(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 900 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. mechanical operations—and in the absorption of the minor mechanical and mercantile operations of town centers, villages and hamlets, by the cities and general railroad centers of the country. NORTHFIELD IN PUBLIC SPIRIT.—Though bounded by the Cuyahoga river, upon the west, and though more or less adversely affected, morally, by the location of the Ohio canal through its entire western border, the township of Northfield was originally peopled with, and is still inhabited by, as intelligent and honorable a population as any other community upon the proverbially intelligent and orderly Western Reserve. It has also contributed its full share in behalf of the freedom and unity of the Nation and in support of the local institutions of the county. As young as she was, Northfield was well represented in the War of 1812, ( though only the names of Henry Wood and Jonathan Hesser are now remembered as soldiers in that war) and in War of the Rebellion she furnished more than her full quota of patriotic and faithful soldiers, as will be seen from the following roster kindly compiled for us by Ambrose W. Bliss, Esq., supplemented by the assessors' enumeration for 1865: NORTHFIELD'S ROLL OF HONOR. Jacob C. Armstrong, Levi Burroughs, George Brower, Augustus A. Belden, Lucian Bliss, Daniel Boyle (died in service), Alonzo Bain, Francis W. Bliss, Harmon H. Bliss, Theodore Bordeman, E. A. Butterfield, George L. Bishop, Horace P. Bliss (died at home of lung fever, Feb. 20, 1863), 0. A. Bishop, Albert L. Bliss, Philip Brandt, Adam Bowles, Frederick Belden, Robert Brown, John Brown, Cornelius Boyle, David Boam, Augustus Curtiss, B. C. Carpenter, J. C. Chamberlain, Frank R. Clements, Lester J. Crittenden, Edward Connor, James Clark (died in service), J. C. Cranmer (diced, in service), Marcus D. Cross, Joseph Clifford, Edward Cromax, George Cross (lost on Sultana), Andrew J. Cross, Jeremiah H. Cranmer, John. Christian, Albert Case, Emery Case, Jonathan Criss, Dwight Case, Lafayette Cranmer, George Cooley, Thomas Drennen (died in service), W. H. H. Deisman, Nathan W. Doty (lost on Sultana), George Dusenbury, John Dusenbury, Simon Dallas, James A. Emmons, Henry Eggleston, Alexander Forbes, Asa H. Fitch. John Fitzwater (died in rebel prison), Alfred Fell, W. W. France, William Fields, John Goetz, Philander Hewitt (died at Cincinnati, Oct. 1862), Sylvester Honey, Albert Herriman, Hine, Willis Honey, Hiram H. Johnson (died of heart disease at Camp Chase, Oct. 1862), John H. Johnson (died in service), Henry Large, James Large, Albert Lawrence, James Miller, Milton B. Miller (died in service), James McElroy, Peter Murphy, John A. Means, John Montona, James H. Miller, Marion McKisson, Samuel D. McElroy, Urvan Murphy, F. D. Murphy, Daniel Martin, C. M. Myers, 0. McClintock, James Nesbit, D. G. Nesbit, T. B. Nichols, Henry Pile, Geo. W. Pile, A. M. Palmer, Geo. W. Palmer, H. H. Palmer, L. L. Palmer, E. A. Palmer, Thomas Pacy (died in service), Wm. H. H. Polhamus, Samuel Perry, Thomas Parkhurst. Matthew Phaff, Edward G. Ranney (killed at Gettysburg), Jacob Rusher (killed at Shiloh), Otto Runge, John Rose, John Ririe, Nelson Stebbins, William E. Smith, John C. Seidel, Conrad Schoch, Cyrus Singletary (died in service), NORTHFIELD'S ROLL OF HONOR - 901 Charles Skinner, Edwin Soden, George Soden, L. C. Spafford, John Sharp, Charles Scott, Lucian Stanley, Wilbur Stanley, John Sproutberry, Smith Tryon, Lucas Tryon (died in service), Alfred G. Thompson, Hiram Turner, Myron Tupper (died in service), M. L. Trotter, Willard Trotter, Abraham Truby, George Thomas, Walter Thompson, Frederick Ungerer (died in service), C. A. Vail, J. J. White, J. C. Wilkinson, Robert F. Watson, Charles W. Way (lost on Sultana), John Wilkins, Josiah Wood. AMBROSE W. BLISS, — born in All Jericho, Chittenden county, Vermont, December 6, 1806; common school education ; reared on farm ; at 18 learned carpenter and millwright's trade ; in 1833, came to Ohio, working on public works at Cleveland and Black river ; May 9, 1839, was married M Miss Emeline Palmer, a native of Windsor, Connecticut, born April 5, 1815, and has since been a continuous resident of Northfield. While extensively engaged in farming, at the same time Mr. Bliss for many years diligently plied his trade, building aqueducts, and lock-gates on canal, bridges, etc. Politically, Mr.. Bliss was originally a Whig, and since its organization has been an earnest supporter of the Republican party ; has held several important township offices, and for two full terms of three years each—from 1854 to 1860—ably filled the responsible office of county commissioner. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bliss—Ellen, living at home ; Lorin, farmer in Northfield ; George, living at home ; and Horace, the latter enlisting in Company C, 115th 0. V. I., in August,1862, and dying, from disease contracted in the army, February 20, 1863. Mr. Bliss is a brother of Hon. George Bliss, formerly president judge of third judicial district of Ohio, and later, from 1852 to 1854, representative in Congress of the 18th district, of which Summit county then formed a part, and whose portrait appears on page 551 of this volume. NORTHFIELD IN OFFICE. In county affairs, also, the township has borne a highly honorable part. GEORGE Y. WALLACE (brother of the late James W. Wallace, Esq., of Macedonia,) was sheriff of Portage county for four years, immediately preceding the erection of Summit, and, on the death of Summit county's first treasurer, William O'Brien, , Esq., of Hudson, in February, 1842, Mr. Wallace was appointed by the Commissioners to fill the vacancy, which he did with great acceptance for nearly a year. THOMAS WILSON, of Northfield (a brother-in-law of Mr. Wallace), was Summit county's first sheriff, holding that office four years and seven months, and it is safe to say that the office was never more ably and faithfully filled than during his incumbency; Mr. John C. Wallace, of Northfield, acting as Mr. Wilson's chief deputy. A fine portrait and biography of Mr. Wilson will be found on page 99 of this volume. 902 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. COL. MILTON ARTHUR, of Northfield, was Summit's second regularly elected treasurer, holding the position for three consecutive terms, from 1842 to 1848. Though Mr. Arthur was as upright and honest a man as ever breathed, yet his administration of the office was sadly unfortunate—a shortage of several thousand dollars appearing against him on his transferring the office to his successor. It was believed by those best informed upon the subject, that he was victimized by parties in whom he had confided, and whom he had permitted to manipulate the books and funds, which were not then under the efficient system of checks that at present obtains in that office. Every dollar of his property was turned over to his bondsmen, who, under a special act of the Legislature, made a satisfactory settlement of the matter with the Commissioners; but, though Mr. Arthur was believed to be entirely guiltless of any intentional wrong, by the entire community, he was greatly humiliated by the affair, and doubtless carried down to a premature death thereby. AMBROSE W. BLISS, ESQ., a native of Chittenden county, Vermont, still living, hale and hearty, where he located fifty-two years ago, at the Center of Northfield, has not only been one of the most intelligent and enterprising citizens of that township, but has also in various ways, rendered valuable service to both the County, State and Nation; filling, most acceptably, the important position of county commissioner for two consecutive terms, of three years each, from 1854 to 1860. Mr. Bliss was born December 6, 1806, and is consequently, at this writing, nearly 85 years of age. CAPTAIN JOHN A. MEANS, a native of Allegheny county, Pa., in 1833, then 22 years of age, settled on an uncultivated farm, a mile or so south of the center of Northfield, not only proving an industrious and model farmer, but also devoting much time to the profession of a surveyor, receiving the appointment of deputy surveyor for Portage county in 1836. In 1860, Mr. Means was elected clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Summit county for three years. On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, leaving the office in charge of his son and deputy, Nathan A. Means, he organized Company C, 115th Regiment, O. V. I., of which he was elected Captain, serving three years. In 1869, Capt. Means was again elected Clerk of Courts for three years, serving his full term with marked fidelity and acceptance. See portrait and biography on page 373. AUGUSTUS CURTISS, one of Northfield's volunteer soldiery, but after the War, settled in Portage township, was elected sheriff of Summit county in October, 1868, re-elected in 1870, and on the expiration of his own second term, continued in the management of the office during the regulation two terms of his successor, Lieut. Levi J. McMurray, who was in poor health during a good portion of his incumbencey. Portrait and biography on page 665. ABOUNDING IN THRILLING INCIDENT.