(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 100 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY paving streets and expending so much money for such purposes and the present quarters are so well adapted for the present needs that it is probable that Akron will have no City Hall of her own for many years to come. In spite of some objections on the part of some officials, it must be admitted that the present building makes a very good housing for the conduct of municipal affairs, and that the rent is not unreasonable for such a structure. The City Council has a room large enough for its deliberations; the Mayor's Court is well provided for; the Board of Health, the Auditor, the Solicitor and the Police Department, all have separate and commodious apartments. The main damage caused by the riot was that done to the hitherto fair reputation of the city. In the heart of the cultured Western Reserve of Ohio, it was not thought possible that such an outbreak of lawlessness could occur. The other cities of the Western Reserve blushed for us. The great state of Ohio was ashamed of us. We had brought discredit upon the great state of which we are so proud. Our shame went abroad throughout the land—throughout the world. The great newspapers sent special correspondents to Akron and covered their front pages with great, black headlines to publish to the world our disgrace. As an example, the Pittsburgh Dispatch of August 24, 1900, bore across the entire front page in startling type, this inscription: "National Guard Preserves Order in Shamed Akron." This shame, this disgrace, this damage to a splendid reputation, was our greatest loss. If the cause of it all can be said to belong to those who might have averted it, then there is no difficulty in putting the blame where it belongs—at the door of incompetent public officials. The errors of judgment on their part were so numerous that it will not be possible to mention them here. Even when the riot was at its height, a dozen determined policemen could have put the entire mob to rout. Many times that night it happened, that some one would cry, "The Police are Coming Out," and the entire crowd would take to their heels and scatter in all directions. It is to be feared that downright cowardice, as well as lack of judgment, was one of the prominent characteristics of those now criticized. From the black picture let us turn to a bright one. Letters of shining gold should be used to tell of the deeds of Akron's firemen who played so noble a part in that night's doings. From its very beginning, Akron's fire department has never been found wanting in any emergency, but on this occasion, it covered itself with everlasting glory, The prison-keeper and a few of the policemen proved also that night that they were brave men. These, with the county prosecutor, and the members of the Grand and Petit juries who dealt with the riot cases, are they who emerged with credit from the Riot of 1900. CHAPTER V TOWNSHIPS AND TOWNS Settlement and Organization of the Townships—Settlement and Founding of the Towns— Sketches of Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Tallmadge, Peninsula, Etc. Summit County possesses some of the most beautiful scenery in Ohio. There is not an uninteresting township in the whole county. Each has some special charm to prove that Nature has been most lavish of her gifts. The valley of the Cuyahoga divides the upper half of the county, while the southern half is diversified by a chain of beautiful lakes. Everywhere there is variety; monotonous expanses of level ground are nowhere to be seen. Near the head of the Cuyahoga Valley are the famed Northampton Hills which offer vistas of hill country that remind the beholder of New England. Here, on a smaller scale, are the qualities which have made the Berkshires famous for their beauty. The Lake Country has its eminences, also, rising two or three hundred feet almost from the water's edge. The lakes, nestling amid these green hills, make a picture which is worthy the long journey which many travelers make to see it. From these high points, the land stretches away to the east and west in long rolls and billows. It is not a matter of wonder that Medina and Portage and Stark counties objected so strenuously to being deprived of the townships which were taken from them to form the new county of Summit. By that process they lost the fairest portion of their domain. BATH TOWNSHIP. Of the early settlers of Bath Township, there are two families which stand out preeminent—the Hales and the Hammonds. The influence of the Hale family during the years subsequent has been stronger and wider felt than that of perhaps any other family in the county. It has been of incalculable benefit, exerted, as it always has been, in behalf of high thinking and clean living. The fact that for a long time this region was called "Hammondsburgh" shows the prominent part Jason Hammond played in the performance of its early affairs. The hamlet of Hammonds Corners still bears the name of this first settler. The first real settlement of the township was made in 1810. During the summer of that year, Jonathan Hale and Jason Hammond, both Connecticut men, came to Ohio to settle upon the land they had recently purchased. They were obliged to dispossess other white men whom they found living upon their land without color, of title. A survey of the township had been made in 1805, and the name "Wheatfield" given to it by Rial McArthur, the surveyor, probably because his eyes had been gladdened that day by a sight of a waving field of that grain. It is a pity the name did not survive. Fine fields