150 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO "George Tod was chosen lister of taxable property. "William Chapman, Michael Seamore, James Wilson, Benjamin Ross, William Dunlap, Amos Loveland, John Davidson, William Service and Thomas Packard were elected supervisors of highways. "Calvin Pease and Phineas Reed were elected constables. "Voted, that the next stated town-meeting be held at the house now occupied by William Rayen aforesaid. "The meeting was then adjourned without day. "Attest: George Tod, Town Clerk." Quoting from the Mahoning Valley Historical Collections, P. 21: "Of the above named trustees, James Doud resided in the present township of Canfield, John Struthers in Poland, Samuel Tylee in Hubbard, and Calvin Pease and Camden Cleveland in Youngstown. "Their first meeting was held at the dwelling-house of William Rayen, innkeeper,' on April 18, 1802. This house, as we are informed, was a log house, erected by Mr. Young on the lot where William S. Parmelee lives, to which, however, from time to time, additions were made. The township-meetings were held 'at the dwelling-house of William Rayen' until after 1813, he being, most of the time, township clerk. Dr. Manning, on his arrival at Youngstown in 1811, stopped at that house, or, as he stated it, 'at Col. Rayen's Tavern.' He described the house thus : 'It was a two-story white-house, shingled on the sides instead of weather boarding. There was a log house attached to it on the north, and a kitchen at the back built of round logs. Between the log and frame part was a wide hall, open at both ends, and wooden benches on the sides for loungers.' " This original tavern in Youngstown was located on the north side of Federal Street in the vicinity of the present Spring Common. It was, as was natural, the general meet- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 151 ing place of the village. If there is an existing picture of it the writer has not been able to find it. It would not be difficult for a person of imagination to paint the scene in the open "hall" on a summer evening : the wooden benches filled with "loungers," the founders of Youngstown, to be exact, discussing the affairs of the day; local, state and national politics (for they took their politics seriously in those days,) and the various happenings of the village and the Reserve. William Rayen was a young man then, with a long and honorable career still before him. It seems unlikely, considering his character as we know it, that any loud or boisterous conduct was tolerated in or about the tavern. In August, 1802, John Young's town plat was recorded. The beginning of the instrument of record reads as follows : "Know ye, that I, John Young, of Youngstown, in the County of Trumbull, for the consideration of the pros, pect of advancing my property, have laid out and established in the township of Youngstown aforesaid, on the north side of the Mahoning River, a town plat of the following description, namely : Federal Street is a hundred feet in width and one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two feet in length, beginning at a corner post standing in front of Esquire Caleb Baldwin's house, a little west of his well, running south 62 degrees 30 minutes east through the middle of the plat and public square." There were one hundred town lots. Lots Numbers 95 and 96, on the east and west sides of the present Wick Avenue, north of the square, were set aside for the original graveyard, whose inhabitants, crowded out by business and railroads, were afterwards removed to Oakhill. We have seen that Isaac Powers and Phineas Hill built a flour mill on Mill Creek, at the falls, in 1798. Caleb Plumb, of New York State, built a second flour and sawmill on the river about 1804. He built a rude dam just below the present Spring Common bridge, and there, on the south 152 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO bank of the river, built one or two log buildings, in which his milling operations were conducted. This site was afterwards purchased by the Baldwin family, who continued in the milling business until well into the present century. The old Baldwin Mill, with its myriad gables and quaint architecture, is well remembered by the writer as one of Youngs-town's notable structures. Along Federal Street the early citizenry of Youngstown lived, and here the early mercantile businesses were located. Hugh Bryson operated a store for the sale of general merchandise on a corner of the Public Square, or "Diamond" as old citizens of Youngstown still call it. Henry Wick was the other store-keeper. Other people in business were Kirkpatrick, blacksmith; Abraim, chairmaker; John F. Townsend and William Sherman, hatters; Bruce, shoemaker. The first schoolhouse was built of logs, on the public square, where the Soldiers' Monument now stands. This school was in existence as early as 1802. The first teacher whose name is certain was Per Lee Brush. He was succeeded by James Noyes, "a tall, slim man from Connecticut." The best account of the early school system in the neighborhood is to be found in a letter from Jared P. Kirtland, son of Turhand Kirtland, published in the Mahoning Valley Historical Collections. We quote : "June 10, 1810, on the way from Wallingford, Connecticut, to Poland, Ohio, I spent the night at Adam's tavern, in the Town of Liberty. At noon of the following day I dined with Dr. Charles Dutton in Youngstown, a sparsely settled village of one street, the houses mostly log structures, a few humble frame buildings excepted; of the latter character was the dwelling-house and store (tavern) of the late Col. Rayen. • • • "After dining with the doctor and enjoying a pleasant interview, he mounted his horse and rode with me to join HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 153 my father's family at Poland, from whom I had been separated since the year 1803. "No bridges then spanned the Mahoning. We passed over Power's ford," (Near the present Center Street, Youngstown) "the water high and muddy from recent rains; but the doctor pointed out a rock in the river, with its top barely above the water which, he said, was an index that when the top appeared it was safe to ford the stream. . . . "On the Stambaugh farm, in Boardman, at the Four Corners, a small clearing, a fine young orchard and a log house were observed. A view over the Mahoning Valley, taken at that point, embraced, at that day, an unbroken wilderness. (Note.