100 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO legislature and council, and the governor had the absolute veto power. Governor St. Clair had not been getting along very well. His defeat of 1791 had practically destroyed his military prestige, and his obstinate nature coupled with his Federalist politics had added to his unpopularity in a pioneer country largely inhabited by young men of Jeffersonian democratic principles. The first session of the legislature was more or less of a jangle, with the Governor holding the whip hand—and using it—in his veto power. But the first was the only legislature of the undivided territory. In 1800 came the second change. On May 2, 1800, Congress passed a law dividing the Territory. A line was drawn following the old Wayne Treaty Line from the mouth of the Kentucky River to Fort Recovery, and thence north to the northern boundary of the original Territory. The land west of this was named Indiana Territory, and that east retained the old territorial government under the Ordinance of 1787. William Henry Harrison, who had succeeded Winthrop Sargent as territorial Secretary, and had been the first territorial delegate to Congress, was appointed Governor of Indiana, and that portion of the west now passes out of our history. St. Clair remained at the head of the eastern section, most of which was soon to be created into the State of Ohio. This division of the Territory became operative on July 4, 1800. Almost the first act of Governor St. Clair after the division was to create the Western Reserve into the County of Trumbull. Up to 1797, as far as territorial jurisdiction was concerned, the Reserve belonged to Washington County. In 1797 Jefferson County was created, including all the Seven Ranges and the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga. The part west of the Cuyahoga was included in Wayne County. Some feeble attempts on the part of Jefferson County authorities were HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 101 met with passive but effective resistance on the part of the inhabitants of the Reserve. Now the various acts of Congress and the Connecticut Legislature had cleared the way. On July 10, 1800, the proclamation creating Trumbull County, including the entire Western Reserve, was issued. From this time on, the old name of Connecticut Western Reserve loses all but a historical significance, although the inhabitants, especially those whose ancestry dates back to the early settlers, still cling to the name, and feel themselves a little apart from other citizens of other parts of Ohio. The Trumbull family was justly famous in Connecticut. The first Jonathan Trumbull was Governor of Connecticut before and during the Revolution, retiring in 1783. He was a devoted patriot and supporter of Washington. It was he of whom Washington said "We must ask Brother Jonathan to help us," thus giving a proverbial nom-de-plume to the United States. His two sons were distinguished in different ways. Both were officers in the Revolutionary Army, but after the war they took different roads to fame. John Trumbull is the artist who created the great mural paintings in the rotunda of the capitol at Washington. Jonathan Trumbull, Junior, was Governor of Connecticut from 1798 to his death in 1809. It was in his honor particularly that the county received its name, but the name was undoubtedly one of the most distinguished in American History. The county had just been organized when the first serious act of violence occurred : In the summer of 1800 Joseph McMahon, whom we met originally in a little cabin beside the river at Warren, had moved to the southwest corner of Howland Township, where he made another little clearing. That summer he got a bit of land near the Salt Springs and proceeded to plant it. Some time about the first of July a band of Indians came wandering along, and in some way got possession of some whiskey. They proceeded to hold a party 102 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO which McMahon and other white men attended. When the Indians' whiskey was gone the white men got some more, but refused to share with the Indians. This, of course, caused some hard feeling. After a day or two McMahon left the party to attend to his little corn field. In his absence the Indians annoyed his wife so that she took refuge with the Storers. McMahon, returning, heard her story, and proceeded to gather a group of Warren men together, in order, as he said, to make a permanent settlement of the difficulty. Several of the leading citizens of Warren joined him, including Ephraim Quinby, Richard Storer, William Fenton and Henry Lane. The leader of the Indians was one Captain George, of the Tuscarawas branch of the Delaware Tribe. Another member of the party was a half breed Seneca, John Wimlow, alias "Spotted John." All the men in McMahon's party and some of the Indians had guns. As they met, Quinby went forward to discuss the trouble. He turned back to meet his companions, but McMahon pushed himself in front of the rest. At a question from McMahon, Captain George made what seemed a threatening gesture with his tomahawk, whereupon McMahon fired at close range, and Captain George fell dead. For a moment it looked like a general action. All the men on both sides raised their guns, and Storer, thinking Spotted John was aiming at him, fired and wounded Spotted John mortally; the bullet passing on, broke his boy's arm, passed through the cords of his girl's neck, and grazed the throat of his squaw. Both sides retreated. The Indians covered their dead. The wounded squaw took refuge with James Hillman at Youngstown. McMahon was arrested and taken to Pittsburgh under guard, that being the nearest spot where there