of wheat may be seen on all hands, today, in season, and it is one of the success- 102 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY ful crops of the township, while the name of Bath is of no significance, locally, whatever. It is said the name was given to the township in joke. It is now firmly affixed and "Bath" this township will ever be. Bath was organized as a township in 1818, and Jonathan Hale was made the first trustee; Jason Hammond, supervisor; Henry Hutson, justice of the peace, and Eleazer Rice, constable. Bath sent nearly one hundred men into the Union Army during the Civil War and many of her citizens have occupied prominent places in the county and State. Among them may be mentioned Gen. A. C. Voris, Peter Voris, R. 0. Hammond, J. Park Alexander, Sumner Nash, C. 0. Hale, Jared Barker and 0. W. Hale. The principal places in the township are Botzum, a station on the Cleveland and Terminal Valley branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; Montrose (formerly called Latta's Corners and sometimes Ellis' Corners) ; Hammond's Corners and Ghent. At the picturesque village last mentioned there are extensive saw-mills, gristmills, a general store, etc. P. A. Ganyard is the township clerk in 1907, and William Davis and C. S. Parsons are justices of the peace. BOSTON TOWNSHIP. Boston Township contains three villages—Peninsula, Boston Mills and Everett. The earliest settlers were also from Connecticut. In 1805, the purchasers of the holdings of the Connecticut Land Company sent many surveying corps into Summit County for the purpose of alloting the lands. In this year Alfred Wolcott, James Stanford, John Teale and Samuel Ewart came into Boston Township for the purpose of making a survey. In 1806, Wolcott and Stanford both purchased land surveyed by them the summer previous and located upon it at once. They thus became the first settlers in the township. The Wolcott family afterward became very prominent and influential. The township was organized in 1811, as a part of Portage County. Its first officers were Timothy Bishop, Andre Johnson and Aaron Miller, trustees; William Beers, clerk; Launcelot May, treasurer; Alfred Wolcott and Moses Cunningham, justices of the peace, and James Jordan, constable. More than 140 men of Boston township fought for the Union in the war of 1861-65, the most distinguished of whom was Colonel Arthur L. Conger. On July 4, 1889, Colon and Mrs. Conger presented to Boston Township the fine soldiers' monument which stands in the village of Peninsula at its western border. Peninsula has an extensive flour-mill and, in the southern part of the village, a large stone-quarry of a fine-grained, white sand-stone, from which mill-stones are made. Boston has saw-mills and the great paper-mills of the Akron-Cleveland Paper Bag Company, the power for which is partly secured from a large dam thrown across the Cuyahoga, River. Colonel A. L. Conger and Hon. S. P. Wolcott are the Boston citizens who have earned for themselves the greatest fame. At the present time Charles Peterson is clerk and E. B. Conger. and N. B. Wise are justices of the peace. COPLEY TOWNSHIP. Copley Township came to us from Medina County when our county was created in 1840 It is well watered by Pigeon Creek, Wolf Creek and Chocolog Creek, besides having within its confines White Pond, Black Pond and Chocolog Pond. Formerly a great swamp called Copley Swamp occupied a large part of it, but by judicious draining it has been reduced to an insignificant area. It is no one vast garden—the old peat and muck beds furnishing the best kind of soil for raising celery, onions, etc. In early times it was the great game preserve of the whole region. Copley was first settled in 1814 by Jonah Turner, who came from Pennsylvania. Six additional families arrived during the next five years. It was set apart as a township of Medina County in 1819, and was named Greenfield at first by Garner Green, who origi. AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 103 nally owned a large part of its territory. He afterwards changed the name to Copley, the maiden name of his wife. When the Northern Ohio Railroad was built, in 1891, it gave Copley an outlet, and was the means of starting a new hamlet—Fairlawn, which now boasts a mill, general store, smithy, etc. Copley sent nearly 150 men into the Union Army. Homer G. Long is now township clerk and C. C. Frederick is justice of the peace. COVENTRY TOWNSHIP. Coventry Township lies to the north of Franklin and Green and just outside of the City of Akron. It is also the southern line of the Western Reserve. Its physical features are unusual in that it is dotted by numerous lakes and in early days was traversed by a considerable stream, the Tuscarawas. In addition to this, about 1840, the Reservoir was built, composed partly of natural and partly artificial bodies of water. Long Lake is the largest of these natural bodies of water. The Indian seem to have made this their headquarters and naturally so, for New Portage was at the head of the Indian Trail. These Indians were Delawares and the most important of their chiefs was Hopocan or Captain Pipe. He called himself, "Hopocan, King of New Portage." The first white settler of the township was Daniel Haines, who came from Pennsylvania about the year 1806. After him; in 1811, came the Aliens, from New York State, forebears of the Al lens, who live there today. The township grew at an amazing pace and a great future seemed before it. The Tuscarawas was then an immense stream capable of floating large boats, and many a boatload went from Coventry to New Orleans. A glass factory started