—The same view today shows the miles on miles of the mills and furnaces of the Republic Steel Corporation and the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, with the cities of Youngstown and Campbell stretching to the far horizon beyond.) The public highway to the Village of Poland had been already effectually cleared, and parts thrown up as a turnpike, but was an universal bed of muck and mud. "In the following week I took charge of the district school in the Village of Poland, consisting of sixty scholars, which I taught till late in September, in a log-house on the public square. (Note.—The writer is at a loss as to this location. Poland never had a "public square." It must have been on the main street, but whether east or west of Yellow Creek I do not know.) I soon learned that Joseph (James?) Noyes, a former schoolmate of mine, had charge of a school of similar size in Youngstown. It occupied a log building on Main (Federal) Street, next adjoining Mr. Bryson's log store, near where Col. Caleb Wick formerly resided. Mr. Noyes and myself soon established the rule to visit each other's school on every alternate Saturday and counsel each other on school teaching. (Note.—These meetings between 154 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO young Mr. Kirtland and young Mr. Noyes probably constituted the earliest teacher's institute in the Reserve.) Reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and geography were the branches required to be taught, I have the vanity to believe that, in the three first-named, the progress of our classes was as satisfactory as in the classes of the present day. Those three branches were rather specialties with both of us. Neither found use for the rod. "Those bi-weekly visits to that school established an acquaintance with nearly every individual, old or young, in the village." Mr. Kirtland adds a description of an interesting pupil : "Mary Tod (The late Mrs. Evans) was a member of Mr. Noyes' school. She then was just entering her teens, and a more lovely face than hers I have never seen. But, what do our fashionable and ambitious mothers of the present day imagine were the texture and style of the dress of that beautiful girl? Her external costume a home-made mixture of linen and cotton, cut after the fashion of the female disciples of Mother Ann Lee, with no plaits and few gores, unmodified by either corset or bustle. The lower margin was adorned with a two-inch stripe of madder red, followed next by one of indigo blue, and a third one of hickory bark yellow." The dyes, as well as the cloth, it may be added, were home-made. It is likely that everything young Miss Mary Tod wore was manufactured in or near Youngstown. Mr. Kirtland speaks above of Doctor Charles Dutton. He was the first physician to settle in Youngstown, and until the coming of Doctor Manning, in 1811, the only. Doctor Dutton was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1777. He studied medicine with Dr. Jared Potter, who was the father-in-law of Turhand Kirtland. Dutton came to Youngstown in 1801, at the suggestion of Turhand Kirtland. He soon assumed a leading position in the young community, serving as a practising physician until his death in 1842. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 155 The earliest, and for years the only church organization in Youngstown, was the old First Presbyterian Church. Both Joseph Badger and William Wick preached in Youngstown as early as 1799, but the church organization was not completed until 1801, when Mr. Wick, who had been pastor of the two Congregations of Neshannock and Hopewell, (at New Bedford) across the state line in Pennsylvania, was released from the Neshannock charge, and united his charge of Hopewell with the new congregation in Youngstown. A log church was built in 1801 on the hill on the east side of what was then called Market Street, the location being at the corner of Wick Avenue and Wood Street, diagonally across the street from where this famous old congregation continues to meet. The old log church continued to house the congregation until 1835. It was a commodious structure for the time, about thirty feet by forty, with a door facing south, and the windows overlooking the graveyard. The Reverend William Wick, first pastor, was born on Long Island, New York, in 1768. He moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1790, and married Elizabeth McFarland in 1794. At the time of his coming to the western country he had the intention of pursuing the life of a farmer, but in his late twenties he seems to have felt a call to preach. He prepared himself for the ministry under the direction of the famous Dr. McMillan of Canonsburg. Mr. Wick was licensed to preach in 1799, and took the joint charge of Neshannock and Hopewell immediately. He continued to preach in Youngstown until 1815, when a cold, due to exposure, broke his health so that he died. The inscription on his tombstone, unlike some epitaphs, gives an accurate summary of his life : "In memory of the Rev. William Wick, who died March 29, 1815, aged forty-six