HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 75 red, of his time, but an underlying quality of cruelty and self-seeking keeps him from the highest ranks of men. When he met General Cleaveland he was nearing the end of his career—wise, crafty and selfish, he used this opportunity to strengthen his position with his tribesmen by getting them not what they needed, but what they wanted. The question of the Iroquois title was apparently not broached on either side. Acting on the theory that if there was any title it was for sale, Cleaveland asked for a price, agreed to it and paid it : Five hundred pounds, New York currency (about $1,200) to be paid in goods; two beef cattle, and one hundred gallons of whiskey. For this the Iroquois agreed to relinquish all title to Ohio lands east of the Cuyahoga River—a territory they had not occupied for years, and probably never intended to occupy again. But the title was cleared, each side got what they wanted—and the Cleaveland party had enough whiskey left, as it afterwards appeared. Having closed the treaty with Brant and Red Jacket the party proceeded to embark on the southern shore of Lake Erie. They followed this magnificant coast line in lovely June weather, passed the fort at Presqu' Isle a little while before Wayne arrived at the end of his last journey, and finally anchored in the beautiful harbor at the mouth of Conneaut Creek on the Fourth of July. This seemed to the voyagers a happy omen . They landed with due solemnity and prepared to hold a celebration. Salutes were fired, a banquet was prepared, toasts were drunk, speeches were made, and this first celebration of Independence Day in the Reserve was an undoubted success. The toasts were interesting : "First, The President of the United States. "Second, The State of New Connecticut. "Third, The Connecticut Land Company. 76 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO "Fourth, May the Port of Independence and the fifty sons and daughters who have entered it this day be successful and prosperous. "Fifth, May these sons and daughters multiply in sixteen years sixteen times fifty. Sixth, May every person have his bowsprit trimmed and ready to enter every port that opens." Then, the General records in his diary, they "closed with three cheers. Drank several pails of grog, supped and retired in remarkable good order." It will be noticed that they christened the harbor "Port Independence." They remained several days, and then the party divided. The main party continued along the coast line, but a group of surveyors undertook to follow the Pennsylvania line. The surveying party was composed of Porter, Pease, Holley and five other men. They started south on the line, which had been surveyed eleven years before under direction of Pennsylvania and Virginia engineers. Holley kept a journal of the expedition. They moved with considerable speed, considering the nature of the ground. They left Port Independence on July 7th. On July 11th they found themselves in the Pymatuning Swamp, which Holley describes as very dismal and difficult to navigate. It is practically covered now by the great Pymatuning reservoir. Holly was much interested in the quality of the timber. He names a large variety of hardwoods. On July 16th he speaks of crossing the Shenango, which would seem to indicate that they had veered into Pennsylvania. On July 20th they crossed the Mahoning, which he calls the "Big Beaver." Here they met two Pennsylvania backwoodsmen, who told them they were sixteen miles downstream from the salt licks, and that the river was easily navigable to Pittsburgh, sixty miles away. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 77 On Saturday, July, 23rd, they decided that they had reached their destination. Pease took observations both by the sun and by the stars, by which he found what he considered to be latitude forty-one degrees north. Says Holley's Journal : "Saturday afternoon Mr. Porter went down to the corner, and set a chestnut post, sixteen inches by twelve, on the south side is latitude forty-one degrees north, variation one minute twenty seconds east, west side is southeast corner New Connecticut." Porter's chestnut post is gone long ago. A time worn rail fence ending at a country road now marks the corner of New Connecticut. Perhaps some patriotic organization may some time mark with an appropriate monument the spot where the official survey began. It sees a pity that it has been so neglected. The present official United States Government map shows that Pease's calculations were in error. The forty-first parallel of latitude is about seven-eighths of a mile north of the Western Reserve Line. This discrepancy was discovered some years later by government surveyors working north from the Geographer's Line for the purpose of extending the Seven Ranges, but the Federal government agreed to accept Pease's line, after some discussion. Title had passed to a considerable portion of the property, and there were no opposing claimants on the south. It seems remarkable that so little error was made, when one considers the circumstances under which the observations were taken. It will be noted, however, that the error favored Connecticut. Starting west from the southeastern corner of the Reserve the surveyors ran a base line divided into "ranges" of five miles each. The ranges were numbered from east to west, and the townships in each range from south to north. Thus Poland Township, the southeast township of the Reserve, is "Township 1, Range I;" Youngstown Township is "Township 78 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO 2, Range 2." It took some years to complete the survey, so we will now take leave of the surveyors and