and for some time many articles of value and profit were turned out. A distillery was started by Adam Falor. Saw-mills and grist-mills started up. A lawyer by the name of Van Humphreys settled there and the "State of Coventry" began to be. The now well known "State Mill" arose in this fashion: At the time of the construction of the Reservoir it was necessary to destroy the mill formerly there, and to replace it the State built a large mill at that point. For a long time it was the center of the mill business of that district, and of late years has become valuable, chiefly as a summer resort. With the advent of the canal the township continued to flourish and for a time seemed to rival Middlebury. However, its prospects died down and it settled down to the regular way of a township. Still it is to be remembered that with the last increase of territory to Akron, a large part of. Coventry was annexed to the city, and the old city spirit of Coventry survives possibly in another form. The township organization occurred in 1808, and at that time Coventry was a part of Springfield and they were a part of Portage County, till the organization of Summit in 1840. At the present time the taxable property in the township is :valued at about $1,300,000. With the rapid growth of the city south, and the addition of Barberton and Kenmore, it seems that it will be only a short time till the township will disappear within municipal lines. Among the prominent families in the township have been the Brewsters and the Falors. From Coventry township also came John R. Buchtel, the founder of Buchtel College, and William Buchtel, who represented Summit County in the State legislature from 1901-3. The present representative, Howard C. Spicer, is also from Coventry township. B. T. Davis and H. E. Shook are the present justices of the peace for the township. The village of Cuyahoga Falls was founded in 1825 by Elkanah Richardson. Among the earliest settlers were Joshua Stow and William Wetmore. In 1815 a saw-mill was in operation near Gaylord's Grove, operated by power derived from a dam across the river at that point. The name Cuyahoga Falls was adopted in accordance with a suggestion from the postoffice department. The 104 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY firm of Stow and Wetmore built several mills, dams and business buildings in the new village, and by 1830 the town took on an important aspect. In that year they built a large paper mill, an industry that is still carried on profitably. They were assisted in the paper business by John Rumrill, who had learned the art in the New England paper mills About 1825 Henry Newberry came from Connecticut and built more dams, a saw-mill, linseed oil-mill and a paper-mill. He was a graduate of Yale and was one of the most prominent of the early settlers. March 5, 1851, the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls organized a township of the same name and coextensive with the territory of the village. The government of the village was then given over to the township officers who were elected at that time as follows: Horace A. Miller, Henry Newberry, Jr., and Porter G. Somers, trustees; Lucious Bradley, treasurer; Grant P. Turner, clerk ; William H. Taylor, assessor, and W. J. Wilson and W. W. Lucas, constables. This arrangement failed to give satisfaction and on June 3, 1868, the village government was reorganized. On September 1, 1868, the first election was held and William A. Hanford was elected mayor; Henry C. Lockwood, treasurer; Porter G. Somers, recorder; T. F. Heath, Charles Hunt, W. M. Griswold, John Hinde and L. W. Loomis, trustees. In 1841 the Board of Commissioners, to locate the county seat decided upon Cuyahoga Falls, but the legislature interfered the year following, and, leaving the question to a popular vote, it was located at Akron. It cannot be said that Cuyahoga Falls was at any time the county seat, in spite of the acts of the commission. Cuyahoga. Falls' schools have always been among the best in the county. The village obtained its reputation as an educational center very early in its existence. In 1834 a private school was opened by J. H. Reynolds. In 1836 a school for girls was opened by Sarah Carpenter. Later schools were conducted by Frances C. Barron and Eliza Deaver. In 1837, the Cuyahoga Falls Institute was opened for pupils by Rev. Roswell Brooks and Charles Clark. The present brick High School building was built in 1871. The High School was organized in 1855, H. F. Taylor being the first principal. Among his successors have been such famous men as Edward R. Sill, Vergil P. Kline and William I. Chamberlain. In 1833, "The Ohio Review," Cuyahoga Falls' first newspaper, was started by Horace Canfield and Timothy Spencer. It ran about one year. It was followed in close succession by the "Renovator," "The Young Buzzard," "The Telescope," "The American Eagle," and, "The True American." The last mentioned stopped about 1843. In 1870 "The Cuyahoga Falls Reporter" was founded by E. 0. Knox and, by good business management, has succeeded in continuing publication until the present time. In 1881 "The Weekly Journal" was started, but did not last more than a year. The village sent nearly 200 men into the Union Army during the Civil War, In 1859 "The Union Fair Association" was formed and fitted up fair grounds at the north end of the village. Not being a success financially, the association was wound up in 1861. Cuyahoga Falls has had her share of prominent citizens, among whom can be named Edward Rowland Sill, one of America's very best poets, and whose fame has just begun to grow Elisha