years and nine months. The father of eight sons and five daughters. He was a native of Long Island, New York; ordained a preacher of the Gospel Sep- 156 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO tember 3, 1800, was pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Youngstown and Hopewell fifteen years. In the course of his ministry preached 1,522 sermons and married 56 couples. He was highly esteemed as a faithful minister of Christ, a respectable and punctual member of the judicature of the Church, lived much-beloved and died much-lamented. The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." The descendants of William Wick, as we shall see, rose to high position in the city and state. The church he founded still holds a leading position in the city and in the Presbyterian denomination. His was as valuable a contribution as any man's, probably, in the early history of the Reserve. A few adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church were early resident in Youngstown, and occasional meetings were held. The earliest meeting was held in Judge Rayen's barn, about 1803. The first members were Moses Crawford and wife, John Hogue and wife, Isaac Powers and a Mr. Braden. Mrs. Rayen later joined this group. The congregation met in various places until about 1812, when they built a church on the south side of Federal Street, near the present Trinity Church. As the Methodist Episcopal Church at this time was organized on the circuit plan, with an annual change of pastors, the list is long. Up to 1813 the ministers in charge of the circuit are as follows : 1803-4, Shadrack Bostwick; 1805, J. A. Shackelford, David Best and Robert R. Roberts; 1806, Robert R. Roberts and James Watts; 1807, C. Reynolds, C. Daniels and A. Divers; 1808, Job Guist and William Reuter; 1809, J. Charles, J. M. Hanson and J. J. Decellum; 1810, James Charles and James Ewen; 1811, William Knox and Joshua Monroe; 1812, Thomas J. Crock-well, J. Somerville and James McMahon; 1813, John Shannon and Oliver Carver. This list of pioneer Methodist men of God who carried the gospel into the wilderness can only be a catalogue of names, as their history is lost in obscurity. Such was the nature of the early Methodist ministry. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 157 Daniel and Jane Shehy came to Youngstown with two thousand dollars in gold, to purchase land, in 1798. Daniel Shehy was a native of Tipperary in Ireland, and came to America toward the end of the Revolution, serving in the Continental Army. He was a man of education and eloquence, various instances of his oratory being listed in the early history of Youngstown. He bought one thousand acres on the south side of the river from John Young, but difficulties concerning the title resulted in his final removal to the east side of Crab Creek, where he operated a farm of three hundred and twenty acres. The farm on the south side came into the possession of James Hillman. East of the Shehy farm settled Robert Montgomery about 1804, his farm extending to the eastern line of Youngstown Township. He was one of the builders of the Struthers Furnace, described in the next chapter. He was a widower with one daughter when he came to Youngstown, and in 1814 married Louisa M. Edwards, the widow of John Stark Edwards. The Village of Poland, always one of the most charming settlements in the Reserve, grew up around the flour mill and tavern erected by Jonathan Fowler on the banks of Yellow Creek. Fowler, as we have seen, located in Poland in 1799. Turhand and Jared Kirtland, brothers of Mrs. Fowler, moved their families permanently to the village in 1802. They were long the leading citizens, Turhand Kirtland as land agent and early financier, filling a large place in early Reserve history. Fowler lost his life in 1806 while engaged in a rather mysterious enterprise which deserves some mention. In 1804, or thereabouts, an elderly person calling himself Dean, came into Poland Township in search of squared white oak timbers and staves. He said that the timbers were to be used for ship building, and the staves for wine casks. Isaac Powers and Amos Loveland took the contract, and spent about a year getting out the lumber. When the 158 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO order was completed, the timbers were made into rafts, the staves bound into bundles and loaded on the rafts, and the whole was started down the river. Various accidents occurred. The rafts were wrecked, most of the timbers lost, James Dean, nephew of the original contractor, thrown from a canoe while sleeping and drowned, wrapped in his blanket, and Jonathan Fowler, who was directing the expedition, also drowned, when his canoe upset in Beaver. All that was finally saved was the staves, which were collected, loaded on flat-boats and sent to New Orleans. Nothing was seen again of old Mr. Dean, nor was anything known as to his business. Rumor, however, connected him with the Burr conspiracy which stirred the whole country about this time. There is no evidence, however, that Dean had any connection with Burr in any way. The Presbyterian Church of Poland was founded in 1801, a year after the first preaching in Youngstown, under the pastorate of Rev. Nathaniel Pittinger. This church still flourishes on its original site, although the old building has of course long been replaced by a finer one. The old village graveyard lies beside the church. It was established almost at the beginning of village history. The first school in Poland was established in 1801, the first teacher being John K. Stanton. We have seen that young Jared Potter Kirtland taught there in 1810. John Struthers brought his family to the farm at the mouth of Yellow Creek in J799, as already noted. He built a flour