—Yet, notwithstanding the generally peaceable and order-loving character of its inhabitants, Northfield has furnished a larger share of exciting and thrilling incident than the average of her sister townships of either Portage or Summit counties, not counting the many perilous encounters of her early pioneers with Indians, wild beasts, etc. One of the earliest events, after the departure of the Indians from the township, to convulse the community, and thrill the THE VIERS-CHARLESWORTH EPISODE - 903 public mind of Northfield and vicinity, and which, though hereto-fore pretty fully narrated by the writer and others, it is highly proper should be here reproduced, occurred substantially as follows: NORTHFIELD'S FIRST SENSATION. Dorsey W. Viers was born on the territory now covered by the city of Steubenville, May 19, 1790, and is said to have been the first white male child born in what is now Jefferson county, over seven years before that county was organized, and some twelve years before Ohio became a state. Mr. Viers was enrolled as a soldier in the War of 1812, at the close of which he lived a short time in Pittsburg, working at the tanner's trade. Sometime previous to 1820, he removed to Northfield, the town records of that year (1820), showing that he was then elected one of the supervisors of the township. On coming to Northfield, Viers purchased, and settled upon, a quarter section of land in the northwest portion of the township, in handy proximity to the Cuyahoga river and the contemplated Ohio canal, building for himself and family the regulation log cabin of the period and other farm buildings to match. In addition to his farming operations, young Viers--stalwart, active and enterprising — figured quite extensively as a contractor and speculator; being at the time this chapter opens (1826) a sub-contractor upon quite a large section of the canal. Upon the completion of his job on the canal, he built a large number of bridges over the canal and other water courses of the vicinity, erected school houses, private residences, stores, etc., one of his contracts, a few years later, being the erection in Akron, for Messrs. May and Brown—Thomas P. May, of Cleveland, and Jacob Brown, Esq., of Akron—of the large brick block at the corner of South Main and Exchange streets, known for many years, as May's Block, but now known as the Clarendon Hotel, and owned by Mr. Ferd. Schumacher. This diversified employment naturally brought Mr. Viers into ompanionship with much of the rougher element of the communities in which he operated,, and while not especially dissipated or profligate himself, his genial good nature, and his open-handed liberality and zealous hilarity, in all private and public social gatherings, caused him to be regarded as a "hail-fellow well-met," by the jolly bloods by whom he was surrounded. RUPERT CHARLESWORTH.—A year or two previous to this, there had come into the vicinity, a rollicking young Englishman, by the name of Rupert Charles worth, who soon became a great favorite in the social circles of the neighborhood. With no visible employment, he yet appeared always to have plenty of money, and was lavishly liberal in its distribution, whenever treats" were to be paid for, or other expenses of fun and frolic were to be provided; his givings-out, as well as his general bearing, conveying the impression that he was a scion of English nobility, in disgrace at home, and temporarily exiled until his offense should be condoned by his aristocratic father. Between this wild but agreeable young Englishman and Viers, a mutual friendship immediately sprung up, and in a short time he became a regular boarder in Viers' family, though often 904 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY absenting himself from the house, and the neighborhood, for days, and sometimes weeks at a time. But suddenly, in the month of July, 1826, Charlesworth entirely disappeared. His absence from his accustomed haunts soon began to be noticed and commented on. Inquiries were made of Viers and his wife, the answers to which, it was alleged, were contradictory and improbable. In addition to exaggerated repetitions of these questions and answers, one of the constables of the township asserted that, having a warrant for the arrest of Charlesworth, and going to Viers' house early in the morning, he not only did not find his man, but did find Mrs. Viers vigorously engaged in scrubbing the floor; a very unusual proceeding at so early an hour. RUMOR ON RUMOR PILED.—As time passed on rumors of the at the most damaging character against Viers multiplied. One person had distinctly heard the report of a gun from the direction of Viers' house on the alleged night of Charlesworth's disappearance. Another reported that, having occasion to visit the premises soon afterwards, he had noticed blood upon the bars of the fence, between the house and the woods. The girl, who was employed as a domestic in the family at the time, asserted that simultaneously with Charlesworth's disappearance, a blanket was missing from the bed he had occupied, which was afterwards found under a pile of rubbish, covered with spots of what appeared, to be clots of dried blood, but which was immediately burned up by the family; while another party had discovered, under a pile of logs and brush in the woods, a short distance back of the house, what was supposed to be a human skeleton, but which, on afterwards returning with a companion, to examine it, was found to have been removed. These and a hundred other similar stories were rehearsed and reiterated with such persistence, and such apparent truthfulness, that they finally came to be accepted as facts, and the excitement and suspicion against Viers and family increased with each passing month, being greatly augmented by the alleged fact that Charlesworth was known to be in possession of quite large sums of money while boarding with Viers, and that whereas, Viers, previous to the disappearance of Charles worth, was very short of money, immediately thereafter he was very flush, and was making lavish expenditures in building himself a nice large brick house, and making other improvements upon his farm that his legitimate earnings did not warrant. VIERS ARRESTED FOR MURDER.--Finally these rumors and reports, like the, mountain avalanche, increasing in volume as they onward rolled, and gaining in velocity, as they increased in size, culminated, in January, 1831, four years and a half after the disappearance of Charlesworth, in the apprehension and arraignment of Viers, on the charge of murder. The affidavit was filed before, and the warrant issued by, George Y. Wallace, Esq., of Brandywine, then one of the justices ' of the peace for Northfield township, afterwards , sheriff of Portage county for two terms, and subsequently treasurer of Summit county for nearly a year, as above stated. The trial proper, before the examining magistrate, lasted over a week, though some 17 or 18 days elapsed between the arrest and the final conclusion of the investigation. All of the above alleged WONDERFUL PLUCK AND PERSEVERANCE - 905 "facts" were duly and solemnly sworn to, and many other extremely damaging " circumstances " adduced during the trial, and it was supposed by the large crowd of people in attendance, that a clear case of homicide had been established, when two witnesses from the western part of the State were brought forward by the defense, who swore positively that they knew Charlesworth well, minutely describing his personal appearance and characteristics, and most emphatically asseverating that they had seen him alive and well, subsequent to his disappearance from Northfield. This testimony turned the scale in Viers' favor, and he was accordingly discharged by Justice Wallace. REMARKABLE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING MAN.—The greater dumber of those in attendance were greatly dissatisfied with the result, believing that the two witnesses alluded to had been bribed by Viers, or his friends, to testify in his behalf. True, there were many good men who did not believe Viers guilty of so heinous a crime; but the rumor-mongers of the neighborhood thought otherwise, and were so clamorous for blood that, had Lynch Law been in vogue in those days, it would undoubtedly have fared hard with him. It was, indeed, a terrible ordeal for both Viers and his family to pass through; the arrest and trial being even more endurable than the continued suspicion and obloquy which followed. But though comparatively unlearned, Dorsey W. Viers possessed, in those days, the pluck and perseverance of a bloodhound, and immediately inaugurated a vigorous and comprehensive scheme for the restoration of his good name; while his devoted wife—greatly his superior in education and culture—rendered the most valuable aid towards lifting from the family the dark cloud of disgrace that had come upon them. HOW THE SEARCH WAS MADE.—TO this end Mrs. Viers, with the pen of a ready writer, wrote hundreds of letters, to public officers and others, in all parts of the country, from whence it was supposed any tidings of the missing man could be obtained, while Mr. Viers, himself, commenced a most diligent personal search for him. Following up the clue obtained from the two witnesses who had come to his relief upon the trial, he tracked him from point to point, in the West, where he finally learned that Charles-worth had returned to England. To England he went, only to find that Charlesworth had again sailed for the United States, destined to New Orleans. Returning home, after a brief sojourn with his family, he went to New Orleans, and after a protracted search, not finding his man, he visited and thoroughly explored all the principal river towns between that city and Cincinnati. THE " MURDERED " MAN FOUND Aux-E.—Thus was the search persistently kept up by Mr. and Mrs. Viers, both by correspondence and personal excursions, between nine and ten years, when, nearly fifteen years after his disappearance, Viers accidentally stumbled upon his man in Detroit. They were both so changed by time that they did not at first recognize each other; but Charlesworth, hearing Viers inquiring for him of others, at a hotel where they were both stopping, and thus learning who he was, took him aside and disclosed his own identity to him. His story was, substantially, that having passed a counterfeit bill upon a prominent citizen of a neighboring town, and surmising (what was 906 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. indeed true) that proceeding were being instituted for his arrest, he had secretly left the house of his friend, and gone West, under an assumed name; still another name having been taken on his return from England, and under which, having married, he was then living in one of the interior towns of Michigan. CHARLESWORTH REVISITS SUMMIT COUNTY.