(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE - 825 heading the list, and Mr. Badger's name also being among the incorporators. Trumbull county then embraced the entire Reserve, and after several meetings of the trustees, provided by the charter, the institution was located at Burton, now in Geauga county, and a suitable house erected and duly equipped with teachers, in 1805. The burring of this building, in 1810, suspended operations, until after the War of 1812, the institution finally resuming operations in a new building, in 1820, which, under the management of Professor David L. Coe, a graduate of Williams College, and his successors, maintained a fair standing until 1834, when, through a combination of untoward circumstances, it ceased to exist. REV. CALEB PITKIN,—born in New Hartford, Connecticut, February 27, 1781; graduated at Yale College in 1806; studied theology with Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Connecticut, and ordained as minister of Milford Congregational church, March 6, 1808 ; removed to Ohio as a missionary in 1816, and installed as pastor of Charlestown (Portage county) Church, in April, 1817 ; was one of the founders of Western Reserve College, and for many years president of the board of trustees, removing to Hudson, where he resided until his death, February 5, 1864, at the age of 82 years, 11 months and 8 days. June 15, 1807, Mr. Pitkin was married to Miss Anna Henderson, of Milford, Connecticut, who died in Akron, December 6, 1882, at the age of 98 years, 3 months and 11 Olays. Their children were--Mara N. (Mrs. Rev. Charles M. Preston), born June 10, 1808, died July 14, 1839; Stephen H. (afterwards probate judge of Summit county), born October 5, Nn, died February 25, 1882; Caleb J. (Presbyterian minister), born December 4, 1812, died May 19, 1887 ; James, born March 12, 1815, now deceased, and Julia L. (Mrs. Lucian Case), born February 27, 1818, died September 24, 1849. THEOLOGY AS WELL AS LITERATURE.—Meantime, in 1817, the Presbyterian and Congregational churches of the Reserve had organized a "Society for the education of indigent pious young men for the ministry," and an arrangement was made with the Burton school for them to study there; a joint committee from the several presbyteries interested, reporting in favor of establishing the "Literary and Theological Institute" which had been resolved upon, at Burton, under the charter of the " Erie Literary Institute," upon certain conditions to be accepted by that institution, which were acceded to, and the theological school duly launched. This arrangement continued only about two years, the managers becoming convinced that such an institution as they desired could not be maintained at Burton. Commissioners were appointed by the Grand River, Portage and Huron presbyteries, to select a location, taking into consideration all the points connected with the several competing localities--character of inhabitants, healthfulness, accessibility, contributions, etc. 826 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. Propositions were submitted from Hudson, Cleveland, Burton Euclid, Aurora, and perhaps other points, and after several meet ings, and considerable discussion, the decision was made in favo of Hudson. The then munificent sum of $7,150 was subscribed h the people of Hudson, to secure the location of the institution that town, of which amount Mr. Hudson, himself, contributed ov $2,000, besided donating 160 acres of land to secure the location o the college buildings, where they were afterwards erected, rathe than have them placed in what he regarded as a less fafavorableocality, south of the village. NEW CHARTER GRANTED.—A petition, numerously signe setting forth the objects sought to be attained by the propose new educational institution, presented to the Legislature in the Winter of 1825, '26, was vigorously opposed by certain anti-orthodox members of that body, on account of its theological character This opposition, with perhaps some modifications of the origin draft, was finally overcome and the act of incorporation dudulyassed on the 27th day of February, 1826. The first board o trustees, under the charter, were: David Hudson, Elizur Wrigh Joshua Bradford Sherwood, Rev. John Seward, Rev. Caleb Pitkin Henry Brown, Rev. Simeon Woodruff, Zalmon Fitch, Rev, Benja min Fenn, Harmon Kingsbury, George Swift, Rev. Stephe Ingalls Bradstreet and Rev. Harvey Coe. The board organized o the first day of March, 1826, by electing Rev. Caleb Pitkin pros dent; Rev. John Seward vice president; Rev. William Hanfo secretary, and Benjamin Whedon treasurer. This was the fifth college charter granted in the State, no counting the Erie Literary Institute, at Burton. The board n only took immediate and vigorous measures for the erection of a suitable building, but also for the organization of classes, admission of students, etc. Mr. David L. Coe, late principal of the Burton school, then in charge of the academy at Tallmadge, was appointed tutor pro tens, for the examination of applicants. Orrin Cook Thompson, Charles Merriman Preston, Ellery Bascom and Joseph Welch Barr, were admitted to the freshman class in December, 1826; the first regular tutor, appointed in 1827, being Ephraim. Sturtevant, a graduate of Yale College, afterwards, for many years, principal of a select classical school in Tallmadge. LAYING THE CORNER STONE.—The foundation of the first college building was pushed with such vigor by the contractor, Captain Heman Oviatt, that the corner stone was laid on the 26th day of April, 1826, in the presence of a large crowd of people, and with imposing ceremonies by the Masonic Fraternity, the president of the Board of Trustees, Rev. Caleb Pitkin, delivering the oration in Latin. In the cavity of this corner-stone was deposited a metallic plate bearing upon one side the names of the president and secretary of the board of trustees, and on the other the name of the grand master, by whom it was laid, date, etc.; one copy each of the Religious Intelligencer, Pittsburg Recorder, Masonic Register, and of the principal papers then published on the Western Reserve, together with a brief history of the rise and progress of the institution, and a hymn, written for the occasion, by Mr. Asaph Whittlesey of Tallmadge. Though of no special monetary value, during the succeeding night the stone was robbed of its contents which were never replaced. The trustees and building committee MANUAL LABOR A FAILURE - 827 were beset with innumerable hihindrances-scarcityf money, difficulty in collecting subscriptions to the building fund, etc., so that the building—what has since been known as "Middle College" —was not ready for occupation until August, 1827. COLLEGE GOVERNNENT.—Theirst president of the college was Rev. Charles Backus Storrs, a native of Longmeadow, Mass. Though profoundly learned, Mr. Storrs was not a college graduate, but, while preaching in. Ravenna, had, in 1829, been called to the chair of sacred theology, which he filled so acceptably that in August, 1830, he was unanimously elected to the presidency of the college. At that time the financial management was mainly in the hands of Rev. Caleb Pitkin, president of the Board of Trustees, and the administration of President Storrs, so far as the educational interests of the college were concerned, would have proved a grand success, but for certain disturbing elements that were permitted, by the managers and faculty, to creep in. FREDERICK BALDWIN, — fourth son of Stephen and Susannah Baldwin, born at Goshen,Connecticut, March 17, 1794 ; educated in Goshen district schools ; at 18, with his elder brother, Augustus, came to Hudson, arriving June 12, 1812, bringing with them a wagon load of goods, and opening the second store in the township, under the firm name of A. Baldwin & Brother, Frederick continuing the business until about 1844, when he went into the cattle business on his farm, south of the center, where he resided until his death, July 12, 1880. February 12, 1828, Mr. Baldwin was married to Miss Saloma W. Brownson, of Winchester, Connecticut, who bore him two children—Maria Louisa, who died in infancy, November 9, 1836, and Caroline A., born December 17, 1841, now the wife of Mr. Perry H. Babcock, formerly of Ravenna, now residing in Cleveland. United in life for over 52 years, Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin were not long separated in death, Mrs. Baldwin dying May 16, 1881. Frederick Baldwin was well known as in every respect a just and honorable man, and honored most by those who most intimately knew him. MANUAL LABOR INTRODUCED.—At .that time, so-called manual labor schools were largely in vogue, by which indigent young men, desiring an education, could, by working a certain number of hours per day, pay their board, tuition fees, etc. Unfortunately, the managers of the college adopted this hobby, not only permitting those who desired to do so, but requiring of all students a given amount of work (two hours per day) on the ground of prpromotingheir physical as well as their mental development. To this end a wagon-shop, a carpenter shop, a cooper-shop and a farm, with tools, machinery, superintendents, etc., were provided at considerable expense. At first, while the novelty was on, the thing worked smoothly ,enough; but it was soon discovered that a good many of the students (like a good many outsiders), were disinclined to manual labor—duties were shirked, rules were 828 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. evaded, exemptions were obtained, jealousies aroused, caste distinctions engendered, and the general interests of the college interfered with, and after a few years of friction and dissatisfaction the project was abandoned. THE SLAVERY QUESTION.