was a jail. To avoid arrest, Storer left the country. His wife and children went back to Washington County, Pennsylvania, HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 103 where he afterwards joined them. He does not seem to have returned to Warren afterwards. Hillman invited the remaining Indians to a conference at which they agreed to retire peacefully; what else could they do? They were outnumbered thirty to one. Governor St. Clair ordered a session of the Territorial Court in September to try the case. Return Jonathan Meigs acted as judge, and the governor himself was present, although not in an official capacity. George Tod of Youngstown, headed the legal force for the people. The prisoner was defended by John Stark Edwards, Benjamin Tappan and Steel Sample, the latter an imported product from Pittsburgh. The three lawyers from the Territory all afterwards filled large places in history. The jury after due deliberation brought in a verdict of not guilty. There were some expressions of dissatisfaction, but nearly everyone admitted that the verdict was just. McMahon did not amount to much, but the victims were only Indians after all. Storer was never brought to trial. In his case, at least, the action seemed justifiable, although his bullet did a lot of unnecessary damage. This story has been related at some length, because it gives us a vivid picture of the times. No further record is to be found of McMahon. He and his family probably wandered on. Such as he were common enough on the outskirts of American civilization. (Note.—The story of the McMahon affair was told in full by Mr. Leonard Case, afterward of Cleveland, the distinguished founder of the Case School of Applied Science. Mr. Case as a child was present at some of the scenes related.) In 1800, Cleveland, Warren and Youngstown were the leading settlements of the Reserve in both population and influence. The question as to the location of a county seat for Trumbull County was, of course, a matter of controversy. 104 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Cleveland was the first settlement, and Youngstown the second and probably at the time the largest, but Governor St. Clair settled the matter in his usual arbitrary fashion by choosing Warren. The arguments in favor of Warren were its more central situation and its superior natural surroundings, but it is probable that the Governor's selection was mainly due to a belief that the citizenry of Warren contained more supporters of his policies. At any rate, the first county court went into session at Warren at four P. M. on Monday, August 25, 1800. On the spot where Main Street now crosses the Erie Railroad tracks, Ephraim Quinby had built a rough structure of logs, intended as a corn-crib. Here the court went into session. The building was primitive to the extreme. The summer sun shone through the spaces between the logs, left open for the necessary curing of the corn, and the hewn floor gave uneven footing for the members of this first court. The first civil officers of this first organized government of the Reserve, according to the records, were as follows: "John Young, Turhand Kirtland, Camden Cleaveland, James Kingsbury and Eliphalet Austin, Esquires, Justices of the Peace and Quorum. (Note.—The term "and Quorum" indicated that these five were not only to sit as Justices of the Peace in local township jurisdiction, but were also to constitute the membership of the county court.) "John Leavitt, Esq., Judge of Probate and Justice of the Peace; Solomon Griswold, Martin Smith, John Struthers, Caleb Baldwin, Calvin Austin, Edward Brockway, John Kinsman, Benjamin Dawson, Ephraim Quinby, Ebenezer Sheldon, David Hudson, Aaron Wheeler, Amos Spafford, Moses Park and John Minor, Esquires, Justices of the Peace, "Calvin Pease, Esq., Clerk; David Abbott, Esq., Sheriff; John Hart Aldgate, Coroner; Eliphalet Austin, Esq., Treasurer; John Stark Edwards, Esq., Recorder." HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 105 The minutes of the first court session in Trumbull County as recorded in the county probate court are interesting as giving a picture of the times and as indicating the character of the citizenry. The first Grand Jury was composed of the following: Simon Perkins, foreman; Benjamin Stow, Samuel Menough, Hawley Tanner, Charles Daly, Ebenezer King, William Cecil, John Hart Aldgate, Henry Lane, Jonathan Church, Jeremiah Wilcox, John Partridge Bissell, Isaac Palmer, George Phelps, Samuel Quinby and Moses Park. The only action taken by this Grand Jury was the indictment of Joseph McMahon for the killing of the Indian, Captain George. George Tod was appointed prosecutor. "The Court appointed Amos Spafford, Esq., David Hudson, Esq., Simon Perkins, John Minor, Esq., and Benjamin Davidson, Esq., a committee to divide the County of Trumbull into townships to describe the limits and boundaries of each township, and to make report to the Court thereof." (Note.—The title "Esquire," as used in these early records, was used to indicate that the holder of it possessed or had at some time possessed some public or political office. The use of the term indiscriminately to suggest that the person addressed thereby had some pretension to gentility belongs to a later date. The early usage, an inheritance from our British ancestors, is preserved in the modern habit of addressing a Justice of the Peace as "Squire.") This committee created eight townships: Warren, Youngstown, Vernon, Middlefield, Richfield, Paynesville (as spelled in the court records) and Cleveland. These townships did not follow the range lines, but included all the inhabited territory of the Reserve; for instance, Warren Township included the following townships: Berlin and Milton in the present Mahoning County, Newton, Lordstown, Weathersfield, Braceville, Warren, Howland, Southington, Champion and Bazetta in Trumbull, and Nelson, Windham, Paris, Palmyra and Deerfield in Portage. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 105 The minutes of the first court session in Trumbull County as recorded in the county probate court are interesting as giving a picture of the times and as indicating the character of the citizenry. The first Grand Jury was composed of the following: Simon Perkins, foreman; Benjamin Stow, Samuel Menough, Hawley Tanner, Charles Daly, Ebenezer King, William Cecil, John Hart Aldgate, Henry Lane, Jonathan Church, Jeremiah Wilcox, John Partridge Bissell, Isaac Palmer, George Phelps, Samuel Quinby and Moses Park. The only action taken by this Grand Jury was the indictment of Joseph McMahon for the killing of the Indian, Captain George. George Tod was appointed prosecutor. "The Court appointed Amos Spafford, Esq., David Hudson, Esq., Simon Perkins, John Minor, Esq., and Benjamin Davidson, Esq., a committee to divide the County of Trumbull into townships to describe the limits and boundaries of each township, and to make report to the Court thereof." (Note.—The title "Esquire," as used in these early records, was used to indicate that the holder of it possessed or had at some time possessed some public or political office. The use of the term indiscriminately to suggest that the person addressed thereby had some pretension to gentility belongs to a later date. The early usage, an inheritance from our British ancestors, is preserved in the modern habit of addressing a Justice of the Peace as "Squire.") This committee created eight townships : Warren, Youngstown, Vernon, Middlefield, Richfield, Paynesville (as spelled in the court records) and Cleveland. These townships did not follow the range lines, but included all the inhabited territory of the Reserve; for instance, Warren Township included the following townships : Berlin and Milton in the present Mahoning County, Newton, Lordstown, Weathersfield, Braceville, Warren, Howland, Southington, Champion and Bazetta in Trumbull, and Nelson, Windham, Paris, Palmyra and Deerfield in Portage. 106 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO (Note.—The township form of government as developed in the Reserve, and the importance of the township in early history are probably due mainly to the New England origin of so many of the leading citizens. The New England Town government as developed in the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut especially, is supposed to date back to the Anglo-Saxon Hundreds, and to have its remote origin on the Danish Peninsula before the dawn of recorded English history. It was only natural that the first settlers should endeavor to introduce into their new country a system which had long been familiar to them, and which had been adequate to their local needs. The fact that the settlers from Virginia brought with them a plan of county government, also British in its origin, resulted in the establishment of a method of local government combining the two ideas. This reduplication of authority probably worked fairly well in the early days of the state, when roads were few and poor, and the local justice of the peace was a man of influence and power. Modern students of Ohio government, however, are inclined to agree that the usefulness of the system is at least questionable now.) Going on with the records : "The Court appointed Turhand Kirtland, John Kinsman and Calvin Austin, Esquires, a committee, to fix upon and provide some proper place for a temporary jail, until a publick jail can be erected, and make report thereof to the Court. "The aforesaid committee report as follows ; namely, that the room in the southwest corner of the house of Ephraim Quinby, Esq., is a convenient proper place for a temporary jail, and they have procured the said room for that purpose. "The Court accept the report of the committee and order that said room shall be the jail of the County of Trumbull until a publick goal can be erected." Four years of the Territory, and no jail ! David Abbott was the sheriff, but he did not live in Warren, and it was HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 107 likely that Quinby's house was the most commodious in the village. It will be seen later that he was appointed innkeeper. This house and jail stood where the Erie Railroad Station now stands. (A less serious history might find something humorous in this. The writer is well acquainted with the said railway station.) The temporary jail apparently never had but one occupant. "The Court appointed Turhand Kirtland, John Kinsman, Calvin Austin and Amos Spafford, Esquires, a committee, to view and layout a proper extent of ground for the liberties of the prison, and to make report thereof to the court." That is to say, the territory over which a prisoner on parole of good behavior was allowed to wander. A space of several hundred square yards was laid out. "The Court appointed the following persons to serve as constables within their respective townships in the County of Trumbull the present year; namely, James Hillman for the Township of Youngstown, who took the oath of office in open court; Jonathan Church for the town of Warren, Heman Oviatt and Amze (Amzi) Atwater for the town of Hudson, Titus Brockway for the town of Vernon, Simon Rose and Rufus Grinell for the town of Middlefield, John A. Harper and Mills Case for the town of Richfield, Charles Parker for the town of Paynesville, Stephen Gilbert and Eleazer Carter for the town of Cleveland. "Ordered by the Court, on motion of Mr. Edwards, that Ephraim Quinby, Esq., be recommended to the