—On learning of the dire trouble and disgrace which his clandestine departure from Northfield had brought upon his old friend and family, he volunteered to come with him to Ohio, and exhibit himself to his old cronies and acquaintances, on condition that his then place of residence, and his assumed cognomen should be kept secret. Thus, in about the year 1840 or 1841, Rupert Charlesworth and his alleged murderer, together visited Northfield, Boston, Akron, and other points in this vicinity, where the former conversed freely with, and was fully recognized by, a large number of persons, who had known him well before his disappearance, and the mystery was fondly supposed, by its victims, to have been wholly cleared up. After a few days' sojourn in the neighborhood, Charles-worth again took his departure, and returned to Michigan. GOSSIP TO THE FRONT AGAIN.—NO sooner had Charlesworth left the vicinity than vile rumor, and virulent gossip, again asserted themselves in the intimation that the Rupert Charlesworth that Viers had exhibited, was not the missing Rupert Charlesworth, at all, but a cousin, bearing a strong resemblance to him, that Viers had hired to personate him, which it was held could readily be done, by a little posting up from Viers. This theory was industriously promulgated by the enemies of Viers, and within a few months the alleged imposture was pretty generally believed in, and the guilt of Viers thus doubly confirmed in .the minds of quite a large portion of the community. Under these circumstances, some two or three years later, about 1843 or 1844, Viers again hunted up his man, and again brought him to Ohio, determined, this time, to settle the matter at once and forever. CHARLESWORTH AGAIN EXHIBITED.—Hand-bills were posted in Northfield and adjoining townships, announcing that on a given day, Rupert Charlesworth, the man that Dorsey W. Viers was supposed to have murdered, in 1826, would exhibit himself at the Methodist Church, at the Center of Northfield, and that all persons who had known him, while a resident of that neighborhood, were invited to be present and make a thorough examination as to his identity. The meeting was largely attended by a curious and deeply interested audience. A regular organization was effected, with George Y. Wallace, Esq., before whom Viers had formerly been tried, as chairman of the meeting, and the entire day was consumed in the investigation. Not only were Charlesworth's physical features and peculiarities closely scrutinized, his voice and manner of expression carefully noted, but questions and cross-questions were plied by those who had formerly been intimate with him, in such a manner that no attempted imposture could possibly have escaped detection. Not only did he recognize and readily name persons that he had not seen for seventeen or eighteen years, but, in reply to their various interrogatories, incidents and circumstances known only to himself and each individual questioner, were promptly and truthfully related. CHARLESWORTH FULLY IDENTIFIED - 907 COMPLETE VINDICATION.—At the close of the examination, late in the afternoon, a vote was taken as to whether the man then and there present, was, or was not, the Rupert Charlesworth, whom Dorsey W. Viers was accused of murdering? The affirmative vote was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically unanimous, only a single negative vote being given, and that from the brother of a man who several years before had been executed for the murder of another brother's wife, and in whose behalf secret and persistent efforts had been made to cast suspicion upon Viers, because of the cloud of obloquy that had so long rested upon him. From the date of that meeting that cloud was raised, and the reputation of Dorsey \V. Viers was fully vindicated. REMOVAL FROM NORTHFIELD TO COVENTRY.—In the meantime the three sons of Mr. Viers—James McClintock, Elisha J. and Edward H.—had grown to manhood and had become settled as prosperous farmers in the township of Norton, whither the father, having disposed of his possessions in Northfield, followed them, a few years later, occupying a small farm in the township of Coventry, opposite to that of his son Elisha J., in Norton, where he continued to reside until his death, on the night of March 10, 1884, at the ripe old age of 94 ; his youngest son, Edward H. Viers, a highly respected resident of Norton, only, surviving him. The principal items of the foregoing account of the very remarkable experiences of this remarkable man, were furnished the writer, by Mr. Viers and his wife nearly fifty years ago, soon after his final vindication, with a view to their publication then ; but before getting them into shape the notes were mislaid, and are now reproduced mainly from memory, aided, as to one or two of the earlier dates, in the brief mention thereof, by General L. V. ierce, in his historical reminiscences published in 1854. CHAPTER XLII. NORTHFIELD'S SECOND GREAT SENSATION—MURDER OF CATHARINE M'KISSON —DEADLY ASSAULT UPON HER DAUGHTER, LUCINDA CRONINGER—ARREST OF SAMUEL M’KISSON, FATHER-IN-LAW TO THE MURDERED WOMAN SUBSEQUENT ARREST OF DAVID M’KISSON, THE BROTHER-IN-LAW 0F CATHARINE AND LOVER OF LUCINDA—THE FATHER TRIED AND ACQUITTED — THE SON TRIED, CONVICTED AND EXECUTED — CIRCUMSTANTIAL STRONGER THAN POSITIVE EVIDENCE—FULL HISTORY OF THE CRIME TRIAL, SENTENCE AND EXECUTION— DYING SPEECH UPON THE GALLONS —BITTER COLD DAY, ETC. THE GREAT NORTHFIELD TRAGEDY.   ON the night of July 24, 1837, one of the most shocking tragedies of the time was perpetrated in the township of Northfield, then the extreme northwestern township of Portage county, and now a portion of Summit county. Several years previously, there had settled in the western portion of that township, and about midway between the center and the Cuyahoga river, one Samuel McKisson, who had quite a large family of grown up sons and daughters. The eldest son, Robert, having married a widow, Mrs. Catharine Croninger, with a grown up daughter, Lucinda, had settled upon a farm adjoining that of his father upon the west, on which he had erected the regulation log cabin of the period, with but a single room upon the ground floor; and a low sleeping apartment in the loft overhead. Having been bred a mechanic, Robert was frequently absent from home, for considerable periods of time, employing a young man named Johnson to do his farm work. The younger brother of Robert, David McKisson, was a tailor by trade, working, for longer or shorter periods in Hudson, Akron, Middlebury, Canton and other towns and villages in Northeastern Ohio, but, by reason of his reckless and dissipated habits, being unable to hold a situation for any considerable length of time. THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE.—Notwithstanding his tramping propensities, and because of his inability to retain a situation for any great length of time, David was in the habit bringing up at his father's every few months, during which visi he was thrown much into the society of his brother Robert's ste daughter, Lucinda Croninger, between whom and himself a mutual attachment was soon formed, and mutual tokens of affection exchanged. In this case, however, as in many others of like character, the "course of true love" did not run entirely "smooth, for his sister-in-law, the mother of Lucinda, vigorously oppose the match. Warm words between the mother and the suitor were frequently indulged in, which at length engendered virulent ill-feeling, and in which crimination and recrimination were freely bandied; the husband and brother, Robert, in his occasional visits home, on being informed of the status of affairs, taking sides with THE MURDER OF CATHARINE MCKISSON - 909 his wife, and severely reprimanding and chastising his brother for the course he was pursuing, and virtually, if not in positive terms, forbidding him to come upon the premises. In these discussions other members of the McKisson family had also become seriously involved, and the ill-feeling was particularly bitter between 'Samuel McKisson, the father, and his daughter-in-law, Catharine McKisson. MEDITATING VENGEANCE.—In this condition of affairs, with the old gentleman at bitter enmity with his daughter-in-law, and David in a state of ferocious wrath, at the interference of his sister-in-law and her husband in his love affairs, the latter, early in the Spring of 1837, left the neighborhood, and engaged to go to Turtle Island, at the mouth of Maumee Bay, to chop cord-wood. On his way thither, he called upon a married sister, then living in Cleveland, to whom, in rehearsing his troubles, he was alleged to have said that he would some day go back to Northfield and kill Robert's wife, and then if Lucinda would not have him she might " go to hell." This threat, however, was thought by his sister, and other friends cognizant thereof, to be a mere ebullition of anger at his disappointment, which absence would soon abate, and as several weeks elapsed without !any recurrence of the troubles, all fears of personal injury to Robert, or his family, had been entirely dismissed from their minds. THE BLOW SUDDENLY FALLS.—The single-room log house, occupied by the family of Robert, fronted east, the large stone fireplace being upon the south end, and two beds occupying the north end of the room ; that occupied by Robert and his wife on the west, and that occupied by Lucinda upon the east side of the room. Robert being absent from home working at his trade in Cleveland, on the night of July 24th, 1837, the beds thus situated, were occupied by the mother and her two little boys, and by the daughter, respectively, so that a person, passing from the front and only door of the house, would have to pass the bed of the daughter to reach that of the mother. The family retired about 9 o'clock, the hired man, Johnson, in the loft, as before described, reached by means of a ladder in the southeast corner. As was customary, in those early days, before friction matches had come into general use, the embers of the fire, which had cooked the evening meal, had been carefully "raked up," on the capacious hearth, and from them some slight glimmers from the charring coal produced a sort of dim illumination of the apartment, after the "tallow dip" had been extinguished for the night. The entire household had fallen asleep, with no thought of impending danger, nor dream of fear, the door being left unfastened because of the momentarily expected arrival home of the husband and father from Cleveland. Suddenly the daughter was awakened by the opening of the door. Rising up in bed, she saw a man, in his shirt sleeves, and dressed in dark pantaloons, enter the room with an axe in his hand. As she raised up she received a blow from the axe, upon the side of her head, which rendered her momentarily insensible. On recovering consciousness, she saw her mother lying upon the floor and the man standing over her with the axe, which he struck into her right shoulder. The daughter immediately screamed " murder," which awoke Johnson, who sprang out of bed, upon hearing 910 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. which, the assassin fled from the house, giving the daughter another blow with the axe, as he passed, but which, fortunately, produced a flesh wound only. THE FATHER-IN-LAW DENOUNCED AS THE ASSASSIN.