--But the most disastrous cause of dissension in college circles, about this time, was the agitation of the slavery question. President Storrs, and several of the professors, as well as quite a number of the students, had not only adopted extreme. Abolition views, but engaged earnestly in the discussion of the question, in the class-room, in fraternity meetings and in public lectures,.both in Hudson and elsewhere. Others of the faculty and students, taking the opposite ground, and the Board of Managers also being divided upon the question, not so much, perhaps, in principle, as in regard to the propriety of its agitation in an institution open alike to Abolitionists, Colonizationists and Slaveholders, a majority of the Board finally passed a resolution against the innovation. These discussions, with attendant criminations and recriminations, participated in by the people of Hudson, generally, and the hitherto warm friends of the college, elsewhere, tended to promote withdrawals, prevent accessions, diminish subscriptions, donations and endowments, and to greatly retard its usefulness and prosperity; (anti-slavery people believing, from the 'action of the Board, that the institution was pro-slavery in sentiment and purpose; and pro-slavery people believing from the utterances of the president and other members of the faculty and students, that it was thoroughly anti-slavery in its aims and tendencies); in fact, with the death of President Storrs at this time (September 15, 1833), and the resignation of several of the professors, entirely broke up the faculty. AN HISTORIC GUIDE-POST.-Ohio was at that time—in the early and middle thirties— decidedly pro-slavery in sentiment, with certain. rare exceptions, like Hudson, Tallmadge, and perhaps a few other towns on the Western Reserve, and in most places it was quite risky for an anti-slavery man to appear upon the rostrum as a lecturer upon that subject. Thus, towns suspected of the taint of Abolitionism, were largely held in contempt by the outside world, and made the butt of many unkind remarks, practical jokes, etc. In the early Spring of 1835, the writer paid his first visit to Ohio, sojourning for several weeks in Aurora, with his friend, Colonel Artemas W. Stocking, afterwards for many years a citizen of Painesville. Colonel Stocking was a carriage-maker by trade, but did such occasional jobs of painting, sign-writing, etc., as the neighborhood required. One of the township trustees was talking with the Colonel, one day, about placing guide-posts, at the several road crossings of the town. Aurora, at that time, was largely pro-slavery in sentiment, and the writer, having spent the previous year and a half in the South, had also become somewhat impregnated with slave-holding notions. Hudson having often been spoken of as a rabid abolition town, the writer being something of an "artist," in connection with Colonel Stocking's younger brother. "Sam," also quite a "genius," proposed ,to the trustee to get up a guide-board for the diagonal road to Hudson, free of expense, if he would permit us to carry out the little design we had concocted, PRESIDENT PIERCE'S ADMINISTRATION - 829 which he assented to. We accordingly built a strong, heavily banded and cleated board, about three feet square, upon which, on a white back-ground, we painted the bust of a stalwart young negro. with expanded optics, broad nostrils, and protruding lips, his broad grin disclosing a couple of rows of ivory teeth, and with the index finger of his right hand pointing in the proper direction, hying: "Dis de road to Hudson !" Bolting this board firmly to a solid oak post, aided by the numerous "Young America" of the neighborhood, we planted it on the south angle of the road in question. We had supposed that the anti-slavery people would take umbrage at it, and take measures for its summary removal, but they seemed to enjoy the joker as well as their pro-slavery neighbors, and the Aurora-Hudson guide-board remained standing for many years, eliciting many a guffaw from the passing traveler, and attaining almost a Statewide notoriety. HON. SYLVESTER H. THOMPSON,—son of Dr. Moses and Elizabeth (Mills) Thompson, among the very earliest settlers of Summit county, was born in Hudson, July 28, 1808; educated in pioneer district schools ; raised to farm life, at 22 began farming for himself ; May 14, 1833, was married to Caroline D. Peck, of Waterbury, Connecticut, who bore him seven children -- Charles S., deceased ; Sherman P., now a prosperous farmer of Hudson ; Martha E., now Mrs. P. G. Clark, of East Cleveland ; Theodore F., now a prominent dealer in carriages, implements, etc., in Ravenna ; Albert S., carpenter and builder in Cleveland ; two dying in infancy. Active in all public affairs, he held many positions of trust in his native township, resigning- the office of justice of the peace to accept the appointment of associate judge of Summit county, on the resignation of his old neighbor, judge John B. Clark, in 1846, which office he ably filled till the taking effect of the new constitution in. February, 1852; in 1859 was elected representative to the State Legislature, serving two years ; in 1864, was appointed commissioner ; was connected with City National Bank of Akron, and its president thirteen years. Mrs. Thompson died November 23, 1876, the Judge himself dying January 15, 1883, aged 74 years, 5 months and 17 days. REORGANIZATION, NEW PRESIDENT, ETC.—For a full year, after the culmination of these dissensions, the college was without a proper head, though the management had become so far harmonized as to provide instruction for the several classes, and gradually All the chairs made vacant by the resignation of the professors, as above stated. In March, 1834, Rev. George E. Pierce, a graduate of Yale and of Andover Theological Colleges, then the successful pastor of the Congregational Church of Harwinton, Conn., was elected president, but not inaugurated until commencement of that year. President Pierce, in addition to being a fine scholar, and an able preacher, was a man of large stature, commanding presence, and untiring energy. Hitherto, the financial affairs of the college 830 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. had been largely, if not wholly, under the control of the Board of Managers or Trustees. But President Pierce immediately entered upon the work, by personal effort, of increasing the endowments and enlarging the facilities of the college-erecting new buildings, creating new professorships, increasing the apparatus, library and cabinets, elevating the standard of scholarships, etc.. so that in two or three years, the effects of the late "onpleasantnesses" began to disappear, and the college entered upon a new era of efficiency and prosperity; by an amendment to the charter a Medical Department being established, at Cleveland, in 1844. PROSPERITY, ADVERSITY, ETC.—Our limited space will not permit us to minutely follow the fortunes and misfortunes of the college, through the twenty-one years of President Pierce's administration. The first ten years had been decidedly auspicious and prosperous, both in attendance, efficiency of professors and tutors, and proficiency of pupils, as well as financially successful, considering the general monetary stringency of the last half of that decade. But the last eleven years of President Pierce's incumbency were marked by much that was annoying and unpleasant, both to the president, the faculty and the board of trustees, and detrimental to the interests of the college, generally. The large expenditure for new buildings, and in maintaining the new professorships which had been established, (although no excessive salaries were paid,) had created a large permanent indebtedness (at ane time as high as $28,000) which the natural income of the college, and the annual subscriptions to the general fund did not meet. Portions of other funds were from time to time used to meet emergencies, which, though done in good faith, and with the most honest intentions, served, in the absence of a thorough system of keeping the accounts, to complicate the financial affairs of the college, and to engender distrust, and create grave differences between the president, the faculty and the trustees, finally extend. ing to outside friends and patrons of the college, and almost resulting in the financial, professional and scholastic bankruptcy of the institution ; in 1852-3, the president, one. professor, one tutor and twenty-three students comprising the entire roster of the college for those years, without a single graduate in 1853. PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK'S ADMINISTRATION.— Thus matters remained, until May 3d, 1855, when President Pierce resigned, and Rev. Henry L. Hitchcock, then preaching in Columbus (son of the venerable Peter Hitchcock, one of the pioneer settlers of Burton) was elected as his successor, entering upon his duties at commencement, July 12th, 1855. President Hitchcock, then 42 years of age, small of stature, but big with energy and enthusiasm, not only assumed control of the educational affairs of the college—thoroughly reorganizing and harmonizing the several departments--and the pastorate of the college church (organized during the administration of President Storrs, in 1831), but also took upon his own shoulders the herculean task of paying off the college indebtedness (then about $22,000) and of securing an ample permanent and general fund for the proper running of the college, without the financial friction and embarrassment which had hitherto hampered its progress and impaired its usefulness. To this end, firm but kindly efforts were made to collect the delinquent dues upon former pledges, and the most untirin RESIGNATION AND DEATH OF PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK - 831 personal effort was made by President Hitchcock to obtain new subscriptions to both the general and the permanent funds. This effort, notwithstanding the severe stringency of the times immediately preceding the war, and the business and financial derangement caused by the war, was so magnificently successful, that at the time of his death, in 1873-a little less than eighteen years—he had not only extinguished the debt above alluded to, but had added $67,000 to the permanent fund, and $99,000 to the general fund—all, except the trifling amount of about $6,000, being raised by his own personal solicitation and influence. No wonder that he broke down, in the prime of his ripe manhood (60 years); a sacrifice to the educational, spiritual and pecuniary interests of Western Reserve College. Owing to the strain upon his physical system, President Hitchcock finally tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted, in 1871, though he still continued to discharge the duties of professor and pastor, and to manage the finances, until his somewhat sudden and unexpected death, July 6th, just previous to commencement in 1873. JUDGE VAN RENSSELAER HUMPHREY,—born in Goshen, Connecticut, July 28, 1800 ; common school education ; at 17 engaged in teaching, at the same time studying law under Theodore North, Esq., being admitted to the bar, September 26. 