return to General Cleveland's party. On the fifth of July the party constructed a log cabin near the mouth of Conneaut Creek, the first building by white men in the Reserve. But they do not seem to have left any permanent occupants in it. For days they piloted their boats along the magnificent Erie shore. This shore, as we shall see, is now lined with row on row of summer cottages and more pretentious homes, and has become the playground of Northern Ohio, but as the first party sailed along they passed a primeval solitude. The forest reached to the edge of the bluffs that lined the shore. Cleveland was making for the mouth of the Cuyahoga but he made a temporary error. Coming to the mouth of a fine river he sailed in. This river has always since been known as "Chagrin," and tradition says that Cleaveland named it so when he discovered his error. However, some historians insist that "Chagrin" is a corruption of an Indian name. The tradition seems a good enough story to go on record. It is likely that the truth is betwixt and between—that the name which the party learned was near enough in sound so that the humorists present twisted it into "Chagrin," and thus expressed their feelings by a pun. At any rate, Cleaveland moved in with the party, and entered the authentic mouth of the Cuyahoga on the 22nd of July. Ground was cleared on the east side of the river (the west side was still by treaty Indian country.) and plans were made for the survey of town lots. The journey was ended, and plans for the sale and settlement of the Reserve were begun. CHAPTER IV THE SOUTHERN SETTLEMENTS At the beginning the Reserve was confronted with a serious and difficult problem of government. The common name attached to it was "New Connecticut." It seems likely that a good many of the proprietors had in their minds the idea that they were forming a new state. But they had no authority for such an organization. The Connecticut Act of Session of 1786 had expressly reserved the property rights and government of the Western Reserve. The Act which established the grant to the Connecticut Land Company had ceded to the proprietors the rights "juridical and territorial." The Reserve was not in the Northwest Territory, neither was it part of Connecticut. Almost from the beginning outsiders, principally Western Pennsylvania land agents, began throwing out hints as to the doubtful validity of the Reserve land titles. Furthermore, there was no parent government to exercise sovereignty over the townships. At the beginning government was practically non-existent and only the integrity and strong-mindedness of the first settlers saved them from anarchy. Nevertheless, following the first settlement at Cleveland, immigrants began to pour in. The earliest, as was natural, came from Connecticut, a number of the original proprietors moving into the Reserve either permanently or temporarily. Shortly there came an influx from Pennsylvania, mostly that Scotch-Irish stock which has had so great an influence on the life of the Reserve ever since. By 1800 there were little - 79 - 80 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO settlements here and there over the whole Reserve east of the Cuyahoga, the most important besides Cleveland being Youngstown, Warren, Poland, Kinsman, Ravenna, Mentor, Conneaut, Burton, and Willoughby. These settlements divide themselves naturally into two groups, the first five belonging to a group which will from now on be spoken of as the Mahoning Valley; the other four being the first of the lake settlements. John Young was the original proprietor of Youngstown Township. He was born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, in 1763. He moved in or about 1780 to Whitestown, near Utica, New York. He married, in 1792, Mary Stone White, daughter of Hugh White, who settled and founded Whitestown. Some time probably early in 1797 Young, apparently in partnership with his brother-in-law, Philo White, and Lemuel Storrs, one of the original proprietors, bought Township Two, Range Two of the Reserve. Storrs and White seem to have sold out their interests to Young almost immediately and he entered the township as sole proprietor. Young started for the Reserve to inspect and survey his purchase some time during the summer of 1797. He seems to have taken the southern route over the Pennsylvania mountains. At any rate, he came down the Ohio from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Beaver, seeking a guide. Living in a log cabin on the bank of the Ohio was one James Hillman. He was a native Pennsylvanian, had been a Revolutionary soldier, and in 1797 was thirty-three years old. He was making a living by trapping, hunting and acting as a guide to the Ohio country. Young and Hillman came to an agreement that in return for his services as guide Young would give Hillman land in the settlement. They moved up the Beaver and Mahoning taking Hillman's wife along. Young and Hillman spent the summer of 1797 surveying. Mrs. Hillman selected a site for a home this HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 81 year, according to the original agreement, and here they seem to have built the first cabin in Youngstown—some time in 1797. This location is doubtful. The descriptions in the various accounts are vague, but seem to differ. The house was near what is now Federal Street, between Spring Common on the west and Watt Street on the east. It was probably a very insignificant log structure, and soon replaced by something more substantial. Young went back to New York for the winter, but the Hillmans seem to have stayed. James Hillman is therefore the first settler in Youngstown. He was a valuable, active citizen, taking a large part in civic