Governor of this territory as a fit person to keep a publick-house of entertainment, in the town of Warren, on his complying with the requisites of the law. "On motion of Judge Kirtland, the Court ordered that Jonathan Fowler be recommended to the Governor of this Territory as a fit person to keep a publick-house of entertainment in the town of Youngstown, on his complying with the 108 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO requisites of the law." The word "town" means township. Fowler erected his tavern in Poland, and was the tavern-keeper there until his death. Several persons, including Ephraim Quinby and James Hillman, were bound over to appear as witnesses in the McMahon trial. "The Court ordered that the clerk be authorized to procure a public seal for the county of Trumbull, of such size and with such devices as he shall deem proper, at the expense of the county." At the May session of 1801 the court divided the county into two election districts, the lake settlements constituting one and the southern settlements the other. This session ordered a bounty on wolves, and approved a plan for a jail, which was not built, however, until 1815. The first grist mill and dam in Warren were under construction in 1800, the proprietors being Henry Lane, Junior, and Charles Dally. They did not succeed in getting the mill running until 1802. In June of 1802 came the Rev. Henry Speers, a Baptist Minister from Washington County, Pennsylvania, who preached a sermon one pleasant Sunday morning, setting up his pulpit beneath a shady tree, while his congregation stood or sat on the ground of a little clearing. This was the first preaching of a regular clergyman in Warren. One other interesting event should be recorded during Warren's first summer as the county seat—the celebration of Independence Day. The account in the Historical Collections of the Mahoning Valley is too interesting to condense : "Independence Day was the next event. It was not called "Fourth of July" in those times. The settlers still retained their patriotism, and it was unanimously decided to celebrate. The grand assembling was at Captain Quinby's, and the majority of the men, women and children of the town were HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 109 present. They were much at a loss for musical instruments, but the twin brothers, Elam and Eli Blair, brought their talents to bear upon the situation. The forte of one was the drum, while the other was accomplished upon the fife. A fife was accordingly improvised from the stem of a large, strong elder, and the trunk of a pepperidge tree was artistically carved into a drum cylinder by means of a hand-ax and jack-plane. William Crooks furnished a fawn's hide, which Blair stretched on for a head to the drum; and Meshack Case sacrificed a pair of new plow-lines for cords. A procession was formed, and John Leavitt was the militia captain. The necessary amount of noise was made, and plenty of powder was burned, for the settlers all had their guns; and then, probably for the first time, the classical tune of Yankee Doodle resounded through this valley. A number of guests were present from abroad; among them General Paine and Judge Eliphalet Austin, from the lake shore; John Young and Calvin Austin, of Youngstown. A good dinner was served under the trees, and toasts were given, and healths proposed and honored with the necessary amount of stimulus. Undoubtedly, among the toasts were "The President," "The New Settlement," "The Guests," "The Ladies" and "The Friends at Home." With the formation of Trumbull County, the Reserve began to develop into a settled community life. By the time of the call for the first Ohio Constitutional Convention in the fall of 1802, there were at least two thousand four hundred people resident in the county, as they sent two delegates to the convention. New towns sprang up here and there, roads were cleared through the forest, log cabins were built, farms were cleared, schools were planned and a few churches organized. The method by which the first settlers established themselves requires a more detailed description. It must be re- 110 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO membered that all the settlers came from a considerable distance. The Washington County pioneers were the nearest, but even they had a journey of fifty to one hundred miles to travel. Those who came from Eastern Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, and these were the main body of the early settlers, traveled hundreds of miles to their new homes. There were only two routes of importance : one of these led across the Pennsylvania mountains by way of Bethlehem, Reading, Harrisburg, Chambersburg, Bedford, Ligonier, Pittsburgh and Beaver. This route was fairly safe, but long, rough and tedious. The other route ran up the Mohawk Valley and along the shore of Ontario to Buffalo; thence along the southern shore of Lake Erie, either by boat or trail. This route avoided the difficult mountains, but was unsafe at times, especially by water. Lake Erie has always been a treacherous body of water. By either route the amount of impedimenta possible to carry was meagre. A covered wagon, usually of the Conestoga type, possibly an extra horse, a yoke of oxen, a milk cow, a hog and possibly a sheep or two, with a few barnyard fowls and a dog; some brought one item of live stock, some another, none could bring many. In the wagon were a few treasured items of furniture, a chair, a bed, perhaps; cooking utensils, garden tools; an axe, a saw, seed wheat, corn and oats, and food for the road. Of course each householder carried at least one gun, with powder and bullets; they expected to live to a great extent on the road by