—Johnson, on comprehending the situation, immediately started for assistance, and on reaching the house of a neighbor, Col. Pgrdon A. Brooks, found that it was just 11 o'clock. On the return of Johnson with help, Mrs. McKisson was found to be still alive, and in possession of her faculties. On being inquired of, by Col. Brooks, if she knew who committed the deed, she replied, " Old Sammy McKisson," Being again asked if she was sure it was Samuel McKisson, she replied, " Oh, yes, Oh, yes," and then almost immediately became unconscious, and a few hours later expired. The daughter, also, asseverated that the man she had seen enter the room, and strike the fatal blows, was Samuel. McKisson. The old gentleman was accordingly taken into custody, and held for trial, and as the news of the tragedy spread rapidly from house to house, and from mouth to mouth, almost the entire township was upon the ground, and the wildest excitement prevailed by daylight the next morning. It was found, by the examining physicians, that the deceased had received three blows from the axe; one on the right side of the head, the whole width of the blade penetrating the brain to the depth of one inch, and from which the brains were oozing; one on the back of the head which had cleaved off a large part of the scalp and a piece of the skull the size of a silver dollar, leaving the brain bare, but without wounding it; and the third, the blow which the daughter had witnessed, in the right shoulder, and passing through the shoulder bones and ribs into the chest. It was supposed that, being awakened by the blow upon the back of the head, Mrs. McKisson sprang out of bed when she was felled to the floor by the burying of the blade of the axe in her brain, as stated, the blow upon the shoulder, penetrating the chest, immediately following her fall upon the floor. A NEW PHASE IN THE TERRIBLE AFFAIR.—Though still believing the old man, Samuel McKisson, to be a party to the murder, if not the actual perpetrator thereof, the investigations by the neighbors and officers, the next day, put an entirely new aspect upon the tragic affair. The axe with which the deed had been perpetrated, belonged to the family, and had been taken from the cleat, on which it hung, upon the outside of the house, between the door and the southeast corner. This axe, covered with blood, was found some distance from the house, on a foot path running north. westerly from the house to the canal, and in an opposite direction from where Samuel McKisson lived. It was soon afterwards learned that a man was seen or heard running on that path, from the direction of the murder towards the canal, at about 11 o'clock that night, and also that about an hour before sunset, on the even. ing of the murder, David McKisson was seen to leave Kittlewell's grocery, at 18 mile Lock, on the canal, without a coat, and dressed it dark pantaloons, and go in a northeasterly direction towards the scene of the murder. The path on which the bloody axe was found, let it be remembered, was a mile or more in length, through dense woods, and over quite a precipitous hill, descending from the house of the murder to the canal. It was also shown that about 1 o'clock in the morning, David McKisson, in the same dress FATHER AND SON UNDER ARREST - 911 had boarded a packet boat bound for Cleveland, at Tinker's Creek, seven miles distant from the scene of the murder. These facts, coupled with the circumstance that he had left his work at Turtle Island, and had come into the neighborhood of his home, and after going in the direction thereof, without calling upon any of his relatives or friends, had started back to his place of employment, was proof conclusive, in the minds of the most sagacious people of the neighborhood, that David, instead of his father, was the actual perpetrator of the horrible crime, though owing to the bitter enmity known to exist between the old gentleman and his daughter-in-law, it was still generally believed that he was, somehow or other, mixed up with the affair. PURSUIT AND ARREST OF DAVID MCKISSON.-A warrant was accordingly issued by Justice George Lillie, and a constable, with two assistants, started for Turtle Island to secure David's arrest. There being no railroads in those days, and no communication by telegraph then as now, all operations of this kind were extremely slow. It afterwards transpired that, on reaching Cleveland, David had, by mistake, taken a boat bound down the Lake, instead of up, and had gone east as far as Fairport, some 30 miles, at which point lie had to wait several hours for an up bound boat, on which to return to Cleveland en route to the Island. In the meantime his pursuers had passed through Cleveland, taking a boat. bound for Maumee. On reaching Cleveland, on his return from Fairport, David, still without a coat, accidentally met an old acquaintance upon the wharf, who informed him of the murder, the arrest of his father, and that three men had gone to the Island to arrest him, advising him to return home to see about it. To this he indifferently replied that if that was so, he should probably see the men when he got to the Island. Continuing on the same boat on which he had come from Fairport, he went to Detroit, and from thence to the Island, via Manhattan, and yet arriving there several hours before his pursuers did. BLOODY SHIRT FOUND IN His TRUNK.—When the pursuing party reached the Island, and took him into custody, he appeared to know the cause of his arrest, and, without asking what the charge against him was, or to be shown the warrant, bid his employers and his comrades good-by, saying that he should never see them again, etc. In his trunk was found a soiled shirt with blood upon the shoulder and several spatters of blood upon the bosom, which he could not rationally account for, and in his attempt to do so, seriously contradicted himself. He remarked to his captors, though not informed by them of the crime for which he was arrested, that he was willing to die except for the disgrace it would bring upon his brothers and sisters, and afterwards, on being told of the death of his sister-in-law and the arrest of his father, as her murderer, said his father was innocent of the crime. At another time he said that he had committed so many crimes without detection he thought he could do anything without being found out, but that it was "all over with him now." On reaching Northfield, when brought into the presence of his brother Robert, he manifested great agony of mind, and said: "Robert, I little thought what was said when we parted in the lane would bring me to this," and when Robert asked, "Has it ?" he replied, 912 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. after a moment's reflection, "I don't know"—and then, seeming to realize the situation he was in, added: " These hands never did the deed." FATHER AND SON JOINTLY INDICTED.—Justice Lillie, before whom the preliminary examinations were had, held both of the accused to answer to the crime of murder, before the Court of Common Pleas of Portage county, and both were committed to jail. At the September term of court (1837), a "true bill" was found against both, by the Grand Jury. Though jointly indicted, separate trials were granted by the court, Hon. Van R. Humphrey presiding, and special venires for jurors were issued in each case. Samuel McKisson was tried first, a full history of the family troubles, as well as of the circumstances attending the murder, being gone into, the case being conducted with his usual vigor, by Prosecuting Attorney, Lucius V. Bierce, assisted by Eben Newton, Esq., and a most able defense was made by David K. Cartter, and Wylys Silliman, Esqs. Under the clear-cut charge of the court, so characteristic of Judge Humphrey in his prime, the jury, after a very brief consideration of the case, pronounced Samuel McKisson not guilty. Immediately following the acquittal of the father, the son was put upon his trial to a jury impaneled from the special venire issued in the case. Much of the testimony that was given on the first trial was rehearsed, and a large array of additional witnesses were sworn and examined, touching David's actions and utterances prior and subsequent to the commission of the crime of which he was accused. Special emphasis was given, by counsel for the defense, to the dying declarations of the murdered woman, while in full possession of her faculties, that Samuel McKisson had struck the fatal blows, and the full corroboration of that dying declaration, by the surviving daughter, who witnessed the infliction of at least one of those blows, and who had herself nearly shared the same fate; while, by unreliable circumstances, only, could the defendant then on trial, be connected with the horrible affair. Inch by inch was the legal battle fought, not only in the examination and cross-examination of witnesses, and the rules of law governing the case, but in the arguments of both Prosecuting Attorney L. V. Bierce and Eben Newton, Esq., for the State, and Messrs. Rufus P. Spalding, David Tod and Noah M. Humphrey on behalf of the defense. After a repetition of the principal points contained in his former charge, with the addition of such matters as more particularly