BOOK THREE From Statehood to the Close of the War of 1812 CHAPTER I A STATE IS BORN When the second session of the Territorial Legislature met in November of 1801, the Territory, as we have noted before, had been divided. The new legislature represented only that portion of the original Northwest Territory which lay east of the line drawn north from the mouth of the Kentucky River. This legislature had among its membership a large number of those younger men who had become imbued with the principles of democracy which constituted the party principles of the Republican-Democratic Party; the political group whose leader was Thomas Jefferson. In 1801, this party had begun its domination of political affairs, which continued uninterrupted until the close of the administration of Van Buren in 1841. The form which this growth of democracy took in the Territory was two-fold : a personal animosity toward Governor St. Clair and a demand for statehood. Before the administration of John Adams ended, a demand had gone forth for the removal of St. Clair. Adams had refused to accede to the demand, and in spite of the fact of St. Clair's militant federalism, Jefferson also supported the governor. St. Clair, - 125 - 126 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO however, added greatly to his own unpopularity, first, by opposing the move toward statehood altogether, and afterwards, by proposing that the new state line be drawn with the Scioto River for a western boundary. His reasons were: first, that the new line would postpone statehood for several years, owing to lack of sufficient population; second, the territory included, being made up of the lands of the Ohio Company and the Western Reserve, was to a great extent Federalist in sentiment, and the Governor was anxious to establish a state, if a state there had to be, which would be Federalist in politics. As a matter of political history, the death of Washington and the subsequent death of Hamilton lost to the Federalists their leadership to such an extent that the party soon was to die a natural death. During the summer of 1801, both sides strove to gain their point as to the question in controversy by besieging the Congress and the President at Washington with petitions and delegations. The appointment of William Henry Harrison as Governor of Indiana Territory left the position of territorial delegate to Congress open, and the new appointee, a young man named Paul Fearing, was to a great extent in sympathy with St. Clair. On the other side there was no lack of leadership. Three men particularly, Edward Tiffin, Nathaniel Massie and Thomas Worthington, all from Virginia and all Jeffersonians, led the opposition. Edward Tiffin was the speaker of the Territorial Legislature. He was a man of unusual genius; his early education was in the medical profession; later he qualified as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on coming to the Territory, he entered the practice of the law, thus uniting in himself all the so-called learned professions. He was a devout follower of Jefferson, and the leader against St. Clair. Massie was Colonel and Commander of the territorial militia, also a militant Democrat. Worthington, while whole-heartedly entered in HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 127 the contest on the Democratic side, had more stability of character than the other two, and acted as a restraining influence at times. On the Governor's side were Return Jonathan Meigs, to some extent, and Ephraim Cutler, son the Reverend Manasseh Cutler, whole-heartedly. George Tod of Trumbull, while inclined toward Jeffersonian principles in politics, defended the Governor in several instances from the vicious attacks of his enemies, and was one of the stabilizing influences in the conflict, as was also the other leading political figure of the Reserve, Samuel Huntington. The argument was colored by the high flown political metaphor of the times. St. Clair was spoken of by his opponents as "Sir Arthur," and his followers as the "Knights of the Round Table." Worthington called him "Arthur the First." The culmination of the controversy was the drawing up of a set of charges against St. Clair by his opponents in which he was charged with usurpation of legislative powers, demanding unauthorized fees for performing the duties of his office, making improper appointments, and advocating the return to a monarchial form of government. The Governor was fighting a losing battle. His personal character was so well known that attacks against it failed, but his political position was untenable. On April 9, 1802, Congress passed the Enabling Act which provided for the creation of the state. The boundaries were limited to an area less than the size of the territory. Section Two of the act reads in part : "The said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio River, to the mouth of the Great Miami River, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami River aforesaid, and on the north by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due 128 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid ;" the present limits of the State of Ohio. (Note.