killing their own meat. There were few books, but no one came without a Bible. One woman brought with her clean sand for scouring and threw it away in disgust when she saw the beautiful sandy shore of Lake Erie. When the settler located his land, he discovered that his first task was to make a clearing. The first few years resounded with the clear ring of the axe. Having made up his HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 111 mind as to the location of the house, the trees around were cut to the distance which he thought sufficient for his first plantings. The cut trees were sorted out; those of an appropriate size were laid aside to be hewed into shape and built into the cabin which was to be the family home. The only requirement for cabin logs seems to have been the size; the writer has seen in old log cabins every kind of hardwood that is native to the territory. The trees which were not needed for building were piled as well as possible and burned on the ground. In this way most valuable timber was destroyed, but the early settler's desire was to establish a clearing as soon as possible. When the time for building had come, such neighbors as were near enough gathered together, and the house grew in a day. In order to see the type of building that was considered to be of the best type we give the specifications of the county jail, as it is found in the records. Of course, it is understood that this building was intended to be very strong, in order to keep criminals in, as well as the weather out : "—a building of the following dimensions towit : thirty feet long and twenty-two feet wide in the inside, to consist of two rooms, one of sixteen feet by twelve, for criminals; the other sixteen by eighteen feet for debtors; (Note.—Whether more debtors than criminals were expected or debtors were regarded as entitled to more room is hard to tell. Imprisonment for debt was prohibited by the Ohio Constitution of 1802. Governor St. Clair believed in it, and made provision for it in his code of laws.) the lower floor to be made of hewn timber fifteen inches in thickness to be laid double, a space way into each room; the sides of the prison room to be made of hewn timber fifteen inches thick, and to be laid double, and well locked in at corners, to be laid in the following manner; the first stick to lie on the floor; the next and outside timber to rise half of the width of the first stick above it; the 112 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO outside wall from the space way to be layed up with square timbers fifteen inches thick. The building to be raised in this manner, so as to be eight feet high between joints; the upper floor to be laid double with hewn timbers twelve inches thick so as to break joints. The building then to be covered with a good roof to be made of rafters and covered with chestnut shingles eighteen inches in length; the foundation of the building to be a large white-oak stick of timber hewn upon one side and buried in the ground; we think proper that all the timber be of white-oak.—" The committee's report was accepted with the substitution of white oak shingles for chestnut. The "spaceway" meant a hallway or passage between the two rooms. The building was one story high; the upper floor was for the attic, and was made especially strong to keep the criminals from getting out through the roof. The entire house was built of logs, except the roof. The ends of the logs were dovetailed, so that there was very little space between. This was filled with clay, which hardened and made a sound nearly air-tight wall. Window glass was a problem at first. Many windows were covered with paper or linen, greased with bear's grease, pork fat or oil, in order to keep out air and weather and let the light through. The doors were closed by a bar and a latch-string, that is, a cord or leather thong tied to the bar on the inside and thrust through a hole in the door. The saying "The latch-string is out" still is used among old fashioned people of the Reserve, meaning that visitors are welcome. The door was locked by the simple expedient of pulling the string through to the inside, but this was seldom done; hospitality was a sacred duty in the Reserve. The chimney was made of logs also in most of the early cabins, and lined on the inside with clay. All the cabins were made one full story high, the ceiling seldom reaching more than eight feet. There was a trapdoor to the attic, usually reached by a ladder. The roof was HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 113 covered with long hewn shingles. There were few cabins with more than two rooms on the ground floor. Many had only one. Cooking was done at the fireplace, except baking bread, which was done in an outside oven built of stones. The cabin was warm near the fireplace, but cold at the other end, and the attic was cold in winter and hot in summer. Life was hard in the wildernes. There were few pleasures. Women broke down and died early, and men bowed down with toil. Work began at dawn in summer, and ended at dark, and in winter both beginning and ending of the day were in darkness. When days of rest came they were needed. One reason for the strict Sabbath observance of the early days is to be found in the need for rest. Yet there were pleasures, and boisterous ones. The end of the harvest was a time of rejoicing. Corn Whiskey was the only strong drink, and it does not seem to have done much harm. The hard open air life to a great extent nullified its effects. Young people found time for courting. Early marriages were the almost universal rule, and large families were the usual result. Few doctors came into the Reserve, and these were not called, except in extremity. One of the