N. Sill, Samuel W. McClure, Hen McKinney, George Paul and Charles R. Grant. Cuyahoga. Falls now has the following churches: Church of Christ, Rev. W. k Denslow, pastor ; First Congregational, Rev: A. E. Woodruff, pastor; Methodist Episcopal, Rev. W. J. Wilson, pastor; St. John's Epis copal ; St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, Rev. S. A. Nolan, pastor, and the Welsh Congregational. The principal industries now The Walsh Paper Company, C. M. Walsh. president; T. A. Murphy, vice-president an general manager; E. A. Prior, secretary, an F. T. Moloney, treasurer. They have a very large factory on River Street. On Portage Street are the Pearl Flour Mills, operated by the Walsh Milling Company, of which Cornelius M. Walsh is president. The large fac- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 107 tory of the Falls Rivet and Machine Company is located on the railroad at Portage Street. Edwin Seedhouse is president and C. H. Wells, treasurer. They make rivets, bolts and power transmission machinery. The Acme Wire Company has officers as follows: W. C. Hall, president; S. H. Miller, vice-president; L. D. Brown, treasurer; E. A. Henry, general manager. Falls Hollow Staybolt Company, C. M. Walsh, president; The Falls Lumber Company, G. R. James, secretary and treasurer; The Keller Brick Company, Frederick W. Keller, president; W. F. Keller, secretary and president ; Tift and Vogan, consisting of Smith D. Tift and Fremont D. Vogan; Turner, Vaughn and Taylor, of which Calvin W. Vaughn is general manager; Isaac N. Reid, who makes carriages and does a general smithy business; the Fair Oaks Villa is a sanitarium for mental and nervous diseases, conducted successfully by Drs. W. A. Sean and H. I. Cozad. The Cuyahoga Falls Savings Bank was organized September 2, 1904, upon the failure of the Akron Savings Bank, which had conducted a Cuyahoga Fall's branch. It has a capital of $50,000 and is ably managed by following officers: President, C. M. Walsh ; vice-president, W. R. ,Lodge ; vice-president, Edwin Seedhouse; treasurer and cashier, F. T. Moloney; secretary, E. A. Prior. The Falls Savings and Loan Association is ably conducted by L. W. Loomis, president; E. A. Prior, secretary; Dr. W. A. Searl, treasurer, and C. T. Grant, attorney. Bauman and Orth (Edward H. Bauman and Frank W. Orth) are the present proprietors of the Cuyahoga Falls Reporter. The Central Union Telephone Company and the Akron Peoples' Telephone Company both have exchanges here. The population of Cuyahoga Falls is now about 4,000. In 1907 its officials are: Mayor, C. A. Davis; clerk, C. D. Crumb ; treasurer, Theodore Heath; marshal, I. Goldwood. The mayor and clerk are Democrats, the other two Republicans. TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP. Tallmadge was founded in 1806 by David Bacon, minister, missionary and colonizer. His experiences in the wilderness and the difficulties he had to contend with in establishing his little colony are typical, and for that reason are here set forth in full according to the excellent narrative of his son, Dr. Leonard Bacon, as published in Howe's Historical Collections (Ohio). It may readily be believed that the labors and dangers incident to the settlement of Tallmadge were no greater than those attending the settlement of the other townships of the county. Rev. David Bacon, the founder of Tallmadge, was born in Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1771, and died in Hartford in 1817 at the early age of forty-six years, worn out by excessive labors, privations and mental sufferings, largely consequent upon his financial failure with his colony. He was the first missionary sent to the Western Indians from Connecticut. His means were pitifully inadequate, but with a stout heart, reliant upon God, he started, August 8, 1800, from Hartford, afoot and alone through the wilderness, with no outfit but what he could carry on his back. At Buffalo Creek, now the site of the city of Buffalo, he took vessel for Detroit, which he reached September 11, thirty-four days after leaving Hartford, and was hospitably received by Major Hunt, commandant of the United States garrison there. After a preliminary survey he returned to Connecticut, and on the 25th of December was married at Lebanon to Alice Parks, then under eighteen years of age ; a week later, on the last day of the last year of the last century, December 31, 1800, he was ordained regularly to the specific work of a missionary to the heathen, the first ever sent out from Connecticut. On the 11th of February, 1801, with his young wife, he started for Detroit, going through the wilderness of New York and Canada by sleigh, and arrived there Saturday, May 9. The bride, before she got out of Connecticut, had a new and painful experience. They stopped at a noisy country tavern at Canaan. There was a large company altogether, some drinking, some talking and some 108 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY swearing, and this they found was common at all the public-houses. Detroit at this time was the great emporium of the fur trade. Some of the Indian traders were men of great wealth for those days and of highly cultivated minds. Many of them were educated in England and Scotland at the universities, a class today in Britian termed "university men." They generally spent the winter there, and in the spring returned with new goods brought by vessels through the lakes. The only Americans in the place were the officers and soldiers of the garrison, consisting of an infantry regiment and an artillery company, the officers of which treated Mr. Bacon and family with