affairs, as shall be seen. His descendants still form a highly respected portion of the population of Youngstown. Young was back in Youngstown in 1798, but did not move his family until 1799. He brought with him his wife and two sons, and during his residence in Youngstown two more children, a son and a daughter, were born. In 1803 the trials of the wilderness had broken down the endurance of Mrs. Young, and she persuaded her husband to return to New York. John Young became an important personage in New York, but never returned to Youngstown. He died in 1825. In 1798 a number of prospective settlers came into Youngstown. Two young men, Phineas Hill and Isaac Powers, built the first mill this summer. During the previous summer they had been helping Alfred Wolcott, Young's chief surveyor. In prospecting through the township Hill and Powers found the beautiful Mill Creek valley, now a famous park. The two men followed the course of the valley until they came to the exquisite waterfall, now known as Lanterman's Falls. Hill and Powers were not so much impressed by the beauty of the falls as by its utilitarian value. They immediately tried to close a bargain with Young for 82 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO two hundred acres including the falls. The young men's insistence roused Young's suspicions, and they confessed to having found the falls. Young saw the value of the prospective mill, and sold the property on condition "that he, the said Hill, was to erect a saw-mill and something that would grind corn, within eighteen months from the date of the contract." Abraham Powers, of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, with his son Isaac, built the flouring mill, and both it and the sawmill seem to have gone into operation in 1798. This mill contract brought the Powers family to Youngstown. Judge Turhand Kirtland, as agent for the Connecticut Land Company, came into Poland Township in 1798. The name of Poland is one of the curious results of the wave of sympathy for the Polish nation which swept the United States after the partitions of that unfortunate land. Judge Kirtland settled the Village of Poland, and became one of the leading citizens of the Reserve. Judge Kirtland surveyed the townships of Burton (Geauga County) and Poland in 1798. He laid plans for Poland Village, located a mill site there on the banks of Yellow Creek and sold some land. (Note.—The reader must not confuse Yellow Creek in Mahoning County with that Yellow Creek which empties into the Ohio at the southern corner of Columbiana County. Both streams have their importance in our history.) The most important sale the judge completed was the sale of the Struthers farm. The tradition in the family records concerning the Struthers migration is interesting. John Struthers, a veteran of the Revolution, was living in Canonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1798. He was appointed a captain in the Pennsylvania militia, and had a small troop of cavalry organized in Washington County. At some time during the summer of 1798 a gang HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 83 of marauding Indians wandered into the county. Captain Struthers and his troop drove the Indians out of the county and pursued them across the Ohio and up the Beaver, overtaking them about where Beaver Falls is located now. The Washington County men and the Indians held a parley here, and came to terms, the Indians agreeing, in return for whiskey and other presents, to go back to Ohio and "steal no more." (Note.—The author's father, whose story he is following, includes the story of the Indian and the rattlesnake here. It is a story that seems to have happened in several places. It goes as follows : A rattlesnake was caught, and an Indian offered to let it bite him for a drink of whiskey. The offer was accepted; the rattlesnake bit; the Indian took a long drink from the jug, then jumped into the Beaver, swam across and back and stood up on the bank, apparently none the worse. He then offered to take another bite on the same terms. This time he swam across and back, stood a moment on the bank and fell dead. Whether the snake-bite or the whiskey or the unaccustomed bath or all three killed him no one knows. The Western Pennsylvania backwoodsmen were notoriously indifferent to Indian life or death anyway.) After the parties had come to an understanding, the Indians wandered away up the Beaver valley. Captain Struthers and his men decided to follow, partly to be sure that the Indians really left Pennsylvania, partly to explore the country. They followed up the Beaver and the Mahoning until they came to a little clearing at the mouth of Yellow Creek. Here there was growing a little patch of corn, and in the hillside was a granary. Captain Struthers and his men stayed there several weeks, eating up the corn and looking over the country. The captain liked the situations so well that he decided to buy the land, finally acquiring two great lots, about four hundred acres, on both sides 84 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO of the creek, and bounded on the north by the Mahoning River. The following year Captain Struthers brought his family, consisting of his wife and an unmarried sister, Agnes Struthers, and built a log cabin on a commanding knoll looking over the creek and river valley. (Note.