blessings they had in abundance was the sugar tree, or hard maple. Every farmer tapped his trees as soon as the sap began to flow at the end of winter. Maple syrup and sugar and an occasional bee tree furnished them all their sweets. Geauga County still celebrates its Maple Festival every spring, an event which we shall describe later in the story. Game was plentiful, and sometimes troublesome. The black and brown bears had a habit of invading hog pens, often with disastrous results. Sometimes the bear got the hog, sometimes the settlers got the bear. Wild fowl were the greatest delicacy in the early settlers' life, the wild turkey being the most greatly prized, both on account of size and of the quality of the meat. 114 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO While the settlers were nearly all of a religious turn of mind, organized churches were slow in getting started. The trouble was that few settlements were large enough to support a preacher, and they were so far apart that it was not feasible to try to unite two or more under one charge. After churches were organized, it was not uncommon for a pastor to direct the affairs of two or three congregations eight or ten miles apart. For instance, the three congregations of the Associate Presbyterian Church at Seceder Corners in Liberty Township, at Mahoning in Pennsylvania (the Tent Church) and at Poland Center maintained a common pastor for years. Another reason for the lack of churches was the fact that the people of the Reserve took their sectarian differences seriously. The Connecticut men were mainly Presbyterian or Congregationalist; the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish were Seceders and Covenanters—men who had inherited the stern faith of the Covenanters of Scotland, and who would have thought it a deadly sin to raise their voices in praise to God except through the medium of the metrical version of the Psalms of David; men whose faith was built on the darker sayings of the Hebrew prophets as much as on the Gospels; who loved to listen to a theological discourse interpreting the pauline Epistles much more than to a sermon of love; who knew the Westminster Shorter Catechism by heart and believed it. The Reverend Joseph Badger, whose life we shall relate at length later, started to the Reserve as a missionary in November of 1800, reaching Youngstown on the last Sunday of the year. He founded the first Congregational Church in the Reserve at Austinburg the following year. The Reverend William Wick founded the First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown in 1801, and in the same year the Reverend Nathaniel Pittenger came to Poland as the pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Warren had a congregation of Presby- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 115 terians, where both Badger and Wick occasionally preached, but no regular pastor until 1808. The remainder of church history belongs to later chapters. As with churches, so with schools, the difficulty was in gathering enough pupils in one place to maintain a teacher. Before the final Connecticut session in 1800, there was no provision at all for public schools; such instruction as the few children got was at their mothers' knee. A log schoolhouse was built in Warren within a year or two after the settlement, and George Parsons taught there. Youngstown had a school in 1800, probably. The history of education in the Reserve also belongs to a later chapter. CHAPTER VII SOUTH OF THE WESTERN RESERVE We have carried the story of the Western Reserve down to the point where the first settlements may be said to have been established. When the Reserve was admitted to full participation in the affairs of the Territory, the first phase of this history is completed. It is now our duty to take up a few movements toward settlement in that portion of the Territory included in this history which lie south of the Reserve : Columbiana County, Stark County and the southern tier of five townships in Mahoning County. There was a white man located for a time in what is now Stark County who probably built the first building in Ohio by anyone other than an Indian, and although his residence was both temporary and brief, he should receive recognition; as a great pioneer, and the forerunner of a most admirable and unfortunate mission. In 1761, Christian Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, came to the upper reaches of the Tuscarawas River, and built a little cabin in what is now Bethlehem Township, Stark County. The Indian population of the neighborhood objected to the presence of the white man, but Post convinced them of the sincerity of his purpose, and they allowed him land for a circumference of fifty paces around his dwelling. Here Post labored and preached for a year or two, thus laying the foundation in the minds of the Delaware Indians for the mission of Zeisberger and Heckewelder later on. Post, however, soon left for other - 116 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 117 fields, and no white man after him disturbed the solitudes of this part of Ohio for nearly forty years. Before the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, a plan had already been worked out for a survey of Ohio lands. The Ordinance of 1785 included a method of survey, the credit for which belongs to Colonel Thomas Hutchins, who held the unique office of "Geographer of the United States" until his death in 1789. Colonel Hutchins made a report to the Colony of Virginia after Bouquet's expedition of 1764, in which he recommended the laying out of this new country in townships to be six miles square, and numbered by ranges practically according to the plan adopted later by the Continental Congress. In 1786 Colonel Hutchins began the work of this first survey in Ohio, running at the beginning a line on the parallel of latitude forty degrees thirty-eight feet two-tenths inches north, ever afterwards known as the "Geographer's Line." This line was to "begin on the Ohio River, at a point that shall be found to be due north from the western termination of a line which has been run as the southern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania" (the Mason and Dixon Line). This point is of course the point at which the states of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania meet on the river. On this line Colonel Hutchins ran seven ranges of townships six miles square, each range running south to the Ohio River. These are the famous "Seven Ranges," the first Ohio survey. (Note.