—The northern boundary became later the subject of a controversy with the State of Michigan which nearly resulted in a local war. The trouble was due to inaccurate surveys, mainly.) The act provided for the election of members of a constitutional convention, all male adult taxpayers having the right to vote for delegates. The delegates were apportioned among the counties on a basis of one for each twelve hundred inhabitants, but the act proceeded to allot the number from each county as follows: Trumbull, two; Jefferson, five; Belmont, two; Washington, four; Ross, five; Fairfield, two; Adams, three; Hamilton, ten; Clermont, two—thirty-five in all. The election of delegates was to be held on the second Tuesday of October, and the convention was to convene at Chillicothe on the first Monday of November. In accordance with the provisions of the act, on Monday, November 1, 1802, the convention went into session. Of the leading figures in the convention, Ross County sent Tiffin, Massie, Worthington; Hamilton County, Charles Willing Byrd, then Secretary of the Territory, and William Goforth, both enemies of St. Clair; Jefferson County, Bazaleel Wells; Washington County, Rufus Putnam and Ephraim Cutler. The representatives from Trumbull County were Samuel Huntington and David Abbott, each of whom is entitled to a paragraph. Samuel Huntington was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1765. He graduated from Yale in 1785 and was a lawyer by profession. He belonged to a leading Connecticut family. He was the nephew and adopted son of Samuel Huntington, President of the Continental Congress. Our Samuel Hunt- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 129 ington first came to the Reserve in 1800, by invitation of Governor St. Clair, his first visit being by way of Youngstown. He moved his family to Cleveland in 1801, coming by the traditional covered wagon. He was the first state senator from Trumbull County, served on the Supreme Court bench, and was Governor of Ohio from 1808 to 1810. When he left the Governor's chair he removed to Painesville, where he built a fine mansion between the city and the lake, and there died in 1817, having attained distinction and honor from all his neighbors. He appears in the Constitutional Convention as a Federalist, but seems to have favored statehood, and was one of the most valuable members of the convention. David Abbott was a native of Massachusetts. He attended Yale, but failed to graduate, his health failing. He was also a lawyer, and came to the Reserve to practice in 1798, taking up a residence in Willoughby. He was the first sheriff of Trumbull County, taking office in 1800, and was a representative in the state legislature for several terms. In 1809, Abbott moved to Milan in Erie County, afterwards to be famous as the birthplace of Thomas A. Edison. Abbott had a character for eccentricity, one of his favorite past-times being the traversing of Lake Erie alone in an open sailboat. He showed his independence in the Constitutional Convention, first by arriving several days late, and after by voting as he pleased. He was the last delegate to arrive. The convention assembled for its first session on November 1st, as we have seen, and adjourned on November 29th, having made a constitution in the meantime, which period of time probably constitutes a record. No reporter was present, and no record of the debates exists. The journal is a bare record of motions made and the vote thereon. It is unfortunate that no Madison was among them to keep a journal, as the debates must have been extremely interesting. Such knowledge as we have is from the meagre collection of letters that exist. 130 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO On the second day Edward Tiffin, St. Clair's arch enemy, was chosen president. This fact in itself was sufficient to show which way the wind was blowing. On the third a motion was made that Governor St. Clair be permitted to address the Convention. The motion carried by the small majority of five. The minutes read : "And thereupon Arthur St. Clair, Esq., was permitted to address the convention." His speech was not calculated to bring about peace. While Jacob Burnet, a wise and gentle observer of territorial affairs, whose notes on the period are invaluable, speaks of the address as "sensible and conciliatory," Jefferson on the other hand speaks of it as containing "an intemperance and indecorum of language toward the Legislature of the United States, and a disorganizing spirit and tendency of very evil example." The speech suggests that the Enabling Act was unnecessary and probably unconstitutional, that the boundaries of the new state are unfair to certain people inside and out; hints at a wrong intent on the part of Congress and the National Administration, and insinuates a doubt here and there as to the ability of this convention to make a constitution. "Sensible and conciliatory" the address may have been, but it ended the pubic career of St. Clair. Before the convention ended, on November 22nd, Jefferson removed the Governor from office, and turned the territory over to Secretary Charles Willing Byrd. It may be as well to close the story of St. Clair here. Broken in body and spirit, he went home to Pennsylvania to live out his days in poverty. His governorship had been a losing venture financially and he found his home in the hands of his creditors. "They left me a few books of my classical library," he said, "and the bust of Paul Jones, which he sent me from Europe, for which I was very grateful." He moved to a log cabin near Ligonier, his only remaining property. One day in August, 1818, the old man went on a jour- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 131 ney for supplies. A wheel of the wagon broke, and he was thrown into the road, where he was found lying unconscious. He never spoke again, and on August 31st he died. Whatever his faults, he was sincere, honest and faithful. His