—This spot was the writer's boyhood home, and the creek hollow and the river bottom his playground. To me no spot is dearer, and in my childhood days, before the mills grew so big, it was a most beautiful spot. Yellow Creek hollow has now for many years been the playground of the children and adults of the City of Struthers, and has been a health giving boon to the entire citizenry.) Jonathan Fowler, whose wife was sister to Turhand Kirtland, came into Poland Township in May, 1799, and built the first log cabin in Poland. Fowler and his wife spent their first six weeks in a tent on the bank of Yellow Creek in the Village of Poland, where the mill was afterward built. Their daughter, Rachel, was born in 1800—the first white child to be born in Poland Township. Fowler afterwards built the first tavern, a stone building parts of which remain. He was drowned in the Beaver River in 1806 while superintending the loading of merchandise to be taken to New Orleans by flat-boat. The Mahoning River passes through Youngstown Township in a wide sweep from northwest to southeast, then crosses a corner of Coitsville Township, cuts off the northeastern corner of Poland Township and joins the Beaver at Mahoningtown in Pennsylvania. The southwestern corner of Coitsville cut off by the river was purchased in 1798 by Amos Loveland, a Revolutionary soldier from Vermont. Loveland moved his family to his new home in 1799. He had built a log cabin near the river the year before, at the foot of what has always since been called Loveland Hill. The Loveland family are introduced here because their posi- HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 85 tion near the south side of the river made them a connecting link between the Poland and Youngstown settlements. It may be noted here that Coitsville Township derives its name from Daniel Coit, one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company. Coit does not seem ever to have come to the Reserve, unless perhaps for a brief visit. Simon Perkins of Warren was his local agent. Besides the Lovelands, John Partridge Bissel was the original settler in Coitsville. He came into the township as a surveyor in 1798, and built a log house at the Center in 1799. Besides the Youngs, Hillmans, Powerses and Hills, several families were living in Youngstown by 1800, among others, Daniel and Jane Shehy, Robert and Hannah Stevens, and John Swager and family. Into the township in 1800 came George Tod, father of Governor Tod and the founder of the Tod family, and the Rev. William Wick, first Presbyterian pastor and the first of the Wick family. The original First Presbyterian Church building was erected in 1801 on the spot where the present church building stands at what is now the corner of Wick Avenue and Wood Street. Steven Baldwin and Rebecca Rush were married by Mr. Wick on November 3, 1800. This was the first marriage in Youngstown. Samuel McFarland, a young music teacher from Massachusetts, died in Youngstown in 1799—the first funeral in the township. Several families moved into Poland Township in 1800. The heads of these are John Arrel, John McGill, who founded Lowellville, Jacob Dawson, the Rev. Duncan, a preacher of the Associate Presbyterian or "Seceder" Church, who was the founder and first pastor of the Poland Center congregation, John Dixon, Patrick McKeever, Samuel Lowden, William McConnell, Samuel and John Hineman, Joseph Cowden, Jonathan Frazier, Samuel McCullough, Andrew and William Dunlap, Ludwig Ripple and maybe some others. 86 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO Nearly all of these people were Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish, and their descendants have since populated a large portion of this corner of the Reserve, to say nothing of Iowa and Kansas. An interesting event which probably occurred in the early summer of 1800 was the marriage of John Blackburn and Nancy Bryan. These young people desired to marry, but the difficulty arose that there was no authorized person available to perform the ceremony. It was finally decided that Judge Kirtland, who had held some judicial office in Connecticut, could legally marry the couple. The neighbors all gathered for the wedding, and the judge, equipped with an Episcopalian prayer-book, prepared to unite the happy pair. Just before the ceremony, however, some one suggested that a drink was in order. The assemblage paused to get the drink, and in the confusion some one stole the prayer-book. The judge was embarrassed by the loss for a moment, but then decided to ask each one of the participants if he and she were satisfied with each other. On their affirmative response he pronounced them married, and the assemblage went on with the celebration. This was the first wedding in Poland Township. We turn now to the settlement of Warren. First a word as to the lay of the land. The Mahoning River takes its rise in the northwest corner of Columbiana County. It flows nearly due north for a distance of some twenty-five miles as the crow flies, until it is stopped by the divide. Between Leavittsburg and Warren the river in a wide and graceful sweep turns toward the southeast. The winding river in this its most northerly course travels for a distance of nearly twelve miles within the limits of Township Four, Range Four of the Reserve, which township received the name of Warren, for Moses Warren, one of the original surveyors of the Reserve. The river in Warren Township HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 87 is bordered by gentle elevations leading to what are now fertile fields, but in 1797 were dense forest growths, interspersed with little clearings. The whole scene must have been most attractive to the first white men to view it. In the distribution of the Reserve among the proprietors and their assigns Township Four, Range Four became the property of Ebenezer King, Jr., and John Leavitt. The owners, however, do not seem to have arrived on the scene before the summer of 1800. The first contracts of sale in the township must have been executed through the agency