1820, while yet under 20 years of age ; April 17, 1821, was married to Miss Stella Beach, of Goshen, the following June emigrating to Ohio, after a short sojourn in Norton and Twinsburg, settling in Hudson, where he acquired a large practice in Portage, Medina and adjacent counties ; in 1828 was elected representative to the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1829; in 1837 was appointed by the Legislature president judge of the third judicial district, serving with great ability for the full term of seven years, on retiring from the bench, in 1844, resuming his law practice, which he successfully followed until his sudden death from apoplexy, September 5, 1864, at the age of 64 years, 1 month and 7 days. Mrs. Humphrey dying April 8, 1832, he was again married, August 22, 1839, to Mrs. Laura Maria (Pease) Tallmage, of Warren, who still survives. By his first marriage, Judge Humphrey was the father of two daughters and two sons, two of whom are now living—Stella (now Mrs. ex-U. S. Senator Conger, of Michigan), and James Kent, of St. Paul, Minnesota, and by his second marriage of two sons—Calvin Pease Humphrey, now a successful attorney in Akron, and Clarence, now of Chicago. THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT ABOLISHED.—Though the establishment of Western Reserve College, as a distinct institution, grew out of dissatisfaction with the arrangement which had been made by the "Society for the education of indigent pious young men for the ministry" with the trustees of the "Erie Literary Institute," at Burton, as above set forth, and though theology was sought to 832 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. be made the prominent feature of the college, the fond anticipations of its founders, in that regard, were never fully realized. Though supplied with earnest and faithful professors and teachers, and though students in that department were nearly as numerous as in others, there was such a dearth of subscriptions to its endowment fund, that it was utterly impossible to pay the requisite salaries, and the several chairs were vacated about 1859, and never again filled, though the general religious purpose and character of the college was thenceforth continuously and consistently maintained. PRESIDENT CARROLL CUTLER.—On the acceptance of President Hitchcock's resignation, in 1871, Professor Carroll Cutler was promoted to the presidency, immediately assuming its duties, though not formally inaugurated until commencement, 1872. Not burdened with the financial management of the college, the president had comparatively fair sailing for about two years, when the death of Doctor Hitchcock devolved upon President Cutler the business management of the college, also. During these two years of exemption from triple duty, the discharge of his double duty as president and professor had been in every way satisfactory, which success, even with the additional burdens placed upon him, was co-extensive with his incumbency. But the old adage about "too many irons in the fire," holds good in educational as well as in mechanical affairs. Increased professorships, and necessarily constantly increasing expenditures on buildings, apparatus, etc., and the forced lack (by reason of his scholastic duties) of that personal application and energy given to the financial and business department by his predecessor, at length caused the monetary affairs of the college to tighten up again, necessitating a vigorous agitation of the question among the alumni and other friends of the college, in regard to ways and means to place the institution on an endowment basis commensurate with its present and future necessities. REMOVAL TO CLEVELAND.—About this time, too, the question began to be mooted, among the alumni and the trustees residing in that city, about removing the college to Cleveland, the argument being that its location in so populous a city would bring to it an infinitely greater pupilage than could possibly be secured in a rural village like Hudson, and a wealth of money and influence that alone could make it what it should be, a first-class university. Responsive to this suggestion, a wealthy resident of Cleveland, Mr. Amasa Stone, made a formal offer to the trustees to donate t the college $500,000 (as a memorial offering to his deceased son, Adelbert), on condition that the college should be removed to Cleveland, and its name changed to "Adelbert College of Western Reserve University " Mr. Stone, afterwards, also, providing in his will for a bequest of $100,000 additional. HUDSON PEOPLE JUSTLY INDIGNANT.-To this proposition munificent as was the offer—the people of Hudson and vicinity entered a most earnest and righteous protest. Established in times that truly "tried men's souls," and pockets, too, and maintained for over half a century amid the most appalling difficulties and perplexities, now that old Western Reserve College, of Hudson well and favorably known everywhere—was really in the height of its usefulness, with all needed buildings and appurtenances, and COLLEGE REMOVED TO CLEVELAND - 833 requiring only a moderate degree of liberality on the part of its many weathy alumni, to secure to it perpetual future success, it seemed to them little less than sacrilege to not.only remove the institution to another locality, but also to absolutely blot out the very name by which it had been so long and so affectionately and reverently known. CAPTAIN JAMES H. SEYMOUR, - born in Colebrook, Connecticut, July 16, 1842; came with parents to Hudson, Ohio, in 1851; attended Hudson public schools, and Western Reserve College Preparatory School four years ; 1858 to 1860, traveling salesman for his father in wholesale cracker business ; September 4, 1861, enlisted in regimental band of 2d 0. V. C.; discharged by general order No. 91, war department, September 4, 1862; tendered commission in 12th 0. V. C., but, being needed at home, declined the appointment ; commissioned first lieutenant in 0. N. G., in 1861, by Governor Brough, and while in camp in Cleveland, promoted to captain ; same year entered U. S. service in Q. M. department, at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas ; detailed as clerk and given charge of transportation on White and Mississippi rivers, and the military railroad betweenDuvall's Bluff and Little Rock ; also, by appointment of Ohio State Commission, superintended taking vote of troops and employes, in October 1864, soon after which the sudden death of his father necessitated his resignation and return to Hudson ; engaging in the grocery and provision business, he was often elected a member of village council ; served fourteen years as village clerk, fifteen years on board of education, fourteen years as cemetery trustee and treasurer, and otherwise devoted himself to the public welfare, being a charter member of Sherman Post, No. 68, G. A. R., post commander eight years, and post adjutant seven years, with still higher honors in the order, both State and National. In 1887, was elected treasurer of Summit county, and re-elected in 1889, serving four years. Captain Seymour was married July 24, 1865, to MiSs Louisa Coe, of Hudson. who died April 18, 1887, leaving one daughter—Anna C.; was again married, April 9, 1888, to Miss Martha L. Webb, of Springfield, who has borne him, two children—Marian and Ruth. THE DEED ACCONPLISHED.—After many meetings and much tempestuous discussion, however, the majority of the trustees voted to accept Mr. Stone's proposition and the transfer was made in 1882. President Cutler, by virtue of his presidential incumbency in the old, continued at the head of the new institution, in addition to his presidential duties filling the Handy Chair of Intellectual Philosophy, and continuing in charge of the financial and business affairs of the University. After fifteen years of faithful service as. president, with the added duties devolved upon him, as indicated, President Cutler resigned the presidency and business cares at the close of the college year, in 1886, and assumed for a time the duties of teacher in the Handy professorship, above alluded to. After an interregnum of nearly a year and a half, Rev. H. C. Haydn, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, was elected to the presidency of the college in November, 1887. President Haydn after three years of faithful service, was succeeded 53 834 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. by Charles P. Thwing, D. D., who was inaugurated February 9, 1891, the new institution thus far (November, 1891) notwithstanding its more imposing title, and its more pretentious location, scarcely more than holding its own, in point of yearly attendance and graduations, with the venerable institution which it despoiled of its fair name and time-honored heritage. HUDSON STILL A LITERARY CENTER.—The arrangements, as finally consummated, for the removal of the college, proper, Cleveland, provided for the retention and occupation of the build. ings, fixtures, apparatus, etc., at Hudson, as a Preparatory School, under the title of "Western Reserve Academy," in which capacity under the direction of the trustees of " Adelbert College of Western Reserve University," and with Professor Newton B. Hobart, as principal, and James S. Chamberlain, John Dickerman, Gillete Wynkoop and Miss Nanna Barclay, as instructors, it is still one of the very best academic institutions in the Western country, not only as preparatory to a college course of study, but as affording opportunity to those not contemplating entering college, to acquire a thorough practical education, especial facilities being offered to those intending to follow the profession of teaching - both ladies and gentlemen. Average number of pupils 75. The old Western Reserve College buildings, now occupied as above consist of a chapel, observatory, Athanum, the north, middle and south college buildings and five dwelling houses. The village of Hudson has also a high school and four primary schools, under the superintendency of Mr. C. F. Seese; scholars in former, 36; in latter, 220. THE COLOR LINE—CO-EDUCATION.