applied to the case in hand, Judge Humphrey gave the case to the jury, who, after several hours deliberation, returned their verdict, finding David McKisson guilty of murder in the first degree. A motion was made by defendant's counsel for a new trial, which was promptly overruled by the court. After giving counsel a few" days to prepare and file a bill of exceptions, should they desire to do so, Judge Humphrey ordered the sheriff to bring the condemned man before the court for sentence. JUDGE HUMPHREY'S ELOQUENT SENTENCE. Commanding the prisoner to stand up, Judge Humphrey, in the presence of a dense crowd of interested spectators, proceeded to pronounce sentence upon him as follows: JUDGE HUMPHREY'S ELOQUENT SENTENCE - 913 "DAVID McKisson: —The Grand Jury of this county have returned a Bill of Indictment against you, charging you with the crime of murder. To that Indictment you have pleaded Not guilty.' Counsel of your choice, able and learned in the law, have been assigned, to advise and aid you to meet the accusation, and make your defense. Plenary process, the resources of the State, have been at your command to compel the attendance of witnesses, in order to manifest your innocence. A traverse jury, almost of your own selection, and against whom you had nothing to urge, has been impaneled to pass, under a solemn appeal to heaven, between you and the State. Before that jury you have met your accusers, and the witnesses against you, face to face'; you have listened to their testimony, and also introduced such proof as was in your power, to exculpate you from the charge. You have heard the arguments of counsel for the State, and also sat under the powerful appeal of counsel in your own behalf ; and after a patient, full and impartial hearing, that jury, under the tremendous convictions of duty, in view of their responsibility to God and their country, have found you " Guilty of Murder in the First Degree;" and, I regret to say, that the evidence is such as to compel the court to fully concur in the finding of the jury. Upon that verdict arises the melancholy duty of announcing the dreadful sentence of the law; and have you anything to say why that sentence should not now be pronounced ?" PRISONER—" I have nothing to say." JUDGE HUMPHREY.—" The crime of which you stand convicted is second to none in enormity—the highest known to our laws— and in this instance perpetrated under circumstances awfully barbarous and shocking. Yet your present afflictions excite our sympathy. As individuals we commiserate your situation. We have all the feeling for you consistent with our relation. But a solemn duty has devolved upon us. No choice of alternatives is presented. The laws of God and man attach the penalty of death to the crime of murder. The divine maxim, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed "—quoted and appreciated by your counsel—as well as the violated laws of the land, declare that you must die. Your life is forfeited. Unworthy to live with your fellow-man, whose rights you have trodden down with unparalleled cruelty, justice demands a separation between you and your species, and calls loudly for your extermination. "In the dead hour of night, with a bosom rankling with revenge ; at that hour when nature was hushed in silence, and sleep had sealed the eyes of your victim, you approached, not the dwelling of a stranger ; not the dwelling of an enemy ; not a dwelling protected by the arm of man ; but the undefended home of a brother, and there, with the deadly axe you bore along, coolly, barbarously, cruelly murdered your unoffending sister. A more bloody butchery stains not the annals of man ; a more heartless assassination lives not in the history of crimes. I make not these remarks to harrow your feelings, or to disturb the equanimity of your bosom, if, possibly, it remains quiet at this withering crisis ; but to apprise you that your time is fixed ; that your days are numbered ; that before another year shall have passed away, you must sleep beneath the "clods of the valley," and that it behooves you to make preparation for that dreadful event. ̊ "Think not any interposition of the Executive will relieve you. Indulge not the hope of commutation or pardon from any temporal source, but appeal to the Power which is able and willing to exercise clemency indeed ; to show mercy worth asking ; to extend pardon to the 'chief of sinners.' "From your declaration and confessions is clearly shown the fatal error into which you have fallen, in supposing that offenses might be committed with impunity ; that detection would not overtake crime. Too late you learn hat "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will." "A period co-extensive with the power of the Court will be alloted you to settle your temporal affairs, and to prepare for another world. Your friends will be permitted to visit you in prison, and such spiritual advisers as you may need, will attend you to point the way to future happiness. Improve, then, the few remaining days you have to live, in preparing to die. You know your fate. You know your time. Not so with Catharine Mcliisson. No precursor kindly whispered her dissolution ; no messenger of mercy warned the devoted wretch of woe and death. But in the vigor of 58 914 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. life, while reposing in fancied security, you tore her from the side of her sleeping infants, and with that bloody instrument hurried her into eternity, with all her sins fresh blown upon her !' "It is, therefore, the sentence of the law, that you be taken hence to the jail of the county. there to remain until Friday, the 9th day of February, 1838; that between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 4 o'clock in the afternoon of that day, you be taken thence to the place of execution, and be then hung by the neck until you are dead. And may He who trod the wine press alone have mercy on you!" WRITES A HISTORY OF HIS LIFE.—After his conviction and sentence the prisoner busied himself in jail, in writing a so-called history of his life, in which, while detailing a large number of youthful peccadilloes, and petty crimes and offenses, he sought to convey the impression of his innocence of the murder of his sister-in-law, and to direct suspicion towards Mr. Dorsey W. Viers, who, unfortunately, was at that time resting under a cloud of unjust suspicion, in regard to the disappearance from Northfield, of Rupert Charlesworth, several years previously ( but which cloud was wholly cleared away some two or three years later, as already detailed in the preceding chapter), and even intimating that his old father, notwithstanding his triumphant acquittal, may have committed the murder, after all, saying, in that connection: "But when I take the testimony of the girl, and the fact that I know his disposition when in liquor, and his clothes being at the fire, and then the dying words of her who saw him every day, and who most certainly did see the man who done the deed, when I put all these things together, to say that I suppose it was not him is as much as I can say." His rambling and disjointed, as well as decidedly illiterate narrative, closes with the following remarkably good advice to both children and adults : "Thus I have set down the chief of what I am here for, and for what I am about to suffer an ignominious death upon the scaffold ; together with all the crimes that I can recollect I have omitted many things I have done which are not consistent with good conduct in youth, but the untimely end that awaits me I hope will be a caution to youth not to walk in the paths that I have trod. Two things I would impress upon their minds, viz : not to roam about nights, and keep as much as possible out of bad company. * * * Now, let me leave a caution to parents, guardians and masters. I am young and unqualified to do it in style, but as I have traveled considerable, and been in good and bad company, I know something of the world. If a child is stubborn, never whip it without knowing it is right to do so; never make a promise without fulfilling ; never lay up two charges for one whipping ; and never whip in a passion ; by so doing you are not only not punctual yourself but you learn the child to be so. Again, if a child tells a lie, and you tell it to own the truth and you will not punish it, fulfill your promise or it will never own its faults again ; and if you have any good article of food on the table, never take it from the children, for this will make them steal. If you pursue a different course you will not bring up a child in the way it should go, but in the way it will go. Thus ends my saying to the world." THE EXECUTION.