services to the Territory were invaluable. Ohio has nearly forgotten him, but in spite of his opposition to the final act of creation of the state, Ohio owes Arthur St. Clair a debt of gratitude, which might still be partially paid in some fitting memorial. The nature of the Constitution of 1802 is a plain reflection of the character of the men who made it. There are two parts : a form of government and a bill of rights. Almost the entire power of the state was placed in the hands of the legislature. The Governor had scarcely any appointments to make, and very little to do except the privilege of making speeches. All judges and all the minor state officers were chosen by the legislature. Each county was to elect a sheriff and a coroner. The other county officers were creatures of the legislature. The reason for this peculiar situation is that the members of the convention were afraid of a thing they called "tyranny of the executive," and they pointed to St. Clair's administration as a fearful example of it. They did not realize the possibility of a "tyranny of the legislature," yet that was the trap into which they fell, and in spite of subsequent changes in the constitution, including an entire remodeling in 1851, Ohio has not been able to escape that tyranny yet. The Bill of Rights embodied everything in the Ordinance of 1787, everything in the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and then went on from there. It covers practically all human rights, and guarantees some things which are probably unattainable this side the millennium; for instance, quoting from Section 1: "All men are born equally free and independent, and have 132 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights; amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety . . Having made a constitution, the convention adjourned sine die. The question of submitting the completed work to the people of the state for ratification was discussed, but it was decided that since the members of the convention were the representatives of the people, their work was necessarily the people's work, so why vote on it? Congress accepted the constitution on February 19, 1803. An election was held, Edward Tiffin was elected Governor. The seventeenth star was added to the flag. A state was born. CHAPTER II THE MAHONING VALLEY SETTLEMENTS— WARREN AND VICINITY Warren was in 1801 the seat of government for Trumbull County, as we have noted, and the most important settlement, therefore, in the Reserve. We quote from the Mahoning Valley Historical Collections a description of the town at this time : "The point upon which the courthouse now stands was a considerable elevation, and north and northwest of it the land was of the same elevation as at the present day. From the site of the courthouse there was a decided slope toward the south, and the corner of Market and Main streets was very low. There, in fact, was the beginning of a swamp, which, running east of the line of the business blocks on Market Street, spread south toward the river, and southeast toward the mouth of Red Run. The level of Market Street has been raised about ten feet, the cellars of the buildings being on the original surface. How much of a swamp there was may be realized from this fact : Jacob Harsh . . had a cow which got mired back of his house. She was rescued with much labor, but died the next day from exhaustion. When the surface water was frozen, in winter, the swamp was a favorite place for the boys and girls to "run and slide" and to learn to skate. In very high water the Mahoning sometimes overflowed at the corner of Market and Main, and spread over the low land mentioned. Improbable tradition says that even the main current of the - 133 - 134 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO river took that course. The west side of Main Street was higher. There was also high ground at the corner of Liberty and Market streets, which sloped east to a deep ravine in which was a brook, which flowed south until it was lost in the swale below town. On Market Street the rise on the east of this ravine was so steep that it required quite an effort to climb it. Further east was another ravine not as deep, traces of the western slope of which may yet be seen on the Pease property, on the south side of Market Street. The land east from the corner of Market and Elm streets was muck swamp, extending north to Thorn Street, and surrounded by a low sandy ridge." (Note.—This was written in 1876. No trace of any ravine or creek remain in 1934.) Mercantile business began in Warren early in 1802, when one George Lovelass opened a little shop on Main Street. The same summer another store was opened on the same street by Robert Erwin, described by an old lady who remembered him as "handsome, but a sad scamp." Before the opening of these stores merchandise came to Warren by an occasional canoe, whose proprietors blew a horn as they approached the settlement, to give notice to the inhabitants of their arrival. A regular mail service was also established in 1801. A route was authorized by the Postmaster General of the United States, Gideon Granger, on application of Elijah Wadsworth of Canfield. Three postoffices were opened, at Youngstown, Canfield and Warren, the postmasters being, respectively, Calvin Pease, Elijah Wadsworth and Simon Perkins. The mail was brought from Pittsburgh by the way of Beaver. Following is an extract from a letter of General Perkins concerning the mail service : "The mail first came to Warren October 30, 1801, via Canfield and Youngstown. . . . A