—Western. Reserve College like all similar institutions of that early day, without any express regulation upon that subject, was supposed to be intended for white male students, only, though in point of fact, without any formal official action upon the question, colored students were from time to time admitted—one as early as 1832, who went through the regular college course of four years, graduating with 'honors, and spending one year in the theological department. Previous to the accession of President Cutler, in 1871, the question of co-education of the sexes had been largely discussed in other colleges, and though as yet no applications of that nature had been made at Western Reserve, in his inaugural address, in 1872, President Cutler announced that women would be admitted to the privileges of the college on the same conditions as men, a number of young ladies afterwards being in attendance, both at Western Reserve and Adelbert. But, in the year of Grace, 1887, in casting about for the cause of the declension of the college, since its removal to Cleveland, in spite of its wealthy and aristocratic environments, and its munificent endowments, it was concluded that woman was the "Jonah" who was sinking the magnificent ship, and at the annual commencement in 1888, the trustees formally decided against co-education, but established a Ladies' Department, and so far as the writer is advised the affairs of the coprosperous.w harmonious and prosperous. HUDSON AS A RAILROAD CENTER.—In 1836, a charter was obtained for the construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburg road, through Hudson, but by reason of the immediate breaking down EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS - 835 of the finances of the country, by the panic of 1837, the charter lapsed, before work was begun upon the line. A renewal of the charter was obtained in 1845, and the work was proceeded with, the people of Hudson subscribing liberally, in lands, for right of way, money, etc., the road being finally completed from Cleveland to Hudson in the winter of 1851-52. CHARLES C. HINE,—son of Hial M. and Mary (Pease) Hine, was born in Twinsburg, May 1, 1842 ; educated in district schools and at Twinsburg Institute ; raised a farmer ; October 8, 1867, was married to Miss Ellen M. Farrar, of Hudson, and located on a farm in that township the same Fall. In politics, Mr. Hine is an ardent Republican and active in all public affairs, having served as trustee of Hudson township for eight consecutive years. In October, 1885, Mr. Hine was elected county commissioner, entering upon his duties the following December ; was re-elected in 1888, and is still (October, 1891), ably and intelligently filling that responsible position. Mr. and Mrs. Hine are the parents of one daughter, only—Florence Farrar Hine, born May 9, 1876. Meantime, the people of Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls and Akron had projected the "Akron Branch," now the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus railroad, on an amendment to the charter of the first named road, to which road, completed to Akron, in 1852, Hudson was also a liberal contributor. The completion of these roads so-favorably affected the business and agricultural interests of Hudson, that they came to believe that they couldn't have 'too much of a good thing," and were, consequently, more than ready to enter into any new project that seemed to give promise of increasing the boom that was then beginning to be felt in the business, industrial and educational departments of the town. Accordingly, when the "Clinton Line Railroad" from Hudson east to the Pennsyl- vania State line, which was to be one of the links of "The Great American Railway," from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific, was organized, in 1852, the people of Hudson were among its most active promoters, Professor Henry N. Day, of Western Reserve College, becoming its president, and very largely assuming its management, to the stock and right of way of which the people of Hudson unstintedly contributed. So, also, to the "Clinton Line Extension" link, from Hudson to Tiffin, organized in 1853, also under the presidency of Professor Day, and with Hon. Van R. Humphrey as principal trustee, like liberal investments were made in lands and money, by the people of Hudson. The "Hudson & Painesville" project also, designed to be a continuation of the "Akron Branch" direct to Lake Erie, organized in 1853, with Judge Humphrey as its president, was also generously promoted by Hudson's public spirited inhabitants. These three projects, in the furtherance of which Hudson had literally turned her pockets inside out, were simultaneously and 836 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. vigorously prosecuted for about two years, the official reports for 1855 showing that forty per cent. of the grading, bridging and masonry upon the Clinton Line had been done; that about $70,00) had been expended upon the eastern division of the Clinton Line Extension (chiefly between Hudson and Ghent), while a large proportion of the work upon the Hudson & Painesville had also been completed. Expenditures exceeding estimates, monetary affairs tightening down, together with the difficulty of raising additional local subscriptions, or even collecting maturing installments upon those already made, necessitated the suspension of work on all the roads named, early in 1856. While most of the impoverished contributors have gradually recovered from the financial embarrassments resulting therefrom, the three roads in question have since remained in statu quo, the lands on which they were located haring mostly, if not all, reverted to the original owners; though there are semi-occasional rumors to the effect that, sometime in the near future, the visions which absorbed the attention and the wealth, of the good peole of Hudson, a third of a century ago, may yet be realized, by the resuscitation and completion of some, if not all, the roads in question. HUDSON'S BUSINESS STATUS. Primarily, the business of the township is bucalic—almost literally so—for while her thousands of fertile acres are capable of growing all the various cereals and vegetables, and the very best of fruits adapted to this climate, her most reliable and profitable industry has hitherto been stock-growing and the dairy, though we are pleased to note that within the past year many fine fields of wheat have been harvested in the township. And, in this connection, it may be well to note the changes that a third of a century has wrought in the mode of handling and marketing the products of the dairy, in Hudson and other towns traversed by railroads, and contiguous to that modern lacteal institution, the cheese factory. Instead of being worked up by the old hit-or-miss process of setting curds, the uncertain pressure the rickety old style hand press, and the manipulation of ye the ancient dashing and splashing hand-churn, and disposing of their unevenly made products to the local tradesman in exchange far merchandise at barter prices, hundreds of gallons of milk are now daily shipped to Cleveland from this single township, affording a small but steady cash margin to the producer, while other hundreds of gallons are daily taken to contiguous cheese and butter factories, at generally living prices, to be worked up, by unifrom and scientific processes, into merchantable cheese and palatable butter. Through the kindness of S. Straight & Co., we were furnished in 1887 with a statement of their cheese and butter operations for the year 1886, which, as showing Hudson's approximate interest in the matter we condense as follows: Of the three regular cheese and butter factories in Hudson, proper, one conducted by Messrs. Straight & Co., and one each by M. D. Call and W. A. Curtiss (the latter operated by McNeil & Cassidy), all, probably, doing about an equal amount of business, the previous year (1886), tje Straight factory bought 1,226,254 pounds of milk, at the cost of HUDSON'S EARLY BUSINESS MATTERS - 837 $11,397.50 producing 101,387 pounds of cheese and 26,465 pounds of butter. According to Messrs. Call and McNeil & Cassidy, an equal amount of business, we have an aggregate of 3,678,762 pounds of milk, selling for $34,102.50, and producing 304,161 pounds of cheese and 79,395 pounds of butter. That year (1886) the milk industry reached its lowest point of depression in ten years, the average being fully 25 per cent. above the figures given, so that, with the Sweitzer cheese factory of Mr. John Mack and the shipment of milk to Cleveland, the total yearly average of that industry in Hudson would not fall much, if any, short of $50,000. EARLY MANUFACTURES.—The first grist-mill, nearer than the Valley of the Ohio, accessible to the early settlers of Hudson, was at Newburg, erected in 1800, and access to this, through the dense forest, and over unbridged streams, was both difficult and dangerous. The distance was but 22 miles, but three days' time—one in going, one in waiting for the grist and one in returning-were consumed in performing the journey. The first wheat harvested in the township was by Thaddeus Lacey, 183 bushels, on the nine acres planted for Mr. Hudson, on lot eleven, in 1799, Mr. Lacey receiving one fourth of the product for harvesting and threshing. Of the remaining three-fourths, Mr. Hudson's share was about 34 bushels, the remainder going to his co-proprietors. Of this wheat, Samuel Bishop took a load to the Newburg mill, receiving one-half of the flour, feed, etc., for his trouble. But Mr. Hudson had thoughtfully included in his orders for supplies a small pair of mill stones and, in 1801, in connection with Ezra Wyatt, commenced the erection of a mill on Tinker's Creek, in the northeastern portion of the township, Aaron Norton taking Mr. Wyatt's place in the enterprise before the mill was completed ; a distillery also being established in connection with the mill by Messrs. Hudson & Norton, both being completed in 1802, but a year or so later both were destroyed by fire. Captain Heman Oviatt and George Darrow also erected and for several years, both before and after the close of the War of 1812, carried on quite extensive distilleries in Hudson, it being found that the Indians were not the only persons fond of fire-water, even among the generally staid and sober pioneer settlers of Hudson. Several aw-mills were erected on the different streams running through township and a number of tanneries were also established, the rst that of Owen Brown, father of the immortal John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame, that hero, himself, also working at the business for a number of years. The ashery business also, during the clearing up of the forests, was a prominent business of the town, the products, black salts, potash, pearlash, etc., finding a market in Pittsburg, Cleveland, Buffalo, etc. EARLY HOTELS, MERCHANTS, ETC.