mill near the mouth of the creek, the stone dam remaining in ruins until a few years ago, when park improve ments in its City of Struthers necessitated its removal. In 1806 Robert Montgomery, David Clendenin and Captain Struthers built the blast furnace on the Struthers farm which will be described in the next chapter. On this farm was born in 1803 Thomas Struthers, who played a great part HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 159 in the development of both the Reserve and northern Pennsylvania. An interesting item in early history, showing how some of our ancestors amused themselves, is the minutes of a debating society, preserved by Thomas Struthers. We quote from his account of this society: "I was furnished by a relative, a few years ago, with the original constitution, rules, and proceedings of a debating society established by my father, John Struthers, my uncle, Thomas Struthers, my eldest brother, Alexander Struthers, and a few other neighbors, namely : Robert McCombs, Samuel Wilkinson, William Campbell, William McCombs, James Adair, William Adair and John Blackburn. The manuscript is the worse for age and somewhat mutilated. The first leaves are gone and with them the first article and date of organization, but the second article and all the following articles are in readable condition, as also the signatures of the parties who signed it, and it appears that after they had read, approved and signed it, they 'adjourned until the third Tuesday in November next, at the house of John Struthers at six o'clock, P. M.' The next entry has the day of the month and year of their meeting, namely : 'Tuesday evening, 21st November, 1803.' Then follows the brief record of several meetings, running through the Winter evenings. It is interesting to note the subjects of debate, particularly the following: 'Whether is the intrinsic value of an article or the probability of obtaining the price to be the rule in selling?' Is slave holding proper or improper ?"Ought the Mahoning to be a public highway or not?' On this last a vote was taken on the merits, and it was 'carried in the affirmative unanimously.' . . . I may remark that these same gentlemen, with some others, amongst whom were Robert Montgomery, David Clendenin, Turhand Kirtland and John Stewart, kept up this or similar debating societies for many successive years, so long indeed as to bring them within 160 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO my memory. I remember well with what interest I listened to their speeches. On the back of the last leaf are the words, `Youngstown, March 29, 1827. The society shall have'—sentence not complete. Whether this indicates that the society was kept alive to that date, and extended itself to embrace gentlemen of Youngstown as members—Query?" The writer may be pardoned for introducing a part of his own family history at this point. On a summer evening in 1802 there came to the door of the Struthers cabin two dusty, travel-worn travelers, seeking hospitality. They were James and John Stewart, of Adams County, Pennsylvania. They received the entertainment which was a sacred duty in the Reserve, and in the morning consulted their host as to a location in the neighborhood. Captain Struthers showed them over his farm, but they asked if there was more level land anywhere near, as they had always lived in a hill country and were desirous of a change. Captain Struthers therefore directed them to Coitsville Township, where they took up locations for themselves and their five brothers. Living with her brother at that time was Agnes Struthers, young and unmarried. Whether the courtship began that evening is hard to say, at any rate John Stewart and Agnes Struthers were married in 1804. They were the writer's great-grandparents. Poland village lies on the western edge of the township. During the first ten years of the Nineteenth Century the land between the village and the center of the township was largely settled by a group of Scotch-Irish immigrants from southeastern Pennsylvania. John Arrel, of Adams County, located just east of the village on the center road. Farther east, in the center neighborhood, came Joseph Cowden, James and William Adair, William Guthrie, Samuel McCullough, Nathaniel and Isaac Walker and others. By 1804 enough settlers were gathered around Poland Center to organize a HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 161 church. Most of these Scotch-Irish were of that strict sect of the Presbyterian faith then known as the Associate Presbyterian Church. Briefly, the peculiar doctrines which differentiated them from the main Presbyterian body were the exclusive use of the Psalms of David in church worship, the refusal to allow instrumental music of any kind in church service, and a rigid adherence to the doctrines of predestination and foreordination. The congregation stood during prayer, and the psalms were "lined out," that is, the precentor, who led the singing, read the psalm two lines at a time, and the congregation sang each two lines following the reading. In 1798 Rev. James Duncan, a minister of the Associate Presbyterian Church, established the Mahoning Congregation, just east of the line in Pennsylvania. This Congregation is locally known as the "Tent Church," they having originally worship in a rude tent. In 1804 Mr. Duncan organized a congregation at Poland Center, and in 1805 one at the Seceder Corners in Liberty Township. Until 1813 he ministered to the three congregations. That year he published a book, the formidable title of which was "A View of the Covenant of Works, Man's Fall and Recovery Through Jesus Christ." The opinion of this work held by his fellow churchmen was that it was heretical. He was therefore tried, convicted and condemned, and