of Simon Perkins, who in 1798 was acting as general sales agent in the Reserve, and who later, as we shall see, became one of the leading citizens of Warren. But the story of the settlement begins in the autumn of 1798, when Ephraim Quinby and Richard Storer, friends and neighbors living in Washington County, Pennsylvania, started out on horseback on a prospecting and exploring trip. Their journey brought them to the southeast corner of Poland Township, where they found what they described as a very swampy, bad road which took them to the crossing over Yellow Creek at Poland. Hence they journeyed to the little settlement of Youngstown, then only two or three log cabins. They moved on from Youngstown to the salt springs, but still found nothing to satisfy them, until they emerged into a little clearing in "Number Four". The present day visitor to Warren, if he has an eye for beauty, cannot fail to see the charm of the vista as he stands at the corner of Main and Market streets and looks to the north, by the Public Square. It would be interesting if one could look at the same scene through the eyes of Quinby and Storer. There was a little clearing beside the river. All around it the great forest gleamed in scarlet and gold. The river wound in a silvery ribbon through the forest for a mile 88 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO or more before it disappeared behind the curtain of trees. One solitary rude cabin stood at the edge of the clearing. There lived one Joseph McMahon or McMahan, with his wife and two or three children. McMahon was one of those curious examples of the white man gone native, who had "squatted" in the wilderness, living a life little different from that of the natives around him. He becomes an important figure in our narrative a little later. Whether the charm of the scene or the evident fertility of the soil most attracted Quinby and Storer there is no way of knowing, but at any rate they determined to settle in the neighborhood. They found an unoccupied cabin a little south of the McMahon establishment, which seems to have been a granary or storehouse built by John Young to take care of such corn as he could gather in the neighborhood. In this cabin Quinby and Storer located for a few days while they explored. Quinby decided to take up land on the two sides of the river, purchasing a little over four hundred acres which included the original town site of Warren. Storer's location was to the south of Quinby. At the approach of winter the two adventurers turned their steps toward Pennsylvania. They took with them samples of soil and a spirit of enthusiasm for the country they had found. In the spring they returned to Township Four with their families, accompanied by two other families of neighbors: William Fenton, his wife and child, and Francis Carolton and his four children, three boys and a girl. McMahon had moved on during the winter. He was now located near the river at the southwestern corner of Howland Township, a spot called "Goose Pond." The Fenton family moved into the deserted McMahon cabin, where they remained until their removal to Milton Township a few years later. Quinby built a cabin this summer on the spot HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 89 where the Erie Railroad Station now stands. Another party from Washington County followed the Quinbys and Storers, coming in the month of April, 1800. These were Henry Lane and his son John, Lane's stepson, Edward Jones, and Meshack Case. Lane and Case during the summer selected land, and in the fall brought their families to Warren, as the township was now named. It was in this summer of 1800 that the proprietors, King and Leavitt, came to look at the little settlement which was growing up on their land. King went back to Connecticut, but Leavitt remained, bringing his family in June and locating by the river in the west side of the township. Leavittsburg preserves his name. Other settlers came in 1800. The entire population of Warren by the end of this summer was nearly one hundred souls, the heads of the families being : Ephraim Quinby, Richard Storer, Francis Carolton, William Fenton, Edward Jones, William Crooks, Henry Lane, Charles Dally, Isaac Dally, Meshack Case, John Dally, Benjamin Davison, John Leavitt and Phineas Leffingwell—and possibly some others. Warren was thus in 1800 a rival of Youngstown as the important settlement in the Reserve. In the Mahoning Valley other settlers came in during 1799 and 1800, but no other settlements large enough to be dignified by the name of "town" were accomplished. John Kinsman, owner and founder of the township and Village of Kinsman, came into the Reserve in 1799, but made no settlement until 1801. Samuel Hutchins took up land in Vienna about 1798. He was a young surveyor who married Freelove Flowers after coming into the township. Several other families settled in Vienna during 1799 or 1800. John H. Aldgate located on an estate of sixteen hundred acres, one of the largest in the Reserve, in the south- 90 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO west corner of Howland Township. Aldgate brought with him a wife, eleven or twelve children and a number of laborers. Aldgate came in 1799. Elijah Boardman, one of the original proprietors, came into Township One, Range Two in the summer of 1798, with a gang of surveyors and laborers. This township, which lies directly south of Youngstown, bears the name of Boardman. He did not settle in the township himself, some of his descendants coming later did. One of Board-man's party, a man named Blakely, seems to have remained and settled. Judge Eli Baldwin was located in Boardman in 1799. Possibly two or three other families had settled