kindness and respect. The inhabitants were English, Scotch, Irish and French, all of whom hated the Yankees. The town was enclosed by cedar pickets about twelve feet high and six inches in diameter, and so close together one could not see through. At each side were strong gates which were closed together and guarded, and no Indians were allowed to come in after sundown or to remain over night. Upon his arrival in Detroit the missionary society paid him in all four hundred dollars ; then, until September, 1803, he did not get a cent He began his support by teaching school, at first with some success, but he was a Yankee, and the four Catholic priests used their influence in opposition. His young wife assisted him. They studied the Indian language, but made slow progress, and their prospect for usefulness in Detroit seemed waning. On the 19th of February, 1802, his first child was born at Detroit—the afterwards eminent Dr. Leonard Bacon. In the May following he went down into the Maumee country with a view to establishing a mission among the Indians. The Indians were mostly drunk, and he was an unwilling witness to their drunken orgies. Little Otter, their chief, received him courteously, called a council of the tribe, and then, to his talk through an interpreter, gave him their decision that they would not have him. It was to this effect: Your religion is very good, but only for white people; it will not do for Indians. When the Great Spirit made white people he put them on another island, gave them farms, tools to work with, horses, horned cattle and sheep and hogs for them, that they might get their living in that way and he taught them to read, and gave them their religion in a book. But when he made Indians he made them wild, and put them on this island in the woods, and gave them the wild game that they might live by hunting. We formerly had a religion very much like yours, but we found it would not do for us, and we have discovered a much better way. Seeing he could not succeed he returned Detroit. He had been with them several da and twice narrowly escaped assassination fro the intoxicated ones. His son, Leonard, his memoirs of his father, published in the Congregational Quarterly for 1876, and fro which this article is derived, wrote: "Something more than ordinary courage was necessary in the presence of so mar drunken and half-drunken Indians, any or of whom might suddenly shoot or tomahawk the missionary at the slightest provocation at none." The two instances mentioned I him in which he was enabled to baffle the malice of savages ready to murder him remind me of another instance. "It was while my parents were living Detroit, and when I was an infant of less tha four months, two Indians came as if for a friendly visit; one of them, a tall and stalwart, young man, the other shorter and older. As they entered my father met them, gave his hand to the old man, and was just extending it to the other, when my mother, quick to discern the danger, exclaimed, 'Seel He has a knife.' At the word my father saw that, while the Indian's right hand was ready to salute, a gleaming knife in his left hand was partly concealed under his blanket. "An Indian intending to assassinate waits until his intended victim is looking away from him and then strikes. My father's keen AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 109 eye was fixed upon the murderer, and watched him eye to eye. The Indian found himself strangely disconcerted. In vain did the old man talk to my father in angry and chiding tones—that keen, black eye was watching the would-be assassin. The time seemed long. My mother took the baby (himself) from the birch-bark cradle, and was going to call for help, but when she reached the door, she dared not leave her husband. At last the old man became weary of chiding; the young man had given up his purpose for a time and they retired." Failing on the Maumee, Mr. Bacon soon after sailed with his little family to Mackinaw. This was at the beginning of summer, 1802. Mackinaw was then one of the remotest outposts of the fur trade and garrisoned by a company of United States troops. His object was to establish a mission at Abrecroche, about twenty miles distant, a large settlement of Chippewa Indians, but they were no less determined than those on the Maumee that no missionary should live in their villages. Like those, also, they were a large part of the time drunk from whiskey, supplied in abundance by the fur traders in exchange for the 'proceeds of their hunting excursions. They had at one time no less than 900 gallon kegs on hand. His work was obstructed from the impossibility of finding an interpreter, so he took into his family an Indian lad, through whom to learn the language—his name was Singe-nog. He remained at Mackinaw about two years, but the Indians would never allow him to go among them. Like the Indians generally, they regarded ministers as another sort of conjurors, with power to bring sickness and disease upon them. At one time early in October the second year, 1803, Singenog, the young Indian, persuaded his uncle, Pondega Kawwan, a head chief, and two other Chippewa dignitaries, to visit the missionary, and presenting him a string of wampum, Pondega Kawwan made a very non-committal, dignified speech, to the effect that there was no use of his going among them, that the Great Spirit did not put them on the ground to learn such things as the white people taught. If it were not for rum they might listen, "but," concluded he, "Rum is our Master." And later he said to Singenog, "Our father is a great man and knows a great deal; and if we were to know