—For several years every house in Hudson was a house of entertainment, the private latchstring always hanging out for the accommodation of the stranger and the traveler, though at quite an early day Captain Heman Oviatt formally opened his log cabin, a mile south of the village, as a house of public entertainment. The first regular inn, within the limits of the township, however, was, the large frame house of Deacon David Hudson, a short distance north of the public square, opened to the public in 1813 —the same house now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Harvey Baldwin, and in which, when a girl in her 838 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. teens, she officiated as bar-maid and general assistant to her good mother, in the conduct of the house and in caring for the guests. In 1816, George Kilbourn opened a tavern on the Justin Kilbourn place ; about 1825 Augustus Baldwin opened a hotel on the site of the present Buss residence, and about 1833, the Mansion Home, which still survives, was built, its first landlord being Samuel Edgerly, father of Mr. Charles H. Edgerly and Mrs. Sarah N. E. Battels, wife of Akron's well-known photographer Mr. B. F. Battels. This house has had many proprietors during the nearly sixty years of its existence, and though at times, perhaps, a trifle too liberal in the dispensation of intoxicants, to suit the abstemious notions oft lie average Hudsonian, has generally been regarded as a good house by the traveling public, its present owner and keeper, 1891, being Nr. k. A. Edson. The Hotel Delta, recently established on Peninsula road, opposite depot, is kept by Mr. Henry A. Bissell. The first store was kept by Captain Heman Oviatt, in his log cabin, one mile south of the center, trade being mostly with Indians, exchanging blankets, shawls, powder, lead, whiskey, etc., for skins, which were transported on horses to Pittsburg, and his stock replenished by the same mode of conveyance, from that city. In 1806 he removed to the center, where he did a lucrative business for many years, afterwards entering into partnership with Mr. Zenas Kent (father of Hon. Marvin Kent, of Kent), and opening a store at Ravenna ; also being interested with Mr. Allison Kent, at Canfield, and Mr. Roswell Kent, at Middlebury. As illustrating the mode of doing business in the absence of money, in those early days, the following document copied from the records of Portage county is reproduced : "Received, Hudson, December 6th, 1800, of David Hudson, a certain three-year-old black cow which I am to keep for her milk until the first day of May next, and at that time return to said Hudson at his dwelling house, in good flesh unless said cow is killed by lightning ; or in case I do not return said cow on that day, I am to pay for said cow in good merchantable, yard-wide linen brown cloth at 33126 cents per yard. The cow to remain Hudson's property until returned or paid for as above. The cow is valued at $14. Signed„ STEPHEN UPSON " EBENEZER SHELDON, Witness." "GEORGE KILBOURN, Witness” We can only give the names of a few of those who have carried on business in Hudson during the 91 years of its existence--the Many not even having an abiding place in the memory of the present "oldest inhabitant." Besides those mentioned, Augustus. and Frederick Baldwin, Dudley Humphrey, J. H. Crawford & Co., Hill & James, Kent & Brewster, Hamlin & Dawes, Anson A. Brewster, Hamlin & Ellsworth, Ellsworth & Buss, Hamlin & Buss, Buss & Bond, Hart Brothers, John Buss, Sawyer, Ingersoll & C. D. Marshall & Co., J. C. Snyder, I. C. Dow, Morrell & Ingersoll, M. Beebe, H. R. Seymour, M. Dewey & Co., Farrar & King, O. Farrar, N. V. Wadsworth, John Markilie, Richard Hanson & Neibel & Cooper, Jacob Neibel, James H. Seymour, D. D. B Dr. A. E. Berbower, James K. Frost, John M. Seidell, etc., remembered among Hudson's former business men, mercanti mechanical and otherwise. HUDSON'S BUSINESS REVERSES - 839 THE BOOM AND THE COLLAPSE.—The advent of the C. & P. and Akron Branch Railroads, and the projection of the several other railroad schemes elsewhere mentioned, in the early fifties, stimulated enterprise in other directions and the town and village entered upon an era of speculative improvements commensurate with its prospective importance as a great railroad center. At was already the literary center of Northern Ohio, and why should it not become the business emporium also ? Professor Henry N. Day, of the college, having some cash capital of his own, as well as having many capitalistic friends, built the large five-sided brick block, on Aurora street, known as the "Pentagon," in which, besides a number of mercantile operations, a large printing and book publishing house was established, with all the paraphernalia of presses, types, stereotyping, book-binding, etc., requisite for successful competition with the best Eastern houses, if business could be found to sustain it. About this time, also, a large planing mill and lumber yard was established, near the depot. by J. W. Smith & Co., one of the mercantile firms of the Pentagon, for the purpose of supplying and working up the large amount of building material to meet the requirements of the boom. A large steam flouring mill was built and put in operation a little west of the present union passenger depot, by Henry A. Tallmadge and ex-Sheriff Lewis M. Janes, afterwards transferred to ex-Sheriff Thomas Wilson, but a few years later was destroyed by fire ; large butter, cheese and produce warehouses were established, near the old depot by J. C. Snyder and A. C. Dow, and, altogether, Hudson was decidedly a live business town for the period of about three years from 1853 to 1856. The collapse of the three railroad schemes-the "Clinton Line," the "Clinton Line Extension" and the "Hudson & Painesville," in 1855, '56, also brought disaster to all the enterprises named, the Hudson Book Company making an assignment with liabilities greatly in excess of its assets, and J. W. Smith & Co., the Lumber Company, J. C. Snyder, I. C. Dow and Tallmadge & Co., going under with liabilities aggregating hundreds of thousands of dollars, also very seriously crippling many of the other business operators of the village, who had built upon the bright future presaged by the boom alluded to. GRADUAL RECUPERATION.--Though for several years the depression in the business circles of Hudson was very great, and though, in the intervening years, some serious mercantile disasters have occurred, the town has gradually assumed, and now maintains the average of theWestern Reserve village of 1,000 to 1,200 inhabitants. The population of Hudson township and village, in 1840, was 1,220, while the total of township and village as shown by the census of 1880 was 1,816, a gain of 597—nearly 50 per cent. in the forty years—notwithstanding the many reverses alluded to, the census of 1890 placing the figures at 1,797—a falling off of 20—the village itself numbering 1,143 souls. The past third of .a century, however, has wrought vast changes in the methods of doing business, as witnesses the account given elsewhere of the milk product of Hudson township. As an incident to, and a necessity of, this change of method, Messrs. S. Straight & Co. having come into possession of the Pentagon property, fitted it up as headquarters for the immense cheese and 840 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. butter business established by them in 1867, embracing in 1887, fourteen factories in Hudson and contiguous townships. In addition to the shelving capacity of the Pentagon block itself (about 15,000 cheeses) building 60x60 foot two story brick curing house, with basement, with shelving for 12,000 cheeses, and storage capacity for 250,000 pounds of butter, with ice house, air tubes, fan, engine, elevator, and all the necessary paraphernalia for handling, preserving, packing and marketing the immense yearly product of the several factories named. As showing the magnitude of this interest, the firm report the aggregate business of their fourteen factories in 1886 as follows: Milk bought, 8,392397 pounds; cost $65,782.62; cheese made, 700,227 pounds; butter made, 171,669 pounds, though we are informed that within the past year or two, Mr. Straight has sold the majority of his factories to other parties. OTHER INDUSTRIES.—As an adjunct to the immense business just written of, the cheese box and butter tub factory, of Mr. E. A. Osborne, established in 1870, with a capacity of about 300 boxes and 100 tubs per day, is worthy of mention; also a similar factory, established in 1878, by Erastus Croy, now operated by Mr. E. B. Shields, the former being destroyed by fire in January, 1890. For a number of years subsequent to the destruction of the Wilson mills, above alluded to, quite an extensive flouring mill was maintained near the depot, but the building having passed into the hands of Mr. E. J. Lobdell, was devoted to the manufacture of all kinds of buggy lumber, until burned in January, 1890, the business having since been removed to Marietta, Ohio. About 1878, the Oviatt Manufacturing Company was organized and suitable buildings erected, south of the depot, for the purpose of manufacturing the patented inventions of Mr. Solomon E. Oviatt (formerly of Richfield)—Oviatt's thresher and separator, common sense wagon, independent runner sled, etc., but though promising well for a year or two, either from lack of adequate capital, proper enterprise or judicious management, the company came to financial grief, and the business was abandoned. HUDSON'S PRESENT BUSINESS STATUS.