—The 9th day of February, 1838, was one of the most bitterly cold days of that remarkably severe winter. The ground was covered with snow, and though bright and pleasant overhead, the naturally frigid atmosphere of the day was many fold intensified by a cutting wind, that pierced one's system to the very vitals. Executions in Ohio, then, unlike those of later years, were open to the general public, and the gallows had been erected in a broad meadow, amphitheatrical in form, about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the court house in Ravenna, and the sheriff MCKISSON'S SPEECH UPON THE GALLOWS - 915 bad called together the military organizations of the county, for escort duty, and to preserve the public peace. The writer, as a newspaper man, was on the ground as early as 7 o'clock in the morning, and even at that early hour the streets and public square of the village, were rapidly filling with a promiscuous crowd of men, women and children; pouring in, on foot, on horse-back and in almost every style of vehicle then known, through every road leading into the town. In addition to hotels, and other regular places of entertainment, large numbers of booths and stands had been erected for the sale of eatables, and drinkables, too, and in those days there were very few of what are now known as temperance drinks, in vogue, either. And during all that long forenoon, yes, and until three in the afternoon, did that vast crowd, variously estimated at from 10,000 to 15,000, uncomplainingly endure the biting cold and fatigue of the day, though towards the last, from the long delay, and the effects of the whisky imbibed, it very largely resembled a howling mob, clamorous for the hurrying up of the ghastly exhibition, and kept in check from open acts of violence, only by the presence of the military, and the activity of the extra constabulatory force that bad been provided. At precisely 3 o'clock P. M., the condemned man was taken from the jail, by Sheriff George Y. Wallace, and his attendants, and in an open carriage, preceded and followed by a company of militia, was taken to the place of execution. On reaching the gallows, he alighted from the carriage with agility, and walked up the steps to the scaffold with a firm tread. The sheriff having adjusted the fatal noose about his neck, asked him if he desired to address the audience, whereupon, with a slight inclination of the head, he spoke substantially as follows: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: - You are in a few minutes to witness the departure of a fellow-being from time to eternity, and I hope my life will deter you all from crime of every description, such as lying, stealing, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, etc. Break not the laws of that book (holding up a small Bible) and you break not the laws of man. I am reconciled to my God, before whom I am shortly, to appear. I have been charged with he crime of murder. I have been tried before a jury of twelve men of my country, and I have pleaded "not guilty." Circumstances were against me, and that jury brought in a verdict of murder in the first degree. The court sentenced me to be executed, and I am about to receive the penalty due to the crime of murder. And now, when I am within a few minutes of eternity; when I am about to enter the presence of my creator, the truth must be told. It is said, and gone forth to the world, that, at the dead hour of midnight, I stripped myself, and with an axe, entered the dwelling of a brother, and cruelly murdered an unoffending sister; and now the question is, am I guilty of the crime?. No, gentlemen, I am not. May my voice reach the ear of the farthermost person on yonder hill; I AM NOT GUILTY OF MURDER. Is it reasonable to suppose that after committing a murder, I should go to Cleveland, and stay there half a day; through mistake take a boat that was going down the lake instead of up, and on discovering my mistake, get off at Fairport and return to Cleveland, and on being told by an acquaintance that three men had gone to Turtle Island to arrest me, immediately start for that Island? No, gentlemen, it is not. I intended to have spoken a few words about the testimony, and I believe I will. Does it look reasonable that I should say to Robert, " I hope these hands will smother out of it," and then, in a louder voice, say, "these hands never done the deed." I say does it look reasonable that I should say so to a brother whose wife I had murdered? No, gentlemen, it does not. I have committed a great many crimes; I have led a very wicked life, but am innocent of the crime for which I am about to be executed. Again I would say, break not the laws of that book, and you break not the laws of man. You may all consider yourselves 916 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. accessories in a murder, by, executing an innocent man; but may forgive you, for you know not what you do. I have nothing more to say." Then, turning partly around, he repeated some poetry, composed by himself, which was inaudible to the writer. The attending clergyman then offered a short prayer, and, with the doubly bereaved brother, Robert, shook hands with him and descended from the scaffold. Sheriff Wallace then pinioned his arms and legs, adjusted the rope around his neck, placed him in position drew the black cap over his face, bid him good-by, descended the stairs, touched the fatal spring, the drop fell, and David McKisson whether guilty or innocent, was in eternity—a few spasmodic movements of the shoulders and legs, only, being observable after the drop fell. DISPOSITION OF THE BODY.—When the attending physicians had pronounced life extinct, Sheriff Wallace delivered his body to his brother Robert, and his aged, grief-stricken father, to be taken to Northfield for interment; his age, on the day of the execution being 21 years, 2 months and 21 days. The funeral services were held at the house of the father, a day or two afterwards, and quite largely attended by sympathetic neighbors, the burial being made upon the home farm, where, also, the father was buried a few years later. The remains of the dead malefactor were not exhibited to those in attendance at the funeral, and it was several years after alleged that, while the party employed to transport the body from Ravenna to Northfield, having driven his team under a shed, was warming himself by a hotel fire in Hudson, certain physicians of that town, extracted the body from the coffin, substituting therefor a log of wood, and that the carefully articulated skeleton, so often seen in the cabinet of a prominent physician of Hudson, for many years thereafter, was none other than that of David McKisson. THE CONCLUSION.—It was believed that the father, having himself been acquitted of the crime, and therefore not liable, under the law, to be again put in jeopardy for the offense, would, upon the trial of the son, swear that he (the father) had alone committed the deed. But this the old gentleman peremptorily declined to do, declaring that he could not add the crime of perjury to the mountain of sorrow then resting upon him. This, and the expression he used, on first meeting David, after their arrest: "David, you dog ! See what you have brought us all to!" together with his apparently sincere manifestations of grief over the terrible event, was conclusive to the family, and their best informed neighbors, that the old gentleman was entirely guiltless of any complicity in the affair; though there are people to this day who fully believe that Samuel McKisson was the real murderer, and that David was a victim of untoward circumstances, and used simply as a scapegoat to suffer the penalty due to his aged father. But though convicted upon circumstantial evidence, and in spite of the declaration of the murdered woman, and the positive testimony of the daughter, the only eye-witness of the tragedy, to the contrary, and notwithstanding his asseverations of his innocence to the very last moment of his life, there was no doubt in the minds of the court and jury, or the general public, in regard to the guilt of the doomed young man, the righteousness of the verdict, or the justice of his fate. THE SECRET OF HIS PERSISTENT DENIAL - 917 It was afterwards learned that his bold and persistent denial of his guilt, in the very face of death, instead of making a full confession thereof, was probably inspired by the expectation of a repreive at the very last moment, as he had been made to believe, by "Col." William Ashley, then in jail awaiting trial for counterfeiting, as elsewhere related, that a commutation of his sentence to imprisonment for life was already in the h ands of the sheriff, and that if he asserted his innocence to the last the execution would be stayed. Thus ended one of the most fearful and thrilling, of the many thrilling tragedies that have been enacted within the present limits of Summit county; not only producing the greatest excitement throughout the entire vicinity, but the denouement of which, from the intense coldness of the day, created a permanent data for comparison of the weather, for many years, and with some, even to the present time, a very common expression being: "This is the coldest day I have experienced since McKisson was ung." CHAPTER XLIII. NORTON-AN EVENTFUL HISTORY-ORIGIN, NAME, EARLY SETTLEMENT, ETC.- GROWTH AND POPULATION-BUSINESS CENTERS, INDUSTRIES, ETC.- "QUEER" TAVERN KEEPERS, EARLY CROOKEDNESS, ETC.-REMARKABLE REFORMATION- LUNATIC GROCERY KEEPER'S MAD PRANKS-SHOOTS AND WOUNDS TWO MEN-INMATE OF COUNTY INFIRMARY FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS-POSTMASTER SHOOTS AND INSTANTLY KILLS A BURGLAR-GREAT EXCITEMENT OVER MISSING CHILD-NORTON IN WAR AND NORTON IN PEACE-THE MCLISTER-WELSH HOMICIDE-TRIAL, CONVICTION, SENTENCE AND IMPRISONMENT OF MCLISTER, PARDON, ETC. ORIGIN, NAME, ETC. THE township of Norton, originally designated as township 1, range 12, was, like Copley, at first officially associated with Wadsworth, Sharon, Guilford and Montville, under the general name of "Wolf Creek Trownship," being organized as a separate township in April, 1818. The township derived its name from its principal Connecticut proprietor, Birdsey Norton, who, however, never resided therein. It is bounded north by Copley, east by Coventry, south by Franklin and Chippewa and west by Wadsworth, and is one of the southern-most townships of the Western Reserve. The first settler in the township is said to have been James Robinson, from Oswego county, N. Y., who, in 1810, located upon lot 19, on Wolf Creek, in the northeast portion of the township, since known as the Sylvester Van Hyning farm. The friends of Mr. John Cahow, a native of Maryland, claim for him the honor of being Norton's first settler, his cabin also being erected in 1810, upon lot 20, half a mile east of Robinson's, where, both before and during the War of 1812, he furnished "entertainment for man and beast," the first tavern, probably, west of Middlebury in what is now Summit county. In 1814, James Robinson was married to Lois Bates, by Simeon Prior, Esq., of Northampton, a year later removing to the latter named township, but soon afterwards returning to Norton, settling-near New Portage, where he subsequently died. Very little progress was made in the settlement of the township until after the close of the War of 1812, in 1815. Then there was a rush, so that on the organization of the the township, in 1818, it must have numbered some 25 or 30 voters. The names of all the early settlers cannot now be given, but among them, besides James Robinson and John Callow, already