so much, perhaps the Great Spirit would not let us live." After a residence at Mackinaw of about two years and all prospects of success hopeless, the missionary society ordered him to New Connecticut, there to itinerate as a missionary and to improve himself in the Indian language, etc. About the 1st of August, 1804, with wife and two children, the youngest an infant, he sailed for Detroit. From hence they proceeded in an open canoe, following the windings of the shore, rowing by day and sleeping on land by night, till having performed a journey of near 200 miles, they reached, about the middle of October, Cleveland, then a mere hamlet on the lake shore. Leaving his family at Hudson, he went on to Hartford to report to the society. He went almost entirely on foot a distance of about 600 miles, which he wearily trudged much of the way through the mud, slush and snow of winter. An arrangement was made by which he could act half the time as pastor at Hudson, and the other half as a missionary to the various settlements on the Reserve. On his return a little experience satisfied him that more could be done than in any other way for the establishment of Chriitian institutions on the Reserve, by the old Puritan mode of colonizing, by founding a religious colony strong enough and compact enough to maintain schools and public worship. An ordinary township, with its scattered settlements and roads at option, with no common central point, cannot well grow into a town. The unity of a town as a body politic depends very much on fixing a common center to which every homestead shall be obviously related.. In no other rural town, perhaps, is that so well provided for as in Tallmadge. "Public spirit, local pride," writes Dr. Bacon, "friendly intercourse, general culture and good taste, and a certain moral and re- 110 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY ligious steadfastness are among the characteristics by which Tallmadge is almost proverbially distinguished throughout the Reserve. No observing stranger can pass through the town without seeing that it was planned by a sagacious and far-seeing mind. "It was fit that he who had planned the settlement, and who had identified with it all his hopes for usefulness for the remainder of his life, and all his hopes of a competence for his family, should be the first settler in the township He did not wait for hardier adventurers to encounter the first hardships and to break the loneliness of the woods. Selecting a temporary location near an old Indian trail, a few rods from the southern boundary of the township, he built the first log cabin, and there placed his family. "I well remember the pleasant day in July, 1807, when that family made its removal from the center of Hudson to a new log-house in a township that had no name and no human habitation. The father and mother—poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith and in the treasure of God's promises; rich in their well-tried mutual affection ; rich in their expectation of usefulness and of the comfort and competence which they hoped to achieve by their enterprise: rich in the parental joy with which they looked upon the three little ones that were carried in their arms or nestled among their scanty household goods in the slow-moving wagon—were familiar with whatever there is in hardship and peril or disappointment, to try the courage of the noblest manhood or the immortal strength of a true woman's love. The little ones were the natives of the wilderness—the youngest a delicate nursling of six months, the others born in a remoter and more savage West.. These five, with a hired man, were the family. "I remember the setting out, the halt before the door of an aged friend to say farewell, the fording of the Cuyahoga, the day's journey of somewhat less than thirteen miles along a road that had been cut (not made) through the dense forest, the little cleared spot where the journey ended, the new log-house, with what seemed to me a stately behind it, and with a limpid rivulet wind' near the door. That night, when the family worship was offered in that cabin, prayer of the two worshipers, for themselves and their children, and for the work whi they had that day begun, was like the pray that went up of old from the deck of the May flower, or from beneath the wintry sky Plymouth. One month later a German fa ily came within the limits of the town; b it was not until the next February that a ond family came, a New England family whose mother tongue was English. Well I remember the solitude of that first winter, an how beautiful the change was when spin at last began to hang its garlands on trees. "The next thing in carrying out the plan to which Mr. Bacon had devoted himself to bring in, from whatever quarter, such families as would enter into his views and would co-operate with him for the early a permanent establishment of Christian order It was at the expense of many a slow an weary journey to older settlements that succeeded in bringing together the families who, in the spring and summer of 1808, began to call the new town their home. repeated absences from the home are fresh my memory, and so is the joy with which greeted the arrival of one family after other coming to relieve our loneliness; least among the memories of that time is remembrance of my mother's fear when left alone with her three little children. She had not ceased to fear the Indians, and sometime a straggling savage, or a little company of them, came by our door on the old portage path, calling, perhaps, to try our hospitality, and with signs or broken English phrases asking for whiskey. She