shortly afterwards united with the main Presbyterian body. A description of him in the history of Poland Congregation is interesting: "In appearance he was a large, corpulent man, with strong, robust constitution. . . . In his pulpit exercises he was slow in his movements and deliberate in the delivery of his long sermons. His hair was carefully trained to stand erect on his forehead in what was called a top-knot, and was fashionable in those early days. He was a slave to the use of tobacco, and it was 'no uncommon thing for 162 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO him to stop in the middle of his sermon and take a bite from his plug, giving it a twist with his hand.' It is related of him that on one occasion, at least, he stopped in the middle of his sermon, went to one of his elders and 'borrowed a chew,' and returning went on with his sermon." Neither Poland Center nor Liberty congregation seems to have had a church building until about a decade after organization. Poland's first rude log structure was probably built about 1814. Coitsville (Township 2, Range 1) was set apart as a separate township in December, 1806. The first officers were: Township Clerk, Joseph Bissel; Trustees, William Houston, Joseph Jackson and William Stewart; Overseers of the Poor, John McCall and Timothy Swan; Supervisors of Highways, William Martin and Ebenezer Corey; Fench Viewers, David. Cooper and John Stewart; Appraisers of Houses, James Stewart and Alexander McGuffey; Lister, Alexander McGuffey ; Constable, James Lynn; Treasurer, John Johnson. Most of the settlers in Coitsville were Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania, and became members of Liberty Church. The Alexander McGuffey named in the above list was the father of the famous William McGuffey, compiler of the McGuffey Readers, who spent his boyhood in Coitsville. Boardman Township (Township 1, Range 2) also began to grow in population during the early years of the century. Here a Protestant Episcopal Church was established in 1809. Eli Baldwin was the first settler, other early families being Davidson, Twiss, Storr, Noble, Fitch, Newton, from Connecticut, and Moody, Bishop and Detchon, from Maryland. CHAPTER IV THE BEGINNINGS OF IRON MANUFACTURE The Mahoning Valley has long been famous as a great center in the iron and steel industry. At this time the valley from Leavittsburg to Lowellville, a distance of about twenty-five miles, is lined along its entire course with a succession of blast furnaces, steel plants, rolling mills and tube mills, so that villages and cities are joined together with scarcely an open space to make a great metropolitan district. The history of this development is one of the most important subjects with which this history is concerned. The time has now arrived to narrate the humble beginnings from which this enormous industry grew. To the writer, whose boyhood days were spent almost under the shadow of a blast furnace stack, and whose boyhood playground was the hollow where the first two furnaces were built, the story of iron making has always been of most romantic interest. Some portion of this romance he will endeavor to transfer to these pages. The name of Dan Eaton, the pioneer iron manufacturer, has nearly been forgotten, yet it should be commemorated, as that of one who started great things. Alas, poverty, neglect and misfortune were his portion, as it has happened to so many pioneers. Among the other necessities of this new country, as the proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company saw it, was iron manufacture. To be sure, they had no knowledge of the existence of any of the raw materials of such manufacture, except one; timber for charcoal. But in their abid- - 163 - 164 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO ing faith in the natural resources of the Reserve they offered in 1802 a bounty of $400.00 to the man who should, within three years from the First of January, 1803, "first erect a furnace in the county and should within that time manufacture therein ten tons of good hollow and hardware." It must be remembered that such articles of iron as the set-, tiers needed were most difficult of transportation across the mountains. It was one of the greatest hardships of the first settlers that kettles, pans, farm tools and building tools were scarce, dear and hard to obtain. Daniel and James Heaton, brothers, came to the Reserve in 1803 with the idea of prospecting for a blast furnace site. In the little valley of Yellow Creek they found outcroppings of iron ore, and in the neighborhood limestone deposits near the surface of the ground. This combination of circumstances induced them to plan the erection of a furnace on the edge of the hollow. The spot on which they decided to locate is romantically and wildly beautiful. When the little stream of Yellow Creek leaves the Village of Poland it wanders in a series of three wide curves, the first two of which are now immersed under the waters of Lake Hamilton, one of the great reservoirs of the Ohio Water Service Company. The third of these curves, beginning just at the base of the magnificent sixty-five foot stone dam which impounds Lake Hamilton, beats against a solid wall of stone some seventy feet high and circles a little level plain banked on the west by a more gentle declivity. On this western hill, on a shelf about half way to the summit, the Heaton brothers planned to build their furnace. James Heaton does not seem to have spent much time in Yellow Creek. By the year 1806, we find him in the Mill Creek valley, building another stack, and shortly later on Mosquito Creek, near Niles. Daniel was the real proprietor HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 165 of the first furnace. The change of his