersigned, Trustees of Harrisville Township, certify the above to be a true description of school districts in said township, as laid off by us, and also a correct list of householders in each district.

Trustees

JAMES ROGERS,

JONATHAN FITTS,

Attested:

Anson Loomis, Clerk..

An enumeration taken on the 4th of January, 1830, of the householders in the different school districts in the township showed eighty-one householders and one hundred and thirteen children between the ages of four and eighteen. Another subdivision of school districts was made on the 16th of May, 1835, adding two more and making five school districts. Two more districts were created by the township trustees, on the 15th of May, 1837, and on the 9th of October in the same year, Alvin Loomis, Joseph W. Rockwell and 0. S. Kinney were appointed Directors of School District No. 1. An enumeration of the youth between the . ages of four and twenty, in the several school districts in the township, taken on the 20th of October, 1838, showed 253 males, 253 females and a total of 506. This number had increased in 1840 to a total of 538, and in 1845 to 638. In 1855, the number of youth had decreased to a total of 484, and in 1860 there were only 447 children between the ages of four and twenty years in . Harrisville Township. Twenty years later, in the fall of 1880, the total number of school children between the ages of six and twenty-one, in the entire township, including the special school district of Lodi, was 482, being, strange as it may seem, just 156 less than were enumerated in 1845.

By virtue of an act passed by the Ohio Legislature on April 9, 1867, a special school district was created in the winter of 1868, embrac-

508 - HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY.

ing the territory within the limits of the town of Lodi. At the first election, held in April following, H. Ainsworth, H. Selders and N. Harris were chosen a Board of Education for said district. Township District No. 8, on petition of the householders of said district, was merged into the special district of Lodi in April. 1872, and is now an incorporate part of the same. A few years previous to the separation of a special school district, the question of the establishment of a higher grade of school than that of a common district school had been extensively agitated among the people of Lodi. and consultation and private meetings had been held by its citizens, at various times. to encourage a movement of this kind. In the fall of 1867, the following call was issued and placarded on the streets of the town :

LET US BUILD THE HOUSE!

The advocates and Patrons of Education, within and adjacent to Harrisville Township, are hereby notified that a meeting will be held at Lodi, on Saturday evening, February 16, 1867, at 6 P. M., to devise measures for the erection of an academy in said town. All are respectfully invited to convene on that evening at the Congregational Church.

FRIENDS OF EDUCATION.

The people of the neighborhood at once responded to this call, and there was a large attendance and a great deal of enthusiasm manifested on the subject. Dr. 31. Hoag was called to the chair, and spirited addresses and appeals were made by H. Ainsworth. Rev. Samuel F. Porter. T. G. Loomis. John Taylor. 31. Hoag and others for the cause of education, and the erection of an academy building. A preamble and subscription list was offered by Mr. Ainsworth, and 88,500 was put down at this meeting. Committees were appointed and an adjournment had for a week, when an organization was effected. H. Selders. S. C. Munson. H. Ainsworth, T. G. Loomis and W. W. Prentice were elected a board of trustees. with the following board of officers : President. W. W. Prentice ; Vice President, John Taylor ; Secretary, F. R. Loomis ; Treasurer, Henry Ainsworth. The total stock had been placed at 200 shares of $100 each, all of which were taken in less than a month's time ; there were sixty-three original stockholders. The project had so far advanced by the first of May that the selection of a site was made, and the proposals for a building given out. On the 5th of June, 1865, the first assessment of 10 per cent was made, and the ground was broken in the " Orchard " lot. within the town. for a large academy building. which was completed in the spring of 1871. The first academy school year opened the next fall with Prof. J. N. Haskins as Principal. There was a very large attendance of scholars, which increased during the next year, and the school bid fair to become a prosperous and successful institution. A Boarding Hall, large enough to accommodate 120 student boarders. was erected south of the Academy during the first year. At the fourth annual meeting of the stockholders, held on April 5, 1873, the following proposition was submitted to the voters : ' Shall the trustees create an indebtedness sufficient to complete the building, and inclose grounds?" which was adopted by a vote of 118 for. to 12 against. The success of the school continued for a few years, and the people of Lodi felt gratified and encouraged. Then came the panic of 1873. with it assessments on the capital stock of the academy association to meet contingent expenses. Prof. Haskins resigned on account of failing health, and the attendance of the school grew less. Prof. H. N. Miller. a Universalist minister, took charge of the school and conducted it in a very able manner for three years. After that the Rev. Mr. McIntyre and Prof. W. R. Grannis took control of the school until the spring of 1878, when the school was closed for an indefinite time. One or two private select schools were held in the building after that. In April, 1879, the question of purchas-

HISTORY OF MEDINA COUNTY. - 509

ing the academy building and using it for a union school was submitted to the voters of Lodi Special School District, and carried with an overwhelming majority. John Warren. T. G. Loomis and E. W. Minns were elected Directors of the district at the same election.

The building, which had originally cost $25,000, was bought for $5.000. It is one of the finest structures for school purposes in Ohio. The public schools opened in it on the 2d of September, 1879. with S. Thomas as Superintendent.