in Boardman Township by the end of 1800. West of Warren, in what is now Portage County, five small settlements were established by 1800: Ravenna, Mantua, Palmyra, Atwater and Deerfield. But before describing these it is only fair to introduce the first event in Portage's recorded history, Captain Brady's Leap. In the summer of 1780, Captain Samuel Brady was acting as a scout for General Brodhead at Fort Pitt. Brady had a reputation as an Indian fighter, his enmity against the Redmen being due to some unfortunate circumstances in his early life not well understood. Brodhead sent Brady out with a small expedition which was ambuscaded near the Sandusky River by a group of unidentified Indians. All Brady's companions were killed, but he was captured alive, bound to the stake and prepared for torture and death. This seems to have been one of the occasions when the omnipresent Simon Girty had an invitation to be present. Brady appealed to Girty, who was an old acquaintance, first for help, and when that was refused, for a speedy death. Girty was as usual obdurate and Brady was forced to watch the fires mounting about him, when in a last despairing effort he burst his bonds, caught a squaw who had ventured too near, HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 91 threw her into the flames and in the confusion fled. He raced for the Cuyahoga, nearly a hundred miles away. The Indians followed in hot pursuit. There was a ford on the river at a spot called the Standing Stones, but as Brady neared it he found that he would not be able to escape his enemies there. He turned aside suddenly and made for a spot called the Narrows, where the river was enclosed between high narrow banks. The distance from cliff to cliff according to measurements taken shortly after was about twenty-two feet. Running at full speed, Brady leaped across the chasm, grasped a bush, pulled himself to safety and kept on going. None of the pursuing Indians dared the leap but several fired, and one bullet wounded Brady's leg. The Indians raced around to the ford, but in the meanwhile Brady had disappeared. Near the Cuyahoga is a small lake which has ever since borne Brady's name. Here Brady concealed himself, keeping almost under water at the edge of the lake where overhanging branches helped to hide him. For nearly twenty-four hours Brady kept hidden, until the Indians gave up the hunt, and the brave and daring scout made his way back to Fort Pitt. The site of Brady's Leap is now in the heart of the City of Kent. The work of nature and of man have so changed the river banks that they in no way resemble the original situation, so that only the measurements of those long gone authenticate the deed. Two points must be remembered, however, by those who would question the possibility of such a feat by a man who had already traveled nearly a hundred miles at full speed : first, Brady did not jump the full twenty-two feet, according to A. A. U. rules; he reached the opposite bank with his out-stretched hands; second, he was fleeing for his life, and not to make a record. The story is as well authenticated as most facts of history. 92 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO There was at least one man living in the present Geauga County in 1798, Abraham, or Abram Honey. Honey cleared a little land and built a cabin, but probably never owned the property on which he settled. The next year he wandered away into Cuyahoga, and seems to have disappeared. Rufus Edwards, a brother-in-law of Honey, was on the premises in 1799, harvested the wheat and built a little grist mill. Elias Harmon settled in Mantua in 1799. His daughter, Eunice, received an award of fifty acres as the first white child born in the township. Ravenna was settled in 1799 by Benjamin Tappan, Jr.2 as the representative of his father, the original owner of the township. Tappan landed at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and moved by river to the head of canoe navigation. Here he started across country with a team of oxen. One of his oxen died, leaving him stranded in the forest. From this predicament he was saved by James Hillman of Youngstown, who sold an ox on credit. Tappan founded Ravenna, and afterwards removed to Steubenville, where he rose to high honors in the state and nation. Caleb Atwater, of Wallingford, Connecticut, one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Land Company, was the owner of Atwater Township. He moved into his property with a party in the summer of 1799. Atwater returned to Connecticut in the fall, leaving in the township Asa Hall and his wife, to whom a child, Atwater Hall, was born while they lived alone in the wilderness. Deerfield was settled in July, 1799, by Lewis Ely, of Connecticut. In 1800 there were three or four additional settlers, one of whom, John Campbell, married Ely's daughter, Sarah. Palmyra Township was the property of Elijah Boardman. The first settler was David Daniels, of Connecticut, who arrived in 1799. Ethelbert Baker came in the fall of 1799, and William Bacon in 1800. CHAPTER V THE LAKE SETTLEMENTS To relate in order the steps which brought into being the lake settlements it is necessary to return to Conneaut Creek. When General Cleaveland and his party arrived there they found one white man. He gave his name as Holsted, and declared that he had been living on the creek in solitude for more than four years. There was no Indian population near the Creek in 1796, except an occasional transient, but subsequent investigation disclosed the existence of an enormous Indian graveyard, indicating that there had been a great center of Indian life here. Upwards of two thousand graves were located by the early settlers. These were