—This method of survey is of far reaching importance in the subsequent history of land titles in the United States. The plan here established by Colonel Hutchins has been used for the survey of public lands, with a few exceptions, as far as the Pacific Coast, and has been copied practically by the Dominion of Canada in her western surveys.) Of the land included in the original Seven Ranges only the three southern townships of Columbiana County are a. 118 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO part. The townships between the Geographer's Line on the south and the southern boundary of the Reserve on the north were not surveyed until after the Greenville Treaty. But the same method of survey was followed in this country. No settlement of any part of Stark or Columbiana counties was seriously attempted until after the Greenville Treaty. They were all in Washington County originally. In 1797, Jefferson County was created, including all of the present Columbiana County. Stark County was partly in Washington, partly in Wayne, until the state was founded in 1803. Somewhere in the neighborhood of Calcutta, near the Ohio River, and probably not far from Little Beaver Creek, John Quinn built a cabin in 1792 or 1793. Quinn was a hunter and trapper, and for years continued at his occupation in Columbiana County. To him, undoubtedly, goes the honor of having been the first permanent resident of the county. His habitation, however, remained solitary for a number of years. The original settlement in the county was Wellsville, in Township Nine, Range Two, of the Seven Ranges. Robert Johnston, one of the surveyors working under Colonel Thomas Hutchins, had a contract with the government whereby he was to receive six dollars a day for his services, a very high rate of pay for that time. The government held a sale of Ohio lands in New York in 1788, at which Johnston purchased a large tract of land bordering on the river, the consideration being his salary due and unpaid. Johnston then proceeded to put his property on sale in the open market. He bought the land at the rate of six dollars per one hundred acres, and seems to have sold a considerable portion of it at six dollars per acre--a profitable investment. Among Johnston's customers, was James Clarke, of Washington County, Pennsylvania. Clarke bought three hundred and four acres on the river bank, his land being the HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 119 central part of the present city of Wellsville. This purchase was made in 1795. During the year Richard Vaughn and his son-in-law, George Clarke, built a cabin on James Clarke's land, apparently as "squatters." This cabin was the first dwelling in Wellsville, and was located in what was known as "the Bottoms," on what is now Sugar Street. James Clarke, after holding the property a year, found that he would not be able to meet his obligations. He therefore effected a transfer of the title to his son-in-law and Washington County neighbor, William Wells, for whom the city of Wellsville is named. Wells moved to his new home in 1797 with his family. He immediately assumed a position of importance in the Ohio country, being appointed a justice of the peace by Governor St. Clair. He remained a resident and prominent citizen for many years, but his settlement did not begin to grow until about 1820. The year following the Wells settlement there was begun a few miles up the river the settlement originally known as Fawcettstown, which later grew into the flourishing city of East Liverpool. After the Revolution, there were living in the Chartiers Valley of Pennsylvania, on the border line between Washington and Allegheny counties, three pairs of brothers, all of Scotch-Irish origin : John and Thomas Fawcett, Richard and Robert Boyce, and Peter and Adam Heckman. Following the characteristic tendency of this race race toward western migration, when the Ohio lands were opened for settlement these families began to consider a removal across the river. The result was that one brother of each family sold his farm, and the three took up new locations just across the line and bordering on the river. These three were Thomas Fawcett, Robert Boyce and Adam Heckman. Shortly after them came John Smith, a neighbor in the Chartiers Valley. The date of their permanent settlement was probably 1798. Fawcett laid out a town site on his land, 120 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO and built a flour mill on Carpenter's Run, the first in Columbiana County. Fawcettstown struggled with hardship for many years. We shall see later how the discovery of pottery clay of an excellent quality caused the development of a great manufacturing business from the 1840's on. Just after the beginning of the nineteenth century, a movement began which was to give a distinctive and peculiar character to the settlement of the northern portion of Columbiana County. The