Mr. Fritby, of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio, was contractor on the route, HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 135 which came and terminated at Warren, the terminus for two or four years before it went on to Cleveland. Eleazar Gilson, of Canfield, Ohio, was the first mail-carrier, and made a trip once in two weeks; but I do not recollect the compensation. This was the first mail to the Reserve. Two years afterward,. I think it was, that the mail was extended to Detroit, and it may have been four years. The route was from Warren, via Deerfield, Ravenna, Hudson, etc., to Cleveland, and then along the old Indian trail to Sandusky, Maumee, River Raisin, to Detroit, returning from Cleveland, via Painesville, Harpersfield, and Jefferson, to Warren. The trip was performed from Pittsburgh to Warren in about two days. In the Autumn of 1807, by the request of the Postmaster General, I did go to Detroit to make arrangements for the safe and speedy transportation of the mail. I got my letter of advice on the 10th of December, and left home soon thereafter. Was at Detroit on the 25th and 26th of that month, and while there I saw, at the house of Governor Hull, three Indians, one of whom was said to be very influential. To them I communicated my business, the bad state of the roads, etc., from Sandusky to Warren, and asked if their people would not consent to give to the United States permission to make a road there, and to keep it in repair; in short, to sell land sufficient for that purpose; and said to them that I thought to lay out the road and give one mile on each side would be sufficient. In all this I had the aid of the Governor. The Indians assented, and it was agreed that it should be introduced at the next Great Assembly of the Indians, which, I think, was expected to be held the following Spring." It took the general about two weeks to travel from Warren to Detroit—a forenoon's journey now by motor-car over the present magnificent roads. It may be remarked that there was an ulterior motive in the general's conference with the Indian chiefs. Already in 1807 the mutterings of war were to be heard; Tecumseh 136 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO was traveling far and wide seeking to establish a great Indian confederacy to resist the encroachments of the white men; there was trouble brewing with the British, and it was of the utmost importance that a line of communication be opened and kept open along the lake, not only for mail but for the movement of troops and supplies. Two religious denominations established themselves in Warren during the first decade of the 19th Century, the Baptists and the Presbyterians. The Baptist Congregation seems to have been first organized. The men from Washington County, Pennsylvania, had been Baptists at home. We have seen that a Baptist minister preached the first sermon in Warren. At least as early as 1802, a Baptist minister from the Shenango settlements just across the Pennsylvania line, the Reverend Thomas G. Jones, was engaged to preach every other Sunday in Warren. In September, 1803, the congregation was formally established with nine members. No permanent pastor was engaged until 1810, when the Reverend Adamson Bentley came to Warren. Mr. Bentley not only was a famous preacher, but also filled a large place in the civic affairs of the community. He was at times a merchant, a cattle-drover, a director of the Western Reserve Bank and a builder. In later life he became a follower of Alexander Campbell, founder of the sect known as the Disciples of Christ. The great Congregational or Presbyterian missionary, Joseph Badger, organized the Presbyterian congregation in Warren probably in the Fall of 1800. There was no regular pastor of this church until 1808. Badger, William Wick of Youngstown and an occasional minister from Pennsylvania preached in Warren from time to time. In 1808, the Reverend James Boyd was called as the regular pastor. This church established itself at the corner of High Street and Mahoning Avenue, where the present old First Presbyterian Church now stands. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 137 A service was held by a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Warren in 1813, but no parish was established until later years. The Baptist and Congregational or Presbyterian Congregations were the only established sects in Warren until the '20's. A log schoolhouse was built on the river bank near the square about 1800. George Parsons was probably the first teacher. A frame building was erected a little later. Early teachers were Alexander Sutherland, Samuel Forward, Miss Mary Case and Cyrus Bosworth. No institution of higher learning came into being in Warren until about 1818, when the "Academy" was founded. Warren's first newspaper issued its first number on June 16, 1812. The editor was Thomas D. Webb, the printer, David Fleming. It boasted the high flown title of the Trump of Fame. It operated under this magnificent cognomen until 1816, when under the management of Fitch Bissel it was re-christened the Western Reserve Chronicle. It was a four page weekly journal, its pages being mostly concerned with foreign news, along with speeches copied from the congressional records of the time. The student of history who reads any of the periodicals of the time is likely to find his most important items of information contained in the advertising column; it seems to have been a theory of the editors that there was no particular necessity of printing local items of news--everybody knew them anyway. For years after the state was founded a spirited contest continued between Warren and Youngstown for the possession of the county seat. Warren was in possession, but Youngstown claimed a superior situation, and a larger population. The rivalry was carried into other lines of human endeavor. There is a story of a famous horse race which was supposed to have had some bearing on the contest. The Youngstown horse won the race, which was for a wager of $500.00, but Warren kept the courthouse. 