could not feel that to `pull in the latch string' was a sufficient exclusion of such visitors, and in my mind's eye I seem now to see her frail form tugging at a heavy chest, with which to barricade the door before she dared to sleep. It was, indeed, a relief and joy to feel at last that we had neighbors, and that our town was begin- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 111 ning to be inhabited. At the end of the second year from the commencement of the survey, there were, perhaps, twelve families, and the town received its name, Tallmadge." Slowly the settlement of the town proceeded from 1807 to 1810. Emigration from' Connecticut had about ceased, owing to the stagnation of business from European wars, and the embargo and other non-intercourse acts of Jefferson's administration. Mr. Bacon could not pay for the land he had purchased. He went East to try to make new satisfactory arrangements with the proprietors, leaving behind his wife and five little children. The proprietors were immovable. Some of his parishioners felt hard towards him because, having made payments, he could not perfect their titles. With difficulty he obtained the means to return for his family. In May, 1812, he left Tallmadge, and all "that was realized after five years of arduous labor was poverty, the alienation of some old friends, the depression that follows a fatal defeat, and the dishonor that falls on one who cannot pay his debts." He lingered on a few yens, supporting his family by traveling and selling the "Scott's Family Bible" and other religious works, from house to house, and occasional preaching. He bore his misfortunes with Christian resignation, struggled on a few years with broken spirits and broken constitution, and died at Hartford. August 17, 1817. "My mother," said Dr. Bacon, "standing over him with her youngest, an infant in her arms, said to him : 'Look on your babe before you die.' He looked up and said, with distinct and audible utterance: 'The blessing of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, rest upon thee.' Just before dawn he breathed his last. Now he knows more than all of us, said the doctor; while my mother, bathing the dead face with her tears, and warming it with kisses, exclaimed: 'Let my last end be like his.'" There is little doubt that Rev. David Bacon was the first white person who made his home in this township. Other early settlers were George Boosinger, Justin E. Frink, Ephraim Clark, Jonathan Sprague, Titus Chapman, William Neal, Elizur Wright, Moses Bradford, Salmon Sackett, John Caruthers, Reuben Upson, John Wright and Luther Chamberlain. The township was named in honor of one of its early proprietors, Benjamin Tallmadge, of Litchfield, Connecticut. Nearly all the original settlers were from Connecticut. It was organized as a separate township in November, 1812. Elizur Wright was elected clerk and Nathaniel Chapman, justice of the peace. Tallmadge has from the very earliest days brought a very strong religious and educational influence to bear upon the surrounding communities. The average of culture is higher here than in any other community in this vicinity—perhaps in Ohio. The purpose of its founder was religious. The Congregational Church was organized here in 1809. In 1810, a school-house was opened and Lucy Foster, who married Alpha Wright the next year, was its first teacher. In 1816 "Tallmadge Academy" was incorporated and opened to students. Among its teachers, Simeon Woodruff and Elizur Wright were the earliest, while later came Sidney Edgerton. About 1835 Ephraim T. Sturtevant opened a private school and taught it• successfully for several years. Tallmadge established the first public library in Summit County, opening it in 1813, and continuing and increasing it until the present writing. The Congregational Church edifice -was built in 1822, and is a fine specimen of the New England church architecture of the period. With very few changes, it has continued to serve the society until now. In 1825 the Methodist established a church organization, and in 1832 erected a church building. In 1874 they built the present structure near the public square. Coal and potters' clay are extensively mined in the township. In the early '40's several veins of iron ore were discovered and a furnace erected to smelt them. The attempt was unsuccessful and the enterprise ultimately abandoned. Some manufacturing has been successfully conducted, notably, carriage manufacturing, begun in 1827 by Amos Avery and William C. Oviatt. In 1836 they took in Isaac Robinson. In 112 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 1841 Ira P. Sperry organized the firm of Oviatt & Sperry and later took in Samuel J. Ritchie. L. V. Bieree and J. E. Baldwin also manufactured carriages for many years. In 1868 Alfred Sperry, Charles Tryon and Benjamin D. Wright began the manufacture of sewer-pipe, Henry M. Camp later succeeding Mr. Tryon. In 1871 Samuel J. Ritchie and Ira P. and Willis Sperry bought them out and continued the business with success until the fire of 1878. In 1881 Ira P: and George P. Sperry rebuilt the works. The apple-butter factory of John A. Caruthers should also be noticed. Tallmadge gave her full quota of men to preserve the Union during the rebellion of 1861. Tallmadge claims two of the greatest names in Summit County history in Sidney Edgerton and William H. Upson. HUDSON TOWNSHIP. The original proprietors of Hudson township were Stephen Baldwin, David Hudson, Birdsey Norton, Nathaniel Norton, Benjamin Oviatt and Theodore Parmelee. It consisted of 16,000 acres, and, in the distribution of the lands of the