student of American History does not need to be reminded that the first settlement of Pennsylvania was made by English members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, under the leadership and proprietorship of William Penn. It will be remembered that Penn's father, Sir William Penn, one of the lords of the Admiralty under Charles II, died leaving his son a large claim against the crown for money lent at different times to his spendthrift majesty. Young William had long been a thorn in the side of the administration, he having "disgraced" his family by joining the Quaker sect, and preaching on the streets of London. No imprisonment or any other punishment seemed to have any effect on the young enthusiast, so Charles finally hit on a scheme to end the scandal and pay his debt at the same time. Penn had long had a desire to establish a refuge for his persecuted followers in America. Charles therefore gave him a tract on the west back of the Delaware. We have already shown how this grant further confused the existing situation as to English land grants in America. Penn founded the city of Philadelphia, or "Brotherly Love," on the Delaware, and it rapidly filled with Quaker settlers, their settlements spreading into southeastern Pennsylvania and across the Delaware into New Jersey. It is an interesting fact that three discordant elements which made up the population of Pennsylvania, Quakers, Pennsylvania Germans and Scotch-Irish, all HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 121 migrated in large numbers to Columbiana County and other, portions of Eastern Ohio, where their descendants now live in perfect harmony. About 1801 the first Quakers came into this part of Ohio. Elisha Schooley built the first cabin in the present city of Salem in 1801, and is to be recognized as the founder of that most interesting and charming city. Salem was to become : first a Quaker stronghold; next, an abolition center, and the headquarters of the Underground Railroad in Eastern Ohio. After Schooley came a number of other Quaker settlers to Salem, the families of Samuel Smith, Samuel Davis, Jonas Cottell and Elisha Hunt being settled there by 1803. Other Quakers came early to various parts of Columbiana : William Whinnery settled in Butler Township in 1801; and early settlement was at Damascus, etc. The history of Salem and the other Quaker settlements will be taken up fully later in the story. Three families, all of them important, two of them to become famous, settled Fairfield Township, which is Township Twelve, Range Two. Mathias Lower was the first settler. He established his home in the valley of Bull Creek in the year 1800. Lower had the distinction, as we shall see, of having the first court of Columbiana County held in his barn. In 1802, Robert Hanna settled in Fairfield, where the village of Columbiana now stands. He was the great-grandfather of Marcus Alonzo Hanna, the great Ohio Financier, Statesman and United States Senator. Nicholas Firestone, the founder of the famous Firestone family settled in the eastern side of the township. The Firestone Homestead is one of the fine sights of Columbiana County. Center Township (Township Fourteen, Range Three) was settled by Lewis Kinney in 1802. Kinney laid out his town of New Lisbon, which was to become the county seat in February, 1803. New Lisbon, or Lisbon, as it is now coin- 122 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO monly called, is a village of singular charm. Modern improvements have blended with old structures in such a way as to preserve a delightful, almost old world atmosphere, reminiscent of the ancient settlements of Maryland and Virginia. A few other minor settlements in the county belong to the period before statehood. A man named Carpenter cleared land near West Point in 1797. Carpenter's son, a boy of seventeen, in an argument with an Indian chief, White Eyes, succeeded in killing the Indian. The boy was tried at Steubenville for the homicide, but acquitted, it being shown that he had acted in self-defence. Elk Run Township was settled by John Snyder in 1800, Hanover Township by William Winder in 1802, Middleton Township by John Leslie in 1800, Wayne by Aaron Hull in 1802. An interesting settlement was that of Madison Township, where a company of Scottish immigrants headed by Andrew McPherson came in 1802. They were known as "Highland Scots," although the group seems to have numbered more Lowlanders than Highlanders, probably. In the five southern townships of Mahoning County there does not seem to have been much settlement before 1803. Peter Musser and perhaps some others, all Pennsylvania Germans, were resident in Springfield Township as early as 1801. Major Jacob Gilbert of Maryland, came into Beaver Township in 1802. In Stark County there were few, if any, permanent settlements established prior to the founding of the state. Various groups of pioneers, hunters and scouts traveled across this country, and as the lower portion of the Great Portage from the Cuyahoga to the Muskingum is in Stark, doubtless countless adventurers, red and white, passed along this road, but none stopped. Howe gives an account of five scouts, all of whom afterwards settled in Stark, who fought a brisk en- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 123 gagement on the Little Sandy Creek in 1793. Their names were James Downing, John Cuppy, Isaac Miller, George Foulk and Thomas Dillon. We have now brought the history of Northeastern Ohio down to the end of the territorial period. In 1802, the Territory was knocking at the door of statehood. We will begin Book III of this history by relating briefly the story of the founding of the State of Ohio, and will then carry on with our early history.