138 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Both sides sent lobbyists to Chillicothe to try to influence the legislature. In 1808, two Youngstown men, Richard J. Elliott and Robert Hughes, were elected to the state House of Representatives. The Warren supporters decided to contest the election of Hughes on the ground that a number of aliens had been permitted to vote in Youngstown. These aliens seem to have been Irish; the first of that long list of Irish immigrants who have since become such a large and valuable portion of the population of the valley. The legislature confirmed the election of Hughes, but the matter of the county seat remained in status quo. In 1811, George Tod was elected state senator, and although a resident of Youngstown he seems to have succeeded in pacifying his fellow townsmen and arranging a final settlement in favor of Warren. Judge Tod was probably the most influential citizen of Youngstown at that time, and was able to dictate his own terms to a great many of his neighbors. At any rate a courthouse was built in Warren in 1813. It is likely that a great many residents of Youngstown and vicinity were already considering the formation of a new county. A most important event in the history of the Reserve was the organization in 1811-12 at Warren of the Western Reserve Bank. This first banking institution of the Reserve was chartered with the following as incorporators: Simon Perkins, Robert B. Parkman, Turhand Kirtland, George Tod, John Ford, Comfort S. Mygatt, Calvin Austin, William Rayen and John Kinsman. The stock was sold in shares of a par value of $25.00 each, and the original stockholders included nearly all the leading citizens of the Mahoning Valley, the largest subscriber being John Kinsman, Sr., with 800 shares, or $20,000; the smallest, Benjamin Bentley, Jr., and Mary Tanner, with two shares each. There were sixty-six subscribers in all, the original capital subscribed amounting to $93,100. The original board of directors were HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 139 the following: Simon Perkins, Turhand Kirtland, Francis Freeman, John Ford, William Rayen, Calvin Austin, Comfort S. Mygatt, Calvin Pease, Henry Wick, Leonard Case, David Clendennen, William Bell, Jr., and Richard Hayes. General Simon Perkins was the first president and Zalmon Fitch the first cashier. The bank went into operation in 1813. Its original location was on the east side of Main Street. In 1817 it moved to the southeast corner of the square, a corner still occupied by its successor. The Western Reserve Bank had a long and most honorable career, weathering the financial storms of more than fifty years, during which time its credit was never questioned. It is probably the only early Ohio bank which never had any serious financial difficulty. It ended its existence in 1866, by voluntary liquidation and absorption, into the First National Bank of Warren. One early building in Warren deserves mention, as contributing greatly to the entertainment of the community. This was an erection by one William W. Cotgreave, called "Castle William," in honor of the proprietor. It stood on Market Street, facing nearly the center of the square. The lower story, built of logs, seems to have originally been intended for a jail. Afterwards it served at times as church, school room, Masonic hall and tavern. The upper stories, of frame, contained a dance hall and other rooms used for entertainment. The orchestra for many years was directed by an old colored fiddler known as "Uncle Tony." Before leaving Warren for a time it is proper to discuss the careers of a few of those leading citizens who had most to do with making the country. Simon Perkins has been mentioned several times. He should probably be considered the leading citizen of Warren. He was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1771. His father was a Revolutionary captain who died in the service. Young 140 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Simon Perkins spent the years from 1795 to 1798 in the neighborhood of Oswego, New York. In the latter year he came to the Reserve as one of the agents of the Connecticut Land Company. He spent several years traveling back and forth between Ohio and Connecticut, being responsible for a very large portion of the sales of land in the southern part of the Reserve. In 1804, he married, ceased his wandering and settled in Warren, locating his home on a fine elevation in the bend of the river northwest of the square, west of what is now Mahoning Avenue. A portion of this property still remains in the Perkins family. "So extensive were the land agencies intrusted to him that in 1815 the state land tax paid by him into the public treasury was one-seventh of the entire revenue of the state." (Note.