— Dry goods, Charles H. Buss, Henry Wehner; groceries, Dennis J. Joyce, George V. Miller, James A. Jacobs, E. E. Lewis; drugs, John Whedon, Edwin S. Bentley; shoes, Sebastian Miller; books, Edwin S. Bentley; stoves and tinware, R. H. Grimm, John N. Farrar; harness, John G. Mead, Cornelius A. Campbell; blacksmiths, Charles H. Farwell, Charles R. Cash, Perry N. Shively; carriages, James L. Doncaster; machinist, Samuel Bediant; bakery, Ralph T. Miller; meat markets, George V. Miller, Philip Wendling; undertaker, James L. Doncaster; syrup evaporators, The G. H. Grimm Manufacturing Campany; hotels, American, A. A. Edson; Hotel Delta, Henry A. Bissell; livery, Andrew May & Company; lawyers, Matthew C. Read, Horace B. Foster; dentist, Dr. E. E. Rogers; physicans, Drs. Frank Hodge, L. D. Osborn, George L. Starr, Horace C. Coolman; jewelers, Samuel Fletcher, A. Pettingell; news dealer, David M. Darrow; saloons, 5; the latter "industry" being out of all proportions to the requirements of so staid and sober a people, as are the majority of the inhabitants of the village and township. MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS.—April 1, 1837, Hudson village was incorporated by an act of the Legisiature, the territory embraced in the HUDSON'S MUNICIPAL STATUS - 841 corporation being 480 rods in length, from north to south, and 320 rods in width, from east to west, the exact geographical center being he center of the east and west and north and south center roads. Some small tracts outside of these bounds, notably on Aurora street, have been laid out into lots and handsomely improved, but have never been formally annexed to the village plat. The first election, under the charter, was held on Tuesday, May 2, 1837, the officers then elected being as follows: Mayor, Captain Heman Oviatt; recorder, Lyman W. Hall; trustees, Frederick Baldwin, John B. Clark, Jesse Dickinson, Harvey Baldwin and Daniel C. Gaylord. As showing the shrinkage of values and the resources of the property holders, caused by the panic of 1837, it may be stated here that the tax lists of 1837, place the value of the real estate of the village at $93,967.58, and the personal property at $19,474, while the list of 1844 (seven years later) give the real estate at $30,427 and the personal property at $12,177, only. MAYORS FOR OVER HALF CENTURY.-In the fifty-four years of Hudson's corporate, existence, its successive mayors, elected yearly, have been as follows: Heman Oviatt, 1837; 1838, George E. Butler; 1839, Charles R. Hamlin; 1840, Anson A. Brewster; 1841, Dr. Israel Town; 1842, J. W. Selby; 1843, E. E. Parks; 1844,'45, Harvey Whedon; 1846, Herman Peck; 1847, John Buss; 1848, George Vedder; 1849, S. E. Judd; 1850, George E. Pierce; 1851, '52, Van R. Humphrey; 1853, '54, E. B. Ellsworth; 1855, Anson A. Brewster; 1856, George P. Ashmun; 1857, Anson A. Brewster; 1858, John Buss; 1859, Isaac L'Hommedieu; 1860, Henry L. Hitchcock; 1861, D. D. Morrell; 1862, William Pettingell; 1863, '64, D. D. Beebe; 1865, Professor N. P. Seymour; 1866, '67, '68, Isaac L'Hommedieu; 1869, S. E. Judd; 1870, '71, William M. Beebe; 1872, '73, S. H. Thompson; 1874, '75, R. Bosworth; 1876, Charles R. Grant; 1877, Matthew C. Read; 1878, '79, S. E. Judd; 1880, '81, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, Horace B. Foster; 1888, '89, '90, '91, Henry E. Lee. Of the 27 persons who have been thus honored by the good people of Hudson, seven only are now (December, 1887,) living, viz.: Messrs. Judd, Morrell, Seymour, Grant, Read, Foster and Lee. The village government, though never called upon to grapple with the great problems of grading, paving, sewering, electric lighting, etc., that have agitated larger municipalities, has, nevertheless, been of great service to the people of Hudson in conserving the public order, providing proper sidewalk and street improvements, regulating and beautifying the public square, cemetery, etc., and especially in the fostering care which it has ever bestowed upon the educational, religious and moral interests of the community, having, in connection with the township, in 1878, '79, erected a handsome two-story brick town hall, on the site of the old Congregational church, which, besides meeting rooms for the council and trustees, and a lockup on the ground floor, has a capacious well-seated public hall in the second story; in addition to which Adelphian Hall, in Farrar's block, west side of Main street, has a seating capacity of about 900. IN THE NEWSPAPER LINE.-The second town in what is now Summit county, to avail itself of the manifold blessings of the newspaper, was Hudson, the Portage Journal, established in Middlebury, in 1825, having a priority of some two or three years. In 1827, a religious and literary paper called the Western Intelligencer, 842 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. was established in Cleveland, which after several changes was suspended in 1829. In March, 18, Mr. Warren Isham revived the paper in Hudson, under the name of the Obsever and Telegraph, Mr. Isham changing the name in 1832, to the Ohio Observer. In February, 1834, R. M. Walker and S. J. Bradstreet became its proprietors, and in December, 1834, Rev. James B. Walker, afterwards, for several years, pastor of the Congregational church in Akron, became its owner and editor, Mr. Walker being succeeded by Rev. A. P. Clarke in the Autumn of 1835. A SLEDGE-HAMMER EPISODE.—The Observer was not only a profound religious sheet, and a good family newspaper, generally, but it was especially devoted to the several reforms of the day— the anti-slavery reform, the temperance reform, moral reform, etc., and was remarkably plain-spoken in regard to the real or supposed infractions of the moral code. In those days, too, the tongue of the gossip and the scandal monger were fully as "waggish" (and perhaps more so) than at the present time. It coming to the ears o a prominent citizen that a scandal, which had been worked up against him, was about to appear in the columns of the Observer, in the shape of a series of resolutions adopted by the Female Moral Reform Society of Hudson, reflecting upon his moral character, he called upon the editor to ascertain the truth of the rumor. Getting no satisfaction in that direction, but learning from other sources that the objectionable matter was already upon the press, ready to be worked, the gentleman quietly stepped into a neighboring blacksmith shop, and,borrowing a heavy sledge, deliberately entered the Observer office and not only knocked the entire form into pi, but thoroughly crippled the press by demolishing the heavy castrememberedte. It is not now remetnbered that any legal proceedings for damages were ever instituted against the wielder of the sledge, the presumption being that his summary action in the premises was justified by the general public, if not by the proprietors of the Observer themselves.. REVIVIFICATION.—Printing presses were not as readily obtainable in those days as now; and the Observer was removed to and consolidated with the Cleveland Journal, Rev. 0. P. Hoyt being associated with Mr. Clark as editor. The Journal was suspended November 1, 1838, but resumed again January 9, 1839, and in April, 1840, returned to Hudson, resuming its old name, Ohio Observer, continuing, under various proprietors, until February, 1844, when the office was destroyed by fire. For a short: time the paper was now printed at Cuyahoga Falls, but soon afterwards with a new outfit re-established in Hudson, and with many changes of proprietors and editors, and a great variety of vicissitude, it struggled on (its latest name being Ohio Observer and Register) until the general business collapse of the town, in 1855, '56, when it ceased to exist. It may properly be added, here, that the broken press above alluded to, was bought by Horace K. Smith and Gideon G. Galloway, of Akron, in 1836, furnished with a new bed-plate and otherwise repaired, and devoted to the publication of the American Balance, and its successor, the SUMMIT BEACON, until its final destruction, in the first burning of the BEACON office January 9, 1848. OTHER LITERARY EXPERIMENTS.—The Family Visitor, started in Cleveland in 1850, and for a time published simultaneously in HUDSON'S MILITARY PROWESS - 843 Cleveland and Hudson, was wholly transferred to Hudson in January, 1852, with Professor M. C. Read as sole editor, under whose auspices it was in every way a first-class scientific, literary, religious and agricultural family newspaper, but a quarter of a century ahead of the times, and for lack of adequate support its subscription list was transferred to the Observer in January, 1854. College City Venture was started by E. F. Chittenden, a former compositor on the Visitor, in July, 1866, with Professor Read as editor, who made a spicy, interesting paper of it for a few weeks, when it, too, was compelled to suspend for lack of proper pecuniary encouragement. Hudson Gazette, started in November, 1857, by Rev. Alexander Clarke, afterwards a D. D., and a man of note in the M. E. church of Pennsylvania, was devoted to "commerce, education, agriculture, art and news," and though very ably edited, survived but a few weeks, only. Hudson Enterprise, established as an amateur paper, in connection with a small job office, in May, 1875, finally became a household necessity to the people and vicinity, and under various proprietors seemed for a time to be quite prosperous, but its purely local support being inadequate to meet the considerable weeky expense of its publication, it, too, was several years ago discontinued. Hudson Gazette. Hudson's last local newspaper, a sprightly 32 column sheet, started November 23, 1888, by D. B. Sherwood & Son, independent in politics and everything else, had an existence of about one year only. HUDSON'S WAR HISTORY. Excepting Jonathan Draper, 80; John Walker, 77, and John Ellsworth, 78, reported as pensioners by the census of 1840, we are entirely without data as to Hudson's part in the war of the Revolution-1776 to 1783-though, originating mostly in the patriotic State of Connecticut, most undoubtedly several others of her early settlers participated in that glorious struggle. In the War of 1812 several Hudsonians took an active part, though of this no accurate written history has been handed down. The people of the Western Reserve, of that day, were not only thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Revolution, but, being upon the frontier, deemed it important to keep up military organizations for self-protection in case of trouble with their red-skinned neighbors. To this end, the able-bodied settlers of Hudson and vicinity were early organized into a military company, with Amos Lusk as captain; this company with others, forming a battalion, with George Darrow as major, the battalion being under the jurisdiction of General Elijah Wadsworth, of Warren. After General Hull's ignominious surrender at Detroit, in August, 1812, the news of which, and the rumored approach, eastward, of the British and Indians, caused a great panic in Hudson and surrounding towns, this battalion was ordered to Cleveland by General Wadsworth, and from thence, when the scare was over, to Old Portage, then the headquarters of the Reserve militia. Later, Major Darrow and his battalion were assigned to the work of opening a road through to Camp Huron, near Sandusky, 844 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. before completing which, learning of the trouble which the American troops were meeting with at the hands of the red-coats and red-skins, in the vicinity of Detroit, he hurried forward to reinforce the garrison at Fort Huron; afterwards being ordered to Fort Stephenson of which he was in command, until the defeat of General Winchester, at Frenchtown, when he was ordered to Maumee, to assist in the building of Fort Meigs; the names of Zina Post, Eben Pease and James G. Bishop, only, being monumentally recorded, in the cemeteries of the township, so far as the writer is advised, as being soldiers in that war, though there must have been at least a score besides those herein named. In regard to the Mexican War, of 1846-48, we can find no historical indication that Hudson furnished a single soldier. EDUCATION AND PATRIOTISM.-In the War of the Rebellion, however, Hudson was patriotic to the core. By reference to the Register of Graduates of Western Reserve College, compiled by President Cutler, in 1873, it will be seen that fully one hundred of the graduates of the college entered the army, nearly one-half of whom enlisted directly from the college during the progress of the war, to say nothing of those who entered the service from the preparatory and medical departments, and of whom no adequate record is now available. Besides those who volunteered from the college, in 1861, the remaining students, together with several of 'the professors, organized for military drill, with Colonel Haywood, of Cleveland, as drill-master. During the vacation, between the sessions of 1861 and 1862, many of the students enlisted from their several homes, and, on the call of President Lincoln for three months troops, after the reverses of the Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, in May, 1862, the College Company, en masse, tendered their services to Governor Tod, which were promptly accepted. The company, embracing some 35 or 40 students and professors, quite a number of the scholars in the preparatory school and several outsiders, (from 70 to 80 in all) was assigned, as Company B, to the 85th Regiment 0. V. I., which regiment was never completed, the four companies thus assigned, being put on guard over rebel prisoners at Camp Chase, Columbus, later escorting a body of Confederate prisoners to Vicksburg for exchange; the college catalogue of 1862, '63 stating that sixteen members of the college classes, and twenty-three members of the preparatory school were in the army. Of Company B, Professor Charles A. Young (now a distinguished professor of astronomy in Princeton College), was Captain, and Professor Carroll Cutler (afterwards for fifteen years president of Western Reserve and Adelbert College), was First Lieutentant; W. C. Parsons (of the Selle Gear Works, Akron), was carporal; R. H. Wright (of the Buckeye Works), first sergeant; Judge E. W. Stuart, corporal and promoted to sergeant; C. P. Humphrey Esq., as third sergeant; the latter being early transferred to the 88th Regiment, as first sergeant and quartermaster, but almost immediately detailed as Post Adjutant of Camp Chase, in which capacity he served until mustered out in September, 1862. George A. Purington, an Akron boy, then a member of the preparatory school, went into the army as first sergeant of Company G, 19th, 0. V. I., in April, 1861, in August 1861, as captain in Second Ohio HUDSON'S ROLL OF HONOR - 845 Cavalry; promoted to major, lieutenant colonel and colonel; after the War joined the Regular Army as captain of cavalry, and is now (1891) major of the 3rd U. S. C., with headquarters at Fort Clark, Texas. OUTSIDERS EQUALLY PATRIOTIC. - Outside the college, the citizens of Hudson were equally patriotic as the following roster, prepared from memory, by Mr. George W. Church, and others, and from the assessors' returns for 1863, '64, '65, believed to be substantially correct, abundantly demonstrates : Robert Andrews, George P. Ashmun, Charles C. Ashmun, David Antles, William C. Bell, Henry J. Bell, Andrew Brewster, Allen C. Burrows, William M. Bebee, Jr., James H. Bateman, John Bullock, Edward Blackman, Charles A. Bunnell, David Baker, William Baker, Henry Beardsley, Alexander Burney, John Barnell, Rufus T. Chapman, George W. Church, Robert F. Cahill, Charles Clark, Clinton C. Chambers, John C. Coffey, Charles W. Clapp, Robert Cox, Mortimer Danforth, Albert D. Dunbar, Arvin Draper, James Draper, Cyrus H. Delong, Francis Danforth, Norman Darrow, Patrick Devaney, Cyrus B. Deacon, Edmund W. Deacon, Henry Doncaster, John Dusenbury, Jr., Ransom J. Ellsworth, Harry Eggleston, James M. Foley, Charles Felton, Daniel Francis, Arby P. Farwell, Foster V. Follett, Henry Farwell, George W. Golden, George W. Gaylord, Nicholas D. Gilbert, Prosper Gott, Charles Harris, Jarvis Holcomb, L. F. Humiston, John F. Hitchcock, John C. Hart, Henry Hitchcock, Albert A. Herkner, Robert L. Hubbell, Al. Hinckston, Julius Harris, Marquis Holden, Henry Ward Angersoll (Band), Isaac Isbell, Albert Isbell, Edwin Ingersoll, William Jones, Edward King, Charles Lusk, Amos M. Lusk, E. Lusk, Charles Leach, Henry Leach, Russell Lucas, Joseph Morgan, Dwight Murray, J. McCulloch, Charles A. Miller, Andrew S. Miller, John Mehow, Andrew. J. Minty, Charles Mason, Nicholas Murray, CharleS Messer, John McLaughlin, J. W. Mitchell, H. A. Miller, — Meloney, Richard Noonan, George Nichols, John F. Oviatt, Almon Oviatt, Miles Oviatt, James Parks, James Page, Jr., Harry Pettengill, Thomas Pacey, William Peet, Joseph T. Parks, Samuel W. Parks, Joseph H. Peck, Charles Pettengill, James C. Packard, Samuel Patterson, E. A. Parmelee, A. B. Quay, John Rowe, Joseph Rowe, Jackson Rowe, Addison H. Richardson, J. B. Reed, Albert A. Ruger, William Rubbins, Foster Rubbins, Adam Rubbins, Elihu Richmond, Charles Robinson, Edward Seasons, Theron W. Smith, Joseph E. Smith, Alfred E. Smith, William B. Straight, Benjamin Sovacool, [Boston also claims this recruit, who was wounded in the foot at Pittsburg Landing, carried to the rear, and never again heard of] John Scanlan, Lester Secoy, James H. Seymour (Band), William Smith, Edward Smith, Henry Smith, Chauncey Smith, F. 0. Stone, George S. Stanley, William Strong, Martin Shrady, William H. Thompson, Samuel J. Tracey, Orlow Thompson, Henry A. Thompson, Salmon Thompson, Harrison Thompson, Harry 0. Thompson, W. S. Thompson, Henry A. Tallmadge, William H. Thomas, B. B. Tremlin, Varney, Bennett H. Wadsworth, W. P. Williamson., William' Wilder, Dwight H. Whedon, James Winborn, George Wright, Samuel Wilkes, John Williams. CASUALTIES, DEATHS, ETC.-Of the foregoing, those who fell in the service, from casualty, are as follows : John F. Hitchcock, lieutenant, U. S. A., died December 31, 1862; Dwight E. Murray, 846 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. 9th O. L. A., supposed to have been killed by guerrillas near Tallahoma, Tennessee ; W. P. Williamson, 29th 0. V. I., killed in battle, Thomas Pacy, Company A, 2nd 0. V. C., killed at Woolson's river, August 16, 1861; Robert Cox, Company D, Daniel Myers, Company G, Edward King, Company C, 115th 0. V. I., lost by blowing up and burning of Steamer Sultana, near Memphis, Tennessee, on the morning of April 27, 1865; A. Richardson, Company D, 1st 0. L.A., Russell Lucas, Albert D. Dunbar, John C. Hart, James C. Packard, 1ST, D. Gilbert, time and place of death unknown ; James Draper, 9th 0. L. A., died at Tullahoma, Tennessee, March 21, 1864; F. 0. Stone, 9th 0. L. A., died at Somerset, Kentucky, March 1 Charles W. Clapp, 29th 0. V. I., died at Camp Giddings, 0 December 5, 1861; Marquis Holden, 1st 0. L. A., killed at Lo Mountain, Georgia ; William Wilder, Company 9, S. S., killed at City Point, Virginia, March 13, 1862 ; George H. Gaylord, Company K, 19th 0. V. I., died July, 1862 ; Ransom J. Ellsworth, 64th 0. V. I., killed at Missionary Ridge ; William Jones, 115th, 0. V. I., killed at Cleveland, Ohio ; Robert Andrews, Company H, 6th 0. V. L lost in South, December 1862; Nicholas Murray, navy, lost at sea; Clinton C. Chambers, 6th Ohio Battery, died at Jeffersonville, Indiana, March 21, 1862 ; William Rubbins, 34th N. Y. I., killed at Antietam, September 17, 1862 ; Foster Rubbins, 34th N. Y. A., killed at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 12, 1862. HONORABLE CIVIL RECORD.