noted, may be mentioned Henry and Abraham Van Hyning, Joseph Holmes, Elisha Hinsdale, Ezra Way, Joseph D. Humphrey, Charles Lyon, Philemon Kirkum, Seth Lucas, Charles Miller, John O'Brien and Nathan and Lyman Bates. Henry Van Hyning died December 25, 1839, aged 102 years. The first marriage in the township: as above indicated, was James Robinson and Lois Bates; the first birth, a child of Lyman PIONEER EXPERIENCES, HARDSHIPS, ETC. - 919 Bates; the first death, a daughter of John O'Brien, the dates of the two latter events not now remembered. At the first election, April, 1818, Abraham Van Hyning, Charles Lyon and Ezra Way were chosen trustees; Joseph D. Humphrey, township clerk; Joseph Holmes, Elisha Hinsdale and John Cahow, supervisors; and Henry Van Hyning, Sr., justice of the peace. The Indians had nearly all vacated the township before white settlement fairly began, so that very little, if any, traditionary lore in regard to encounters with the red-skins has been handed down. Nor are there any very serious reminiscent tales of deadly encounters between the early settlers and wild beasts now extant among the people, though the forests of the township, particularly the jungles of Wolf Creek, and contiguous swamps, were then quite largely infested with wolves, bears and other similar game, it being related that Henry Van Hyning, Jr., and the Bates brothers once killed a bear a short distance southeast of what is now known as Loyal Oak, which, when dressed, weighed some 500 pounds. NATHAN SEIBERLING,—born in Lynn, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1810; boyhood spent on farm, and learning shoemaking with his father ; with less than a year's schooling, by close personal application, he acquired a fair business education ; was married December 6, 1829, to Catharine Peter, born June 27, 1811 ; in June, 1831, removed to Norton, Ohio, purchasing 96 acres of uncultivated land, devoting his days to clearing and improving his farm, and his evenings to his trade, often working late into the night, in making and mending shoes for his neighbors, splitting and whittling out his pegs by hand: Prosperity attended his labors, and as the years passed by, hundreds of acres and large blocks of bonds and stocks were added to his possessions, enabling him to very materially aid his enterprising sons, whose manufacturing successes will be found chronicled elsewhere. Fifteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling, eleven of whom are still living. Though a stanch Republican, living in a continuously Democratic township, he was elected justice of the peace, and his services were otherwise often called into requisition in the management of the affairs of the township.. Mr. and Mrs. Seiberling were for over sixty years members of the Lutheran Church, of which organization the entire family are members. His death occurred November 4, 1889, at the age of 79 years, 6 months and 20 days, his aged companion surviving him. The story of the incessant toil, patient self-denial, privation and frequent suffering incident to pioneer life—the low price of farm produce, the high price of all kinds of merchandise, and the scarcity of money, have too often been told to need repetition here. But it is gratifying to know that amid all their trials, hardships and enforced strict economy, there was always a cheerful good-nature, a genial helpfulness and an unstinted hospitality, in the intercourse of neighbor with neighbor, and an especially warm 920 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. welcome extended to every new-comer, and to the stranger temporarily domiciled among them. Though getting a later start than most of its neighbors, Norton was, in point of topography and soil, so desirable a location that it soon caught up with the most, and surpassed some, of the townships of the vicinage, in point of population, enterprise and wealth. The center of the township, though handsomely located, has never hardly arrived at the dignity of a village, some three or four dwellings, a small public house, graded schools and a portion of the time a store and a postoffice, constituting the entire hamlet, with the addition, in later years, of a substantial two-story frame edifice, 28x60 feet, with rear basement, for the use of "Summit Grange of Patrons of Husbandry," composed of the very best farmers of Norton and surrounding townships, and one of the most successful and influential local granges in the State. A mile and a half to the northward, is the village of Loyal Oak, originally called Bates' Corners, with its hotel (sometimes two) store, two fine churches, school house, with, at times, various industries, such as blacksmithing, tanning, milling, tin-smithing, harness-making, etc. About the same distance southward is Johnson's Corners, very similar in its church, school, hotel, store and mechanical appointments to those of Bates' Corners, with about the same show of business and population. On the west line of the township (and county) is the village of Western Star, originally called Griswold's Corners, after several stalwart enterprising brothers who established themselves in business there, in the latter twenties, though Mills, Cullen and Ezekiel Richards had settled near the corners several years before. Its present name is in honor of Nathan Starr, of Connecticut, the original owner of the land at that point. Mr. Starr and his wife, Grace T. Starr, on the 7th day of November, 1814, donated and deeded in trust one acre of land for educational purposes, with the proviso that said trustees " erect on said lot a suitable building for a seminary building, and keep the same in good repair at all times, otherwise the land to revert to the original owners." Western Star was incorporated and organized as a village in 1842, with mayor, marshal and other village officers, having in later years adopted the graded school system, the seminary building being used for the higher grades of the system. The village also maintains one church (United Brethren), a hotel, one or two stores, and various mechanics' shops, the business and population being about equal on either side of the line, the number of inhabitants in the Norton portion of the corporation, as shown by the census of 1880, being 75, and by the census of 1890 given as 88. New Portage, two and a half miles east of the Center, on the line between Norton and Coventry, has been already pretty fully described in the sketch of the latter township, the most of the present business of the village—railroad station, store, postoffice, strawboard works, church, etc., being upon the Norton side of the line. Since the above was first published, in 1888, new honors have come to Norton in the founding within her borders the new industrial city of Barberton, which is fully described further on in this work. There is also a small mining hamlet called Dennison NORTON'S EARLY INDUSTRIES - 921 in the western portion of the township, on the N. Y., P. & 0. R. R. with postoffice (named Sherman), store, saloon, etc. Also, on the Wooster road, about two miles southwest of Johnson's Corners, upon the line between Summit and Wayne counties, is the hamlet of Hametown, so called from the fact that quite an extensive shop for the manufacture of hames was established there some forty or more years ,ago. Though that particular industry was long since relegated to other labor centers, Hametown, though having no postoffice, is quite a business point, with store, grocery, shoe shop, etc. CHARLES MILLER,—born in Upper Nazareth, Pennsylvania, November 29, 1815; raised on farm ; education limited ; learned carpenter's trade ; in 1838 came to Ohio, working at trade in Guilford, Medina county, returning to Pennsylvania in the Fall ; in 1843 again came to Ohio, working at trade in Wayne county, finally settling on farm in Norton ; in 1857, engaged in selling farm implements for C. M. Russell & Co., of Massillon; in 1861, engaged in selling Excelsior reaping and mowing machines, manufactured by Mr. John F. Seiberling, at Doylestown ; in 1863, purchased a quarter interest in Mr. Seiberling-'s patents ; in 1865, organized Excelsior Mower and Reaper Company, of Akron, building extensive works opposite Union railroad depot; through business complications and internal dissensions, company made an assignment in 1875, 31r. Miller sinking 65,000 in stock, and several thousand dollars loaned the company ; in 1879, in company with his sons, purchased the Mather-son chain works at Cuyahoga Falls, consolidating them with the Chevrier works, at Akron, previously purchased, afterwards adding the match making business to their works, in both departments building up an extensive and profitable business. Miller was married February, 1843, to Miss Hannah Bechtel, who bore him seven children—Emma E., now Mrs. Frank Reifsnider, of Akron; Henry D., of Tiffin ; Amanda M., wife of R. N. Kratz, of Mitchell, Dakota Harvey F., of Akron ; Leon J., of Little Rock, Arkansas ; S. Samuel, of Akron, and Cora 0., now Mrs. Charles Huntley, of Akron. Mr. Miller died December 9, 1886, aged 71 years and 10 days, Mrs. Miller dying March 11, 1887, aged 69 years. It will thus be seen that though Norton is emphatically an agricultural town, it has also, besides its extensive mining operations, quite a large urban population, and considerable of a variety of mechanical and manufacturing industries. For many years Clark's mill, one mile east of Loyal Oak, on Wolf Creek, built by Mr. Carlos Clark in the early thirties, did an excellent business, until its destruction by fire in 1879. Still earlier, about 1830, Thomas Johnson built a grist mill on Hudson's run, at Johnson's Corners, which is still running, another similar mill, built by Mr. Johnson, some two or three years later, further down the stream, having gone into disuse many years ago. As many as ten or twelve saw-mills, probably, have been erected within the township at different times, most of which, whether profitable to their 922 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. owners or not, have been of very great convenience to the farmers, in converting their surplus timber into lumber for the construction of their comfortable houses and magnificent bank barns. EARLY " FINANCIAL" OPERATIONS.