—Mahoning Valley Hist. Coll., P. 248.) He had in the highest degree the confidence not only of his fellow townsmen, but of all the inhabitants of the state. We have already seen that he was the agent of the Federal Government to the Indians concerning the Detroit Road, which was established by treaty in 1808. He was the first postmaster in Warren, and was commissioned a brigadier general of militia in 1808, serving as commander of the Trumbull County brigade in the western campaigns of the War of 1812. After the war he returned to Warren, acted as first president of the Western Reserve Bank, and after a long and useful life died "full of days, riches and honor," in 1844. There is no doubt that General Perkins ranks as Warren's first citizen. One of the most interesting and useful of Warren's early citizens was John Stark Edwards, son of Pierpont Edwards, who was one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company. The Edwards family was one of the great bulwarks of Presbyterianism in New England, and the Western Reserve branch, which young John Stark Edwards founded, is worthy of its origin. He was a close HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 141 relative of both Jonathan Edwards and of the Burr family, and as was natural received his collegiate education at the College of New Jersey, commonly called Princeton College, now Princeton University. After his graduation from Princeton young Edwards studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar at New Haven in 1799, being then twenty-one years of age. Edwards came to the Reserve in 1799, as the representative of his father, who became owner of Mesopotamia Township (Township 7, Range 5) in the Reserve. He made his headquarters principally in Mesopotamia until 1804, when he settled permanently in Warren. He was a young man of great charm of manner and brilliance of mind, as well as of fine character, and seems to have been universally beloved. One or two extracts from his letters are worthy of insertion here, as they give a valuable picture of early life in the Reserve. In 1802 he writes to his brother-in-law : "Though nature has not endowed me with a very strong imagination, yet I often experience much real pleasure in contemplating the future greatness of this flourishing and rising country. I can behold cities rising which shall equal in populousness and splendor those of the Atlantic States, a rich, well improved and highly cultivated country, and as great a share of luxuries and enjoyments of life as are necessary for our happiness. We have trebled in numbers within the last two years, and at no time since I have been acquainted with the country have the emigrations been so great as they have the present season. My situation, in some respects, is unpleasant, but future prospects make me contented. My farming is doing well. I have six acres of first-rate corn, and shall put in twelve acres of wheat, six of which will be sowed by the 1st of September, and the remainder by the 1st of October. I am fearful that I shall get too much 142 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO attached to my present life unless I quit it soon. I grow daily more fond of it." . . . His prophecy of the future of the Reserve is interesting. It has certainly been fulfilled beyond his wildest dreams. On July 14, 1803, he writes: "I was at Warren on the Fourth of July, where I attended a ball. You may judge of my surprise at meeting a very considerable company, all of whom were well dressed with neatness and in fashion, some of them elegantly. The ladies generally dressed well ; some of them would have been admired for their ease and grace in a New Haven ballroom. It was held on the same spot of ground where, four years since, there was scarcely the trace of human hand, or anywhere within fifteen miles of it. We improved well the occasion; began at two o'clock in the afternoon of Monday and left the room a little before sunrise on Tuesday morning. We dance but seldom, which is our apology." "July 7, 1806. We are but just well through the Fourth of July. It was celebrated at Warren with great splendor. About one hundred citizens of Trumbull sat down to a superb dinner provided for the occasion. Seventeen toasts were drunk in flowing bumpers of wine under a discharge of firearms. (Note.—One may wonder where they got such a supply of wine. Corn whiskey and hard cider were the popular alcoholic beverages of the country.) The whole was concluded with a feu-de-joie (bonfire?) and a procession. The greatest harmony and hilarity prevailed throughout the day. In the evening we attended a splendid ball, at which were present about thirty couples. You would have been surprised at the elegance and taste displayed upon the occasion, recollecting that within seven years, upon the same spot of ground, the only retreat from the heavens was a miserable log house, sixteen feet square, in which I was obliged to take my lodging upon the floor, wrapped HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 143 up in my blanket. But, farther, not satisfied with dancing one evening, we assembled again on the fifth and had a very agreeable and pleasant ball. Before we dined, on the Fourth, we had an oration. So much for New Connecticut. Do you now think we live in the woods, or is it surprising that we forget that we do?" Edwards spent the winter of 1806-7 in New England. On February 28, 1807, he was united in marriage at Springfield, Vermont, to Miss Louisa Maria Morris, of that place. He returned to Warren with his wife in the spring, living with the Perkins family until he built his own house southeast of the square. Tradition says that this house was built on the site of the first little graveyard, and three unmarked graves remain under the foundations. An interesting incident in the history of the