name from "Daniel Heaton" to "Dan Eaton" was accomplished by legislative act shortly after he came to Ohio. The reason for the change is doubtful : Dan, as we shall call him from now on, had his qualities of eccentricity, like other geniuses. One ingenious theory is that Dan claimed kinship with that Theophilus Eaton who was a Sixteenth Century governor of Connecticut, a famous exponent of Presbyterianism and the "Blue Laws." This is as good an explanation as any. "Dan Eaton" is more pleasant to say at any rate. Dan called his stack "Hopewell Furnace." Its ruins are in such a state of preservation that it is possible to describe with some accuracy the construction. The scene is still as beautiful as it was when Dan first saw it, and it is the hope of antiquarians of the valley that such action will soon be taken by state and local authorities that this most important point in Ohio history be permanently preserved. (See note at end of chapter.) The stack was built of native sandstone (quarried from the creek walls in the immediate neighborhood.) It was circular in form; that is to say, a truncated cone. From firepot to bosh (the widest circumference) it rose about six feet; the remainder of its altitude being probably about fifteen feet more. The inner curve of the circumference was built into the stone wall of the bank itself. Beside the top of the stack a roadway or shelf leads from the top of the hill, and winds around the hillside to the edge of the little plain below, where it branches, one fork leading beside the race back uphill to the base of the furnace, the other across the little plain and probably down the stream. (Note.—At the point where the furnace is built the hollow narrows, and just below opens into another plain some one hundred yards wide, bordered on the west by a sheer precipice about eighty feet high known locally as the "Devil's Back-Bone." The 166 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO ice formations hanging from this wall in winter are worth a journey to see.) These roadways were undoubtedly constructed for the purpose of conducting furnace operations, taking the place of the modern furnace "skip," or elevator. Along the roadside are evidences of the storage of charcoal and ore. At one spot near the top is the remnant of a large pile of charcoal—all of which must have been burned at least one hundred and twenty-five years ago. The lining of the stack seems to have been partly brick, partly smaller sandstones. It seems likely to the writer that relining was done by a method of patching, rather than by the present method of a complete relining at one time. This would account for the presence of both stone and brick. The practical furnace men who have examined the furnace differ widely in their opinions as to various points. The trouble is that no records exist as to methods of operation. Beside the stack is a little area some twenty-five to thirty feet in extent, which is so nearly level as to suggest that it was used as a casting-floor. There remains on the hillside below the stack a great pile of glassy slag, which removes from doubt the problem of slag disposal. The best preserved side of the furnace wall has a well constructed and deep recess in the stack, reenforced by an iron bar. Some experts have identified this opening as the furnace mouth. The objection to this theory is that the creek bank falls off precipitately just below this recess, so that it is difficult to see how the molten iron could have been cast on this side. A better theory is that through this opening ran the solitary tuyere of the furnace. (Note.—The tuyere, pronounced "tweer" by furnace men, is the passage by which the air-blast is introduced to the interior of the furnace.) The fact that the curving stream enclosed the little plain offered opportunity for an unusual type of air-blast apparatus. A dam was built at the upper end of the curve, less HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 167 than a hundred feet from the present great dam. From this dam a race crossed the plain close to the edge of the hill. This race remains in good condition. At the end of the race the air-blast apparatus was constructed, the dam and the fall of the stream together making a difference in elevation of fully ten feet, possibly more. We quote the description of the apparatus from the statement of Mr. David Loveland in the Mahoning Valley Historical Collection (P. 513). "The blast was produced by an apparatus of rather peculiar construction, and was similar in principle to that produced by the column of water of the early furnaces. It consisted of a square wooden box set in a cistern, with an opening at the top for the ingress of water, and one in the side to conduct the air or "blast" to the furnace. The surplus water escaped underneath. The water, flowing in through a pipe at the top of the box, was accompanied by air, which being compressed by the continual flow, was forced through the side opening and conducted from thence by a pipe to the furnace stack." This blast apparatus and the fact that the furnace was built into the hillside combined to cause a tendency to chill, which created a serious difficulty in operation. It is likely that an alteration in the plan was made after the furnace had operated a few years. Eaton sued James Douglas in 1808, claiming damages for the imperfect construction of a "furnace bellows". This would seem to indicate that a water wheel and bellows was constructed to take the place of the original pit. Some features of the present remaining structure would seem to bear this out. Just below the above-mentioned recess in the side of the stack is the remnant of a rectangular structure of squared stone, which might well be the ruin of the original blast pit, while up