-In official civil affairs, Hudson presents an extensive and highly honorable record, as will be seen by what follows. The first grand jury of the new county of Portage, which convened August 23, 1808, embraced among its members four of Hudson's pioneer settlers : David Hudson, Samuel Bishop, Moses Thompson and Stephen Baldwin, Mr. Hudson being named as foreman by the court. AARON NORTON was among the accessions to the township in 1801, soon afterwards, in connection with Mr. Hudson, building a saw mill, grist mill and distillery, on a branch of Tinker's Creek, in the northeast part of the township, which were destroyed by tire in 1803; a year or two later removed to Northampton, where he embarked in a similar enterprise ; in 1807, removed to Middlebury, where he became interested in a mill project, in company with Mr. Joseph Hart, was appointed an associate judge of the Common Pleas Court for Portage county, on its first organization, in 1808, serving the full term of seven years, with great ability and satisfaction. HON. VAN RENSSELAER HUMPHREY, then practicing law in Hudson, represented Portage county in the State legislature for two successive terms-1828, 1829—and in the session of 1836, '37, was appointed by the legislature, president judge of the Third Judicial District, embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Portage. On its erection, in 1840, Summit county was attached to the third district, thus coming under Judge Humphrey's jurisdiction, who served with marked ability for the full term of seven years. JOHN B. CLARK, was appointed associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, on the death of Judge Charles Sumner, of Middlebury, June 19, 1845, filling the place with honor to himself and his constituents for about one year, when he tendered his resignation. HUDSON'S HONORABLE CIVIL RECORD - 847 SYLVESTER H. THOMPSON, a native of Hudson, succeeded Judge Clark upon the bench, in 1846, ably performing the duties of the position, until the adoption of the new constitution in 1852, " Side Judges," as they were then called, being abolished by that instrument. WILLIAM O'BRIEN was Summit county's first treasurer, elected in April, 1840, and re-elected, in the following October for the full term of two years, making a very competent officer, until his death, of consumption, in February, 1842 ; ex-sheriff George Y. Wallace, of Northfield, being appointed by the county commissioners to fill the vacancy. MILLS THONPSON, from 1843 to 1849, two full terms, ably and faithfully filled the position of county commissioner, being in the office at the time the present infirmary farm was purchased, and aided in inaugurating that noble charity for the care and 'comfort of the comparatively few destitute infirm, among the generally well-to-do inhabitants of Summit county. HARVEY WHEDON, ESQ., was elected prosecuting attorney, in October, 1850, holding the position two years. making in all respects, a first-class officer. DR. GEORGE P. ASHMUN, then an honored citizen of Hudson, as elected State Senator from the Summit-Portage district, in ctober, 1857, discharging the duties of that office to the full atisfaction of his constituents, in both counties, for the full term f two years. SYLVESTER H. THOMPSON, in October, 1859, was elected to represent Summit county in the lower House of the General Assembly of Ohio, as the colleague of Hon. Alvin C. Voris, serving ne full term of two years. STEPHEN HENDERSON PITKIN, a graduate of the class of 1834 ; ounty surveyor of Fulton county, Illinois, from 1836 to 1840 ; probate judge of that county from 1840 to 1844, elected on the Union ticket, in October, 1861, to fill the unexpired term of Probate Judge William M. Dodge, deceased, (two years) re-elected on the same ticket in 1863, and again re-elected, on the Republican ticket in 1866, making his term of service in that important office eight full years. In 1868, Judge Pitkin was chosen s the Republican presidential elector for the Eighteenth Congresional district, composed of Summit, Cuyahoga and Lake counties, asting his vote in the electoral college for Ulysses S. Grant for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice-president of the United States the judge also holding the office of secretary of the Summit County Agricultural Society from 1871 to 1880, nine years, and an efficient member of the board of trustees of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane, at Newburg, between 1862 and 1878, fourteen years.. DAVID DUNCAN BEBEE, for many years a merchant of Hudson, was elected State Senator for the Summit-Portage district in October, 1867, by his urbane and intelligent discharge of his senatorial duties, making himself so popular, in both counties, that he was unanimously tendered a second term, in 1879, the first re-election of an incumbent of that office in the history of the district. 848 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. MATTHEW CANFIELD READ, graduate of the class of 1848; attorney at law; editor Family Visitor, 1852 to 1854; teacher in grammar school, Western Reserve College; member of U. S. Sanitary Commission, with the Army of the Cumberland, during the War; deputy revenue collector, after the close of the War; member of Ohio geological surveying corps from 1869 till completion of the survey; lecturer on zoology and geology in Western Reserve College; township clerk, justice of the peace, mayor, etc. WILLIAM ISAAC CHAMBERLAIN, born in Connecticut in 1837, accompanied his parents to Hudson in 1838; graduate of the class of 1859; principal of Shaw Academy, Collamer, Ohio, 1859-61; tutor of Greek and Latin in Western Reserve College, 1861-66; superintendent Cuyahoga Falls schools, 1864, '65; assistant professor in College, 1866-69; farmer, 1869-79; secretary of Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 1880-86; and from 1886 to 1890, president of the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the United States. CHARLES C. HINE, a representative farmer of Hudson, was elected county commissioner in October, 1885, and re-elected in 1888 for six years, making in all respects a first-class officer. JAMES H. SEYMOUR, for many years a successful grocer in Hudson, was elected county treasurer, in October, 1886, taking charge of the funds of Summit county and of the City of Akron on the 5th day of September, 1887, and re-elected in 1888, his administration being marked with as full a degree of efficiency and integrity as the very best of his many worthy predecessors. CALVIN PEASE HUMPHREY, born in Hudson, June 21, 1840, graduate of the Western Reserve College, of the class of 1863, an of Cleveland law school in 1866; was mayor of Cuyahoga Fal from 1870 to 1871, and city solicitor for Akron from 1879 to 1 filling both positions with marked ability. HORACE BURNHAM FOSTER, born in Leyden, Franklin count Mass., April 26, 1828; removed to Mantua in 1837; preparato education at Twinsburg Institute; graduate from Western Rese College in the class of 1852; principal preparatory department, 1852; tutor in college, 1853-55; superintendent Akron schools, 1855-56; tutor in the vacant professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy from September, 1856, till the accession of Professor Charles Young, January 1, 1857; justice of the peace from 1858 1861; clerk of incorporated village of Hudson ten years; mayor of village eight years; a safe counsellor and a successful lawyer. HON. WILLIAM M. BEEBE, long a prominent citizen, and for four terms mayor of Hudson; was an efficient member of the board of trustees for the Northern Ohio Insane Hospital at Cleveland, from 1880 to 1886—six full years. Many others of Hudson's native and adopted citizens have held high official positions in life, in other localities, whose honors and fame cannot be here recorded; but enough has been given to show that Hudson has no cause to be ashamed of the part her son have taken in the civil affairs of life, both local and general. PRESENT OFFICIAL ROSTER—(1891). VILLAGE OFFICERS.—Council, John Mead, Edward B. Blackman, William B. Straight, Orson Cook, Cornelius A. Campbell HUDSON'S CRIMINAL RECORD - 849 mayor, Henry E. Lee; clerk, Ralph T. Miller; treasurer, George V. Miller; marshal, George W. Church. TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.—Trustees, Henry H. Chamberlin, Charles H. Kilbourn, Sherman P. Thompson; clerk, Edward E. Rogers; treasurer, Sebastian Miller; assessor, William A. Curtis (successor to John M. Seidel, after ten years service); justice. of the peace, Matthew C. Read, Edward E. Rogers; constables, George W. Church, Thomas W. Elliman. POSTMASTERS.—Hudson, Isaiah B. Jones; Darrowville, Edward 0. Shiveley. HUDSON'S CRIMINAL RECORD. Aside from the alleged shooting, in cold blood, sundry troublesome Indians, by certain so called " Indian hunters," of pioneer times, Hudson has been singularly exempt from crime, save those occasional minor offences incident to aggregated humanity, and diversity of temperament and habit, in the best regulated communities. Of course there are exceptions to all general rules, and one of Hudson's exceptions occurred something in this wise: Sometime in the early fifties, one Nelson Hinckston established himself in the boot and shoe business in Hudson, becoming the proprietor of three buildings on the west side of Main street; the middle building being a story and a half frame, with basement, the front of the lower floor being his salesroom, the rear room his shop, the attic used for sleeping rooms, storage, etc. The next building north was Hinckston's dwelling house and the building south was occupied by Mr. Judd as a book store. One night, in the Winter of 1856-57, a fire was discovered in the basement of the store, which, being promptly extinguished, brought to light indications that the fire had been purposely set, and pointing very strongly towards Hinckston, himself, as the incendiary, notwithstanding the fact that his own son, with one of the workmen, occupied the sleeping room above, with no other means of egress than by the stairs under which the fire had been kindled. Though very greatly excited over the affair, his neighbors took no legal steps in the premises, and gradually the feeling against Hinckston died out, and his business 'seemed to be running along as smoothly as before. During the Summer of 1857, however, Mr. Jacob Niebel, an employe, began to observe symptoms indicating that his boss was again making preparations to "sell" his buildings and stock to the several insurance companies, who held risks thereon, aggregating nearly $5,000. Communicating his suspicion to a fellow-workman by the name of Thomas Cooper, the two kept watch over the movements of Hinckston, and when they believed he was about ready to apply the match, about the middle of February, 1858, other citizens were apprised of the matter, and an examination of the premises was had. It was found that through holes in the floor, bundles of waxed ends, with other inflammable substances, extended from piles of kindlings in the basement to similar combustibles in the store room, and these, in turn, connected with still other deposits upon the upper shelves (concealed by boxes), and these again with like readily ignited substances between the ceiling and the upper floor, and in the rooms above, so that the match 54