Edwards family is the coming to the Reserve of a cousin of Mrs. Edwards, Miss Margaret Van Horn Dwight. In 1910 the Yale University Press published the diary kept by Miss Dwight during her journey from Connecticut to Warren just one hundred years before, in the Fall of 1810. She made the journey by wagon over the Pennsylvania route, her companions being one of the Wolcott families. Her description of the hardships, adventures and amusing events in the journey is charming and vivacious, and show her to have been a most delightful young person. She remained in the Reserve to marry William Bell, who was with John Stark Edwards at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Bell afterwards moved to Pittsburgh, where they remained. Edwards in 1810-11 attempted a sheep raising enterprise at Put-in-Bay, which turned out to be a failure on account of the interruption of the war. He had been Recorder of Trumbull County since the beginning. In 1811 he was commissioned a colonel of militia and marched into the war area in the Fall of 1812, but soon withdrew, his 144 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO services being no longer needed. In October of 1812 he was elected to the United States Congress from the Sixth District. He never took his seat. On a journey to the islands to examine the remnant of his stock, in January, 1813, he became seriously ill and died on the journey home. He was only thirty-five years of age, but had already made a permanent name among the founders of the Reserve. Leonard Case, one of the makers of the City of Cleveland and the founder of the Case School of Applied Science, spent the days of his young manhood in Warren. He was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1786 and came to Warren with his parents in 1880. He was partially crippled in his boyhood by exposure to the chilly waters of the Mahoning while in pursuit of his father's cattle. Being more or less barred from physical pursuits by this accident, he proceeded to educate himself, with the result that he rose to a place of great honor, trust and wealth in the state. He moved to Cleveland in 1816, and from that time until his death in 1864 remained a resident of that city. The settlement of Kinsman properly belongs in this chapter, as the most important of the early centers of population in the present Trumbull County outside of Warren. John Kinsman, the original proprietor of the township, which is Township 7, Range 1, came to the Reserve originally in 1799. He spent most of his time for two or three years in and about Warren, and did not begin the establishment of Kinsman until 1801. John Kinsman was born in Lisbon, Connecticut, in 1753. He served with honor in the Revolution, having the unpleasant experience of being captured by the British during the Battle of Long Island. His confinement on board a prison ship in New York harbor left an abiding impression HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 145 on his memory. After the Revolution he engaged in the business of hat manufacturing in Connecticut. He married Miss Rebecca Perkins in 1792, and it was this connection with the Perkins family, probably, which interested him in the Reserve. He held the office of justice of the peace in the first county organization ; was appointed a common pleas judge in 1806, and was one of the incorporators and the largest individual stockholder in the Western Reserve Bank. He died in 1813. His widow survived him for forty-one years, dying in Kinsman on May 27, 1854, aged eighty years. John Kinsman built a double log cabin in Kinsman in the Summer of 1801, and from this time on made his home in the new village. In 1802 Martin Tidd and his family, including his daughter and her husband, James Hill, settled in Kinsman. In this year Kinsman completed the construction of a sawmill, and opened a small store. David Randall came during the year. Both Tidd and Randall were Pennsylvanians, coming from the famous Wyoming Valley. By 1804 enough families had come to Kinsman to warrant a Fourth of July celebration. The entertainment consisted of a dinner of wild turkeys and young wild ducks, with the usual punch and speeches. In 1805 there were thirty families settled in Kinsman, and the chronicler gives a list of twenty-four young unmarried men and eight unmarried women. The first school in Kinsman was taught by Leonard Blackburn in 1805-6. The school house was the usual log cabin. Joseph Badger organized a church of the Presbyterian faith in 1803, the membership coming from the three townships of Hartford, Vernon and Kinsman. There was no regular pastor until 1814; various ministers from time to time supplied the pulpit. The Reverend Harvey Coe was 146 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO the first regular pastor. A cemetery lot was laid out in 1804. Portage County was created out of the western portion of Trumbull in 1808. At that time the more important settlements in the various townships were as follows : In Ravenna, after the coming of Benjamin Tappan in 1799, several other families arrived before 1808, among them William Chard and family, and Conrad Boosinger, who brought with him his wife, two sons, George and John, and one daughter, Polly. Boosinger settled on two hundred acres of land southeast of Ravenna, and was the first tanner of Portage. In Aurora arrived in 1800 Ebenezer Sheldon and wife. Their daughter married Amzi Atwater. Other Aurora set, tlers were Samuel Forward in 1803, James M. Henry, John Cochran and others in 1804, and Moses and Joseph Eggleston in 1806. After