the race some fifty feet is the opening of a passage or tunnel nearly 168 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO two feet in diameter, leading in the direction of the furnace stack, which cannot be accounted for unless it was used as an air passage. As there is no vestige of a pit near this opening, it seems likely that it was connected to a bellows the power for which was furnished by a water-wheel. As such a wheel and bellows would be made of perishable materials easily removed, wood and leather, their disappearance in a century and a quarter is not surprising. Adventurous boys have at times crept into the tunnel entrance, but none have ventured far, so that its course is matter of conjecture only. The furnace had a capacity of some two to three tons of pig iron per day. (The daily output of a Twentieth Century blast furnace is from five to eight hundred tons.) The iron which was made was cast on the premises into pots, pans, kettles, farm tools, stove plates and other implements for local needs. When the writer's grandmother, Mary Walker, started to school at Poland Center in 1819 there stood in the middle of the floor of the log schoolhouse a "ten-plate stove, inscribed on each of the side-plates, 'Dan Eaton, Hopewell Furnace.' " Of these various vessels and implements a search lasting for years has resulted in the discovery of none. Some ancient pots and kettles may exist bearing the Hopewell Furnace name, but none have as yet come into the open. On March 2, 1806, Turhand Kirtland wrote to Henry Champion as follows : "I have been obliged to pay Dan Heaton the $400, for the bounty voted by the Company for the Furnace, as he made the sufficient quantity of wears to entitle him to the bounty; and what is of more consequence to the public, he has tried and proved the Oar to be excellent, and the weare he has made is of the first rate, but he has experienced a great many accidents and losses. He lately lost his hearth and his furnace stopt for three HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 169 weeks, but he has put in a new one and it is going on with good success. We shall (have) another furnace on the Same Stream next season and expect a forge soon on the Mahoning. I think Heaton fully deserving his money and flatter myself, you will approve it, altho I had no express orders to pay it, but his necessity induced me to do it." This is sufficient evidence that the Hopewell Furnace had been in full operation during 1805, and it is a practical certainty that the construction of it at least was begun in 1803. The other furnace Judge Kirtland mentions was built in 1806 on the Struthers farm by Robert Montgomery and David Clendenin in partnership with the owner, John Struthers. This furnace was also built on the hillside, but seems to have been free from the bank on all sides. Little of it now remains except a pile of stones, although recent excavations in connection with the construction of a district sewer main in the bed of Yellow Creek have laid bare certain portions of the wall and the lining. This furnace had a blast operated "by a water wheel, walking beams, and two wooden cylinders." One of these cylinders, of course, was at each end of the walking beam, so that one blew air into the furnace as the other refilled. This Struthers Furnace (not to be confused with the modern Anna Furnace built in Struthers in 1869) operated more efficiently than the Hopewell Furnace, on account of superior equipment and location. James Heaton built a furnace in Mill Creek in 1806. A year or two later both James and Dan extended their operations to Mosquito Creek, near Niles, where at least two stone furnaces were built. Dan soon got into financial and legal troubles. He seems to have spent a large part of his later years in the Trumbull County court in some, lawsuit or other. Robert Montgomery seems to have owned the Hopewell Furnace for a few years of the first decade 170 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO of the century, but the abstract of title to the property in possession of the Ohio Water Service Company shows that it was deeded to Dan Eaton by Titus and Amarillis Street through their agent, Turhand Kirtland, May 9, 1812. The next entry in the abstract is the melancholy record of a sheriff's deed to William Bell, the result of one or two of the long list of Dan Eaton's lawsuits. This was nearly the end of his career, as he died sometime in the '40's. All these furnaces used the native ore, a low grade, conglomerate hematite. This ore was mined and refined in the valley until the opening of the Lake Superior mines in the '70's. The quality of ore was poor according to modern standards, and the output was so small as to seem negligible, but the fact remains that these small beginnings made the valley what may perhaps be called "iron minded," and are the reason for the present great development of the industry. Dan Eaton is one of those individuals whose pioneering, though it might be called in a way a failure, laid the foundations for other men's success. (Note.