doubtless the Eries, who, as we noted in Book I, Chapter II, had their headquarters here. There was also a rumor that two young white men had been brought to Conneaut Creek after St. Clair's defeat. They had been captured and were to be put to death here, but were supposed to have escaped; one by the well-known method of rescue by a compassionate squaw. They had disappeared into the unknown, however, and pass out of the history. As for Holsted, he also disappeared. He was doubtless one of those curious cases of misanthropic hatred of society, which have been found in all kinds and periods of civilization. After Cleaveland and his party left Conneaut Creek, a little tragedy ensued. The cabin which the party had built was soon occupied by James Kingsbury, a citizen of New York State, who seems to have at some time in his career - 93 - 94 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO occupied an office which carried with it the title of "Judge." (Note.—Titles in the early period of western settlement were even more loosely attached to men than they are now. It was a person of little importance who had no label at all. Judges, Generals, Colonels, Captains, Honorables, Professors flourished everywhere. The title "Professor." for instance, was attached to every male common-school teacher in the nineteenth century Reserve.) Judge Kingsbury brought with him his wife and at least two children. They cleared a little land, and planted a field of wheat. Before the approach of winter, however, Kingsbury found it necessary to return to New York in order to attend to some business affairs. He left his wife and children alone in the wildernes, expecting to return before winter set in. A severe illness overtook him while in New York, which prevented him from starting back to his family until well into the New Year. At last he reached Presqu' Isle and there purchased twenty pounds of flour. He started on horseback, but in crossing Elk Creek his horse slipped on the ice, and was so disabled that Kingsbury was compelled to proceed on foot, carrying the flour on his back. It is not easy for the modern citizen of Ohio to picture the journey. He hurried through the snowy wildernes, feeling the utmost apprehension concerning the fate of his family. At last the cabin came in view but no smoke was rising from the chimney, and he hurried to the door, fearing the worst. On entering he found his wife ill and nearly starving but alive. Their infant child, however, born while he was away; lay by her side, dead. Thus the first white child born in the Reserve was the first to perish. It took strong courage to subdue the wilderness. Kingsbury's wife survived, and they both became useful citizens of the new country. Mrs. Kingsbury lived in the Reserve for nearly half a century, dying in Cleveland in 1842. HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 95 The first real settlement near the lake was at Harpers-field. The name is derived from the place from which they came, Harpersfield, New York. In March of 1798 three families, headed by Alexander Harper, William McFarland and Ezra Gregory, set out for the new country. They came along the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to Fort Erie, from which place they took boat across the lake. The party finally arrived at the mouth of Cunningham Creek on June 28th. From this landing place they cut a road through the wilderness to their new home. They first built for the entire party a bark hunt, in which they lived while they cleared the land and built three log cabins. The next year came Joseph Harper with his family and four young men, Aaron Wheeler, John Harper, Daniel and Abraham Bartholomew. Two more of the Harpersfield families, headed by Thomas Montgomery and Aaron Wright, came to the new settlement in '98 or '99. These settlers, however, happening to land at the Conneaut Creek Harbor, were so delighted with the scene that they determined to settle there, and established the village of Conneaut. This settlement soon out-rivaled Harpersfield. By 1800 several families were located in Conneaut, the list including Robert Levi, John Montgomery, Samuel Bemus, Nathan and John King, all of whom came in 1799, and Seth Harrington and family, James Harper and family, James Montgomery and family, James and Nathanael Laughlin and Daniel Baldwin. Turhand Kirtland and David Beard entered Township Seven, Range Seven, in June of 1798 with a surveying corps. To this township was given the name of Burton, and during the summer of 1798 two families moved in. Thomas Umberville made his appearance early in the summer, bringing his wife and a family of four girls and one boy. The oldest girl, who wore the curious name of Limery, was fifteen when she 96 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO came to Burton. She was a beautiful child, so beautiful that she charmed a wandering Indian chieftain to such an extent that he made an offer to her parents. The tradition is that the chief offered for Limery one thousand dollars and his eldest son. The money offer must be greatly exaggerated, as it does not seem likely that any Indian in this neighborhood had any property to such an amount. At any rate, the offer was declined with thanks, and Limery eventually became the bride of young Simeon Rose, who came to Burton the next year. The other family who came to Burton in 1798 was that of Amariah Beard, brother of David Beard, the prospector. With the Beards came the Honey family, who stayed at Burton a few days and then went on to Cleveland. It seems that at Cleveland the Honeys became infected with an Indian scare, so that they came back to Burton for safety—it seems strange that one place should seem safer than