—In an early day Norton became quite seriously involved in the prevailing "crookedness" of the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas valleys. Besides the operations of this character at New Portage and Wolf Creek Lock, already alluded to, Johnson's Corners was for many years a prominent point for the gathering together of the members of the brotherhood, and for the dispensation of the "queer." Thomas Johnson, somewhere in the middle twenties, built and kept the tavern upon the northeast corner, the same site now occupied by the fine new hotel of Mr. J. T. Price. This house was a well-known resort for the sporting gentry of that day, of which fraternity Johnson himself was understood to be in full fellowship, though of the strictest integrity in all his neighborhood dealings. At length; in the Fall of 1833, Johnson got into "financial" difficulty in Portage county (Norton then being in Medina county), and was bound over to court by Justice George B. De Peyster, of Franklin Mills (now Kent), and at the October term of the court, 1833, was indicted for "bartering a counterfeit bank note," and entered into bonds in the sum of $1,000, with William Coolman, Jr., and William King (both hotel keepers at Ravenna) for his appearance at the March term, 1834, Lucius V. Bierce being the prosecuting attorney, and Gregory Powers officiating as counsel for the defendant. At the March term Johnson failed to appear and his bond was declared forfeited, the record showing that Coolman and King each paid $250, the other $500 being remitted by the County Commissioners. Johnson remained in hiding for a short time, when, through the intercession of Mr. Charles Miller, father of Norton's present well-known and highly respected citizen, Cyrus Miller, Esq., the authorities dropped the matter against Johnson, on account of valuable information given by him in regard to the operations of the gang, and of his solemn promise to sever his connection therewith. From that time until his death, March 13, 1836, at the age of 45 years, Johnson led a strictly upright life, and is said to have been a class-leader in the Methodist society organized at the Corners, a year or so previous to his death. Johnson left quite a handsome property, his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, an energetic and most estimable woman, afterwards being married to the late Joshua F. Shaw, Esq., father of Mr. Merwin Shaw, still an influential resident of the village. Jonathan DeCourcey was another of Norton's early crooked financiers, and was the builder and keeper of the brick tavern on the southwest corner of the Clinton and Wooster roads, which is still standing. De Courcey was far less enterprising and industrious, but vastly shrewder and more unscrupulous in his illicit monetary transactions, than Johnson, but, in the latter thirties, he, too, lost his grip, and in 1840, being under indictment in Medina county; he forfeited his bond and fled the country, as is more fully set forth in another chapter devoted to the operations of the counterfeiters of the Cuyahoga. NORTON'S LUNATIC MERCHANT.—From about 1854 to 1860, one William Pierce, was the owner and keeper of the canal grocery store at Wolf Creek Lock, a mile or so south of New Portage. NORTON'S LUNATIC MERCHANT - 923 Pierce, then about 25 years of age, was a sober, shrewd, money-making fellow., and, keeping a good stock of boatmen's supplies, soon built up a profitable trade, and rapidly accumulated property. After two or three years, however, Pierce became quite irritable, and strongly inclined to quarrel with his customers, especially if any fault was found,with the quality or prices of his goods, and soon came to be regarded as a little "off" in his mind, though still attentive to business, and as sharp at a bargain as ever. Nothing serious resulted from his aberration until about the first of August, 1857, when, having had some words with a boat captain by the name of Hugh Kelly, he deliberately fired his revolver from his grocery door, at the Captain, just as he was about to step from the lock on to his boat, the ball taking effect in the tendons of the heel, and also striking and slightly wounding the Captain's son. Pierce was arrested and put under bonds to answer to they Court of Common Pleas, on the charge of shooting with intent to kill ; Captain Kelly also commenced civil suit against him for personal damages in the sum of $3,000 for himself, and $1,000 for his son. On investigation, the Grand Jury failed to find a bill against him on the ground of insanity, the civil suit, at the March term, 1858, resulting in a verdict for the plaintiff, in the sum of $254.00 damages, and the costs, amounting to $39.00 more. The shooting was admitted, but defendant's council, General A. C. Voris, urged the insanity of his client, if not as a vindication of the act, at least in mitigation of damages. Pierce was greatly exasperated at this, and vehemently berated Voris, in open court, claiming that in shooting Captain Kelly he was only defending his rights. Immediately on the announcement of the judgment, by Judge Carpenter, in accordance with the verdict of the jury, Pierce went to his grocery, at Wolf Creek Lock, and placing the amount of damages and costs ($293.00) in gold and silver coin, in a small canvas bag, returned in the afternoon, and, in the midst of another trial then on, walked up to the Judges' desk, dumped the contents of the bag upon the desk, and told the Judge to'count it and see if it was all right. It was with considerable difficulty that Judge Carpenter made him comprehend that Clerk Green was the proper officer to pay the money to, Pierce insisting that, as the Judge had rendered the judgment against him, he was bound to count the money to see if it was all right. Notwithstanding the finding of the Grand Jury that Pierce was insane, no steps were taken towards sending him to the Insane Asylum, and he contined to carry on his grocery business, with his customary diligence, at Wolf Creek Lock. Though still giving frequent manifestations of mental unsoundness, nothing serious happened for about two years, when another, and this time nearly fatal, shooting affair occurred substantially as follows : Joshua F. Shaw, Esq., of Johnson's corners, had a piece of land adjoining the premises owned by Pierce. Some difference arising as to the division line, Mr. Shaw, on Saturday, March 17, 1860, stepped into the grocery to consult with Pierce in regard to employing the county surveyor to run out the line. Pierce objected on account of the expense, and Mr. Shaw, pleasantly remarking that he would foot the bill, started to go out. As he reached the door the report 924 - AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY. of a pistol rang through the grocery, the ball striking Mr. Shaw on the lower back portion of the skull, glancing around under the skin and coming out at the upper part of the right ear. The affair created the most intense excitement in the neighborhood, and Pierce was immediately apprehended, by Constable Merrick Burton, of Akron, and taken before Justice William 14. Clarke, of Akron, who, on hearing, committed him to jail to answer to the Court of Common Pleas, to the charge of shooting with intent to kill. At the May term of the court, the Grand Jury returned a bill of indictment, in accordance with the finding of Justice Clarke. On being arraigned, Pierce, with great emphasis, pleaded Hot guilty, declaring that in shooting Shaw he was only defending his rights. Pierce's counsel, Wilbur F. Sanders and Dudley C. Carr, Esqs., then moved for a continuance until the next term of the court, which was granted. At the November term, a long and exciting trial was had, the costs in the case amouuting to nearly $300, the verdict of the jury being "not guilty by reason of insanity ;" the Court making an order that Pierce be remanded to jail, and the case duly certified to the Probate Court for proceedings in lunacy. Pierce remained in jail until the 5th day of March, 1862, when he was taken to the county Infirmary, where he was confined for over a quarter of a century, a good share of the time in a separate cell, to prevent his doing injury to others, which he had several times attempted to do, his death occurring September 23, 1889. Like Captain Kelly, Mr. Shaw brought suit against Pierce for personal damages, but, more modest than the Captain, laid his claims at $500 only. The case was referred to ex-Probate Judge Noah M. Humphrey, Hon. John Johnston and Arad Kent, Esq., who awarded the plaintiff $175 for which amount and the costs judgment was rendered by the Court, to satisfy which the Wolf Creek property was sold by Sheriff Burlison, in February, 1866, for $960, of which amount, after satisfying the judgment and costs, $326.50 was paid to Avery Spicer, guardian for Cyrus Pierce (minor son of the defendant) the balance being paid to Mrs. Pierce. 11 Sometime in 1882, it came to the knowledge of Prosecuting Attorney Charles Baird, that Pierce was entitled to a one-fifteenth share of the estate of a deceased sister, Mrs. Sophia Weeden, of Sandusky City, and by taking the proper legal steps in the premises, about $1000 was covered into the county treasury, to the credit of the poor fund, thus, in some slight degree, reimbursing the tax payers of the county for the care and keeping, for so many years, of their unfortunate fellow-citizen. POSTOFFICE ROBBER KILLED.—In the latter fifties, a resident of New Portage by the name of William Witner, then about 25 years of age, being employed as mail-carrier between New Portage and Doylestown, was detected in robbing the mails, and served a short term in the penitentiary. Returning to New Portage, immediately after his release from prison, Witner conducted himself fairly well for a few years, marrying into a highly respectable family of that village, though he was largely disinclined to engage in any hard or very useful labor. At this time Mr. Jacob Welch, formerly of Mogadore, now a resident of Colorado, was carrying on quite an extensive stoneware