—During the last two years an attempt has been made to establish the Hopewell and Struthers Furnaces as a public institution. A committee composed of Mr. James A. Miller of Youngstown, Mr. Buford M. Stubblefield and Mr, Taylor Evans of Poland, Mr. Clyde Butler of Lowellville, Mr. Earl Moore, Mr. Cyrus Cluse, Mr. William Walker of Struthers, and the author of this book, have been appointed by Mr. Thomas Roberts, Mayor of Struthers, to study the possibility of such excavation and restoration as might save for posterity the remains of these furnaces, and make them more easy of access and examination by the public. Many ruinous structures remain whose purpose is difficult of explanation without careful excavation. A possible reconstruction of the Hopewell Furnace from the original stone work which has fallen has been considered. Lack of funds has HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 171 made it impossible up to this writing to attempt any program involving the expenditure of money, but it is hoped that money may be available in the near future. Thanks are due the Ohio Water Service Company and its manager, Mr. Taylor Evans, for their cooperation and their purpose of allowing the City of Struthers to extend its park system to include the Hopewell Furnace. It is the hope of the committee that the whole may be eventually accepted by the State of Ohio as a state monument.) CHAPTER V THE LAKE SETTLEMENTS While Warren and Youngstown were beginning to take on the airs of village life, the northeastern corner of the Reserve was growing more slowly, in settlements of two or three families, miles apart, each little group clearing its little isolated area, thus instituting the development of what has ever since been a farming region. Some instances of these pioneer immigrations are of great interest, as showing the method of life in the early days of the Reserve. The story of the Fobes family migration is an especially inter: esting one We condense the account found in the records of the "Historical and Philosophical Society of Ashtabula County," a rare and extremely valuable document. In Somers, Connecticut, in 1803, was living Simon Fobes, Sr., and his wife, an aged couple, the husband born in 1722 and the wife in 1721. Their son, Simon Fobes, Jr., born in 1756, had been a soldier in the Revolution. He was present at Bunker Hill and afterwards joined in the expedition of Arnold and Montgomery against Quebec, where he was taken prisoner. With several comrades he managed to escape from captivity and after a terrible journey through the wilderness finally reached Connecticut. Such an experience might have satisfied most men, but Fobes was soon re-enlisted, and in various capacities served honorably in the Continental Army until 1781, when he was discharged with the rank of lieutenant. - 172 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 173 In 1800, he sustained an injury to his left ankle which aggravated an old injury sustained during the war, causing him to use crutches for the remainder of his life. That this maimed veteran of middle age should attempt to organize a migration to "New Connecticut" seems an extraordinary exhibition of enterprise and courage, but such was the case. In the spring of 1803 he purchased from Oliver Phelps 1800 acres of land in Township 8, Range 2 (afterwards to be known as Wayne Township, Ashtabula County,) and planned as extensive expedition to the new country. The party consisted of himself, his eldest son, Joshua, wife and twelve year son, "with an old wagon heavily laden with clothing, iron ware and farming tools, drawn by yoke of oxen and one horse." At Norwich, Massachusetts, the party was increased by the addition of Lemuel Fobes, apparently a cousin, who had two teams, and a party of eight or nine. At Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Stephen Brown, an emigrant to Nelson Township, in Portage County, joined, with one team and a large family. The party now numbered twenty-six. They crossed the Hudson at Albany, and followed the Mohawk Trail, arriving at Buffalo in about three weeks. After resting two days they proceeded along the lake shore, after loading part of their goods on a coasting schooner. They used the beach as a highway most of the way, cutting their way through the forest at times, camping on the ground at night, and frequently suffering hardships, including the death of one of the oxen. The party reached Gustavus on August 8, 1803, forty-nine days from Connecticut. Lieutenant Simon went back to Connecticut in September, leaving his son Joshua and his family to hold the land. Joshua built a cabin fourteen feet square, into which he moved in October. 174 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO We continue with Joshua Fobes' narrative of the first winter. "The winter commenced in good earnest. Snow fell knee deep. Wild beasts were very numerous, especially the wolves. They often visited us, howling and yelling most bitterly. Such music I was not accustomed to hear, neither was it very pleasant. Bear, wildcats and raccoon very troublesome. There were many elk, deer and wild turkeys, partridges, turkey buzzards and ravens. I do not recollect seeing a hen-hawk, crow, quail nor robin in this town for two or three years. In the creek there were beaver, otter and muskrat. "The Indians becoming some acquainted, frequently came to my house, bringing wild meat, deer skins, fur and tallow for which I traded some with them. They were called the Massasauga Tribe, but where they belonged I never knew. "During the winter I foddered my cattle on the tops of the beech and maple trees, and saw but few human beings, except the Indians. In March came the time for making sugar." A son was born to the family in April. Simon Fobes III, a younger brother, arrived in May, after an arduous journey. The two brothers that summer planted and raised successfully a crop of corn and potatoes. In the fall they planted six acres of wheat. Joshua Fobes records the arrival of Joshua Giddings, Senior, the father of a famous son, in 1805. A story of Mr. Giddings is sufficiently interesting to quote in full : "Early in the spring of 1806, old Mr. Giddings, having a quantity of sugar and wishing to take it to Kinsman and exchange for provisions, the roads being very bad and teams scarce; the two Giddings, Mr. Hayes and myself digged out a poplar log something in the shape of a canoe, hauled it to the creek, (the Pymatuning) one mile above the center, put