another in the wilderness. On December 31, 1798, there was born to the Honey family a son, whom they named Riley, one of the claimants to the honor of being the first white child born in the Reserve. Riley Honey grew up a bit eccentric, and in his manhood days became one of the leaders of the Shaker sect. In 1799, there came to Burton, besides Simeon Rose, who married the beautiful Limery Umberville, Isaac Clark and family, Ephraim Clark, Junior, and Samuel Hopson. In 1800 came Ephraim Clark, Senior, Nathan Parks and Seth Hayes. Nearer the lake three more settlements came into being before 1800: Painesville, Mentor and Willoughby. Somewhere near the mouth of the Grand River the great Pontiac met Major Robert Rogers in conference in 1760. Between that time and 1796 no white man troubled the beautiful solitudes of this magnificent gorge. Cleaveland and his party passed by the Grand River but did not enter. But in the same year of 1796 General Edward Paine, with his son HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 97 Edward, Junior, came prospecting into the Reserve. In 1798 they bought land on the Grand River, and in 1799 General Paine brought his party to his new home. Eleazar Paine, Jedediah Beard and Joel Paine were the other principal heads of families who accompanied the General. The whole party numbered sixty-six, so that Painesville was a considerable settlement from the beginning. A few days before the Paine party arrived, probably, there came several families to locate within the present limits of Mentor. These were the families of Judge Jesse Phelps, Jared Wood, Ebenezer Merry, Charles Parker and Moses Parks. John Walworth came with his family in 1800 and settled on the east side of Mentor, nearest Painesville. By the end of the century there was a line of neighboring farms all the way along the Painesville-Mentor-Willoughby line, all located a few miles inland from the lake; a fact which accounts for the fact that none of the principal present day settlements are on the lake. The early settlers wanted the shelter of the forest between them and the blustering winter shore of Lake Erie. We have described the important settlements within the scope of this history up to the end of the century. We now come to the formation of Trumbull County. CHAPTER VI THE ORIGINAL TRUMBULL COUNTY The Connecticut Land Company had been in existence for four years. For two years settlers had been coming into the Reserve. During this time no organized government of any sort existed; no court was held anywhere; no school system; no provision for marriage or even for burying the dead could be established. Such a state of virtual anarchy probably never existed anywhere else in the English speaking world in modern times. Land was continually being sold by the proprietors of the company, but there was no place to record the deeds. Only with a law abiding citizenry of the highest class could a reign of terror have been avoided. But by 1800 the system was becoming intolerable. The State of Connecticut as early as 1797 made an attempt to surrender her jurisdiction to the United States, but nothing came of it. Finally, in February, 1800, a committee of Congress, headed by the great John Marshall, was established to consider the acceptance of the cession of jurisdiction from Connecticut. The next year Marshall was to assume the duties of Chief Justice of the United States, and to enter on that career which made a living, governing document of the Constitution. In 1800 his fame as the great interpreter had not begun, but his decision on the matter of title to the Reserve lands is worthy to be placed among his great judicial decisions. He pointed out that all land titles in the Reserve came from the State of Connecticut through the Connecticut Land Company; therefore "they cannot submit to the government - 98 - HISTORY OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO - 99 established by the United States in the Northwest Territory without endangering their titles, and the jurisdiction of Connecticut could not be extended over them without much inconvenience." Marshall, therefore, worked out a masterly plan to overcome the difficulty. A "Quieting Act" was passed (not without opposition from New York and Virginia members) by Congress, authorizing the President to execute to the Governor of Connecticut "letters patent," amounting to a blanket deed, conveying all the right, title and interest of the United States in the Reserve to the Governor and his successors in office, thus clarifying the titles and confirming the right of the State of Connecticut to do what had already been done; to sell the land. A condition was attached, requiring the State of Connecticut within eight months to pass an act relinquishing all her rights of government in the Reserve and turning it over to the territorial government. The Quieting Act was passed by Congress April 28, 1800, the Connecticut Legislature passed its act releasing jurisdiction in May. The problem was solved, the title cleared, and the Western Reserve became a part of the Northwest Territory. (Note.—See Appendix A for these acts in full.) But before this matter had been brought to a successful conclusion, affairs had been moving in the Territory at large. The Ordinance of 1787 provided that "So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the Governor, they shall receive authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General Assembly." By the end of the year 1798 the requisite number was resident in the Territory, an election was held, and the legislature convened for the first time on February 4, 1799. The new government provided for a legislature and a council of five. All laws had to pass both