Atwater and Hall settled Atwater Township, David Baldwin came to the township in 1801. No further settlers seem to have arrived until 1807, when four families emigrated from North Carolina, the heads being Enos Davis, William Marshall, John Hutton and John Campbell. These men deserve special mention as the first southerners to come to the Reserve. The only notable settler to come to Deerfield Township after the first settlement was Noah Grant. He was a tanner and shoemaker, and came to Deerfield in 1804 or 1805, probably. With him came his son, Jesse, then a boy about ten years old, who was to become the father of General Ulysses Simpson Grant. Nelson Township was first settled in 1800 by three brothers, Delaun, Asahel and Isaac Mills. The two first named brought wives with them. The three brothers made the trip by wagon and, owing to delays on the journay, arrived with less than twenty-five cents among them. Urial Holmes, the HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 147 principal proprietor of Nelson Township, employed them to serve as axemen for the surveyors, and they managed to earn enough to enable them to make a payment on a farm for each. Rootstown Township was settled by Ephraim and David Root and Nathan Muzzy in 1801. Muzzy was an unfortunate character, a broken down scholar whose misfortunes pursued him after he came to the Reserve. To Randolph Township came Bela Hubbard and Salmon Ward in 1802. Ward, becoming ill, went home to Connecticut and Hubbard remained solitary in the wilderness for several weeks until, in July, Arad Upson, Joseph Harris and others came to share his solitude. Oliver Dickinson came to Randolph in 1805, and began to practise the blacksmithing trade. Suffield was settled by Royal Pease, of Suffield, Connecticut, in 1802. In Charlestown one Abel Forsha squatted in 1803, but the first permanent settler was John Campbell, who came in 1805. Hiram Township was settled by Elijah Mason, Elisha Hutchinson and Mason Tilden in 1803 ; Franklin Township by John Haymaker, a Pennsylvania German, in 1805; Shalersville, by Joel Baker, of Tollard County, Connecticut, in 1806. Such a catalogue of names as these has little significance unless one tries to picture the scene. These few families in Portage County, it must be remembered, were scattered over a space twenty-five miles long by twenty wide, a country of almost unbroken forest, a country of little streams and rolling hills where the only roads were insignificant trails through the heavy forest growth, where a call for help was much more likely to be heard by wild animal or unfriendly Indian than by any friendly ear. Under such circumstances 148 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO as these the land was cleared, cabins were built, children were born and men and women died, to make a state out of the wilderness. The original Portage County, as organized in 1808, was divided into six townships for the purpose of government. Two of these, Hudson and Springfield, now lie in Summit and Medina counties, except for the townships of Suffield and Randolph. The present townships were distributed among the other four as follows : Aurora Township, Aurora and Streetsboro; Hiram Township, Mantua, Hiram, Nelson, Garretsville, Shalersville, Freedom and Windham; Franklin Township, Franklin, Brimfield, Ravenna, Rootstown and Charlestown; Deerfield Township, Paris, Edinburg, Atwater, Palmyra and Deerfield. Benjamin Tappan laid out the town site of Ravenna in 1808, and when the county was created it was chosen as the county seat. The court record of the first court session reads in part as follows : "State of Ohio, County of Portage, Tuesday, August 23, 1808. This being the day appointed by law for the sitting of Court of Common Pleas for said County, the Court opened, present, Calvin Pease, Esq., President, and William Wetmore, Aaron Norton and Amzi Atwater, Esqs., Associate Judges." The house of Benjamin Tappan had been designated as the place of holding court, but on the night of August 22nd it was burned to the ground. The court, therefore, met at the house of Robert Eaton, and continued there until a frame courthouse and jail were built in 1810. With the year 1808, Portage County ceases to be a part of Trumbull and begins a story of its own. Its development will be taken up in future chapters. CHAPTER III THE MAHONING VALLEY SETTLEMENTS, YOUNGS- TOWN AND VICINITY The original civil townships of Youngstown included the townships of Poland, Coitsville and Hubbard of Range 1; Boardman, Youngstown and Liberty, of Range 2; Canfield and Austintown, of Range 3 ; and Ellsworth and Jackson, of Range 4. The first townmeeting was held on April 5, 1802. The following record was made by Judge Tod : "At a legal township-meeting, begun and held in and for the township of Youngstown, in the county of Trumbull, at the dwelling-house of William Rayen, on the fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two, the following proceedings were had, namely: "The persons hereinafter mentioned were chosen to the offices respectively affixed to their names: "John Young, Chairman. George Tod, Town Clerk. "Voted, that there be five Trustees chosen. Accordingly, James Doud, John Struthers, Camden Cleveland, Samuel Tylee, and Calvin Pease, were duly elected. "Voted, that there be three overseers of the poor chosen. Accordingly, Archibald Johnson, James Matthews and John Rush were duly elected. "Thomas Kirkpatrick and Samuel Minough were duly elected fence viewers. "James Hillman and Homer Hine were elected appraisers of houses. - 149 -