Connecticut Land Company, it was sold to the above mentioned proprietors at 32 cents per acre. In 1799 David Hudson organized a party of eleven persons for the purpose of inspecting the new purchase. They started overland from Litchfield, Connecticut, and, with their wagons, oxen and cows, made a very respectable looking caravan. They were nearly two months in making the journey, reaching the present township about the latter part of June. The summer was spent in surveying; erecting a bark but and a more substantial log-house; clearing land of timber; planting and sowing crops, and platting the village, now called Hudson, after its founder. Early in October the survey of the township was completed and David Hudson, with his son Ira and the two surveyors, started back to Connecticut, leaving the remainder of the party as a nucleus of the future settlement. By offering bounties of land and other inducements, Mr. Hudson succeeded in getting together twenty-eight colonists who agreed to return with him into the wilderness and assist in the pioneer work of settling the new township. In this party were Heman Oviatt, Joel and Allen Gaylord, Joseph and George Darrow, Moses Thompson, Samuel Bishop and others. After enduring the usual perils and deprivations incident to pioneer journey-, they arrived safely in Hudson in May, 1800. Their first act was a public meeting to conduct services of thanksgiving for their safe journey and deliverance from the perils of the way in the wilderness. On October 28, 1800, there was born to David Hudson and his wife, Anna (Norton) Hudson, a daughter, whom they named Anner Mary Hudson. She was horn in Hudson and was the first white child born in what is now Summit County. Early in 1802 the county commissioners of Trumbull County, of which this locality was then a part, organized Hudson township and arranged for the first election in April, 1802. There were elected at that time, He-man Oviatt, Ebenezer Sheldon and Abraham Thompson, trustees; Thadeus Lacey, clerk; Rufus Edwards, Ebenezer Lester and Aaron Norton, constables, etc., etc. On September 4, 1802, the first church organization in what is now Summit County was made by David Hudson, with twelve of his fellow-colonists, who were members of Congregational Churches back in Connecticut. The first church thus established was a Congregational Church, and, from that day to this, not a single Sabbath has passed without public worship being held by the Congregational Church of Hudson. In 1820 the society completed a fine church edifice on the site of the present Town Hall, which was used continuously until the splendid brick church on Aurora Street, next to the "Pentagon," wee built in 1865. This has proved sufficient for the needs of the Congregational Society until the present day. In 1828 Moses Draper, Daniel Gaylord and Perley Mansur organized a Methodist Episcopal Church, the history of which is not a record of 'unvarying success. The Protestant Episcopal Church was organized in 1842 by Frederick Brown, Anson AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 113 Brewster, Henry O'Brien, Arthur Sadler and others. It is called the "Parish of Christ Church, of Hudson, Ohio." Its membership has never been large and, at times, the organization has been maintained with difficulty. St. Mary's Catholic Church was built in 1858 and has been maintained in connection with the church of that denomination in Cuyahoga Falls. In 1890 an organization of the Disciples of Christ was effected and Rev. F. H. Moore was installed as its pastor. From the very beginning Hudson led the intellectual life of the Western Reserve. What the influence of Western Reserve College has been has been told elsewhere in this work by Dr. Findley. The spirit of which that institution is a product manifested itself the year after the founding of the first. settlement.. George Pease, of Enfield, Connecticut, established the first school in a log-house, about where the present. Town Hall stands. The growth of the schools kept pace with that of the population. In 1868 the fine brick High School building was erected. In addition to the public schools many private schools have been conducted at various times. The first was the Nutting School for young ladies, established in 1827. Then followed the Hudson Academy for boys and girls in 1834; Hudson Female Seminary in 1845; the Grosvenor Seminary and the Phelps "Seminary for Ladies," established a Sew years later; the J. W. Smith school in 1853; the Emily Metcalf school in 1860, and the Hudson Academy, revived in 1874 by Rev. H. B. Hosford. In the decade of the '50's Hudson was badly smitten with the railroad fever. There was scarcely one of her citizens of means who did not invest every penny he could possibly raise in one or more of the railroad enterprises undertaken at that time. Professor Henry N. Day, of Western Reserve College, seems to have been the moving spirit in all these schemes. The investors lost every cent they put in and the depreciation in Hudson business has been constant since that time. The town never rallied from the great finan cial losses brought about by the failures of these railroad projects. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad was completed from Cleveland to Hudson in 1852. The "Akron Branch" was built soon after. These were successful and improved business conditions in Hudson so much that when subsequent projects were broached no difficulty was encountered in getting the support of every Hudson citizen. In 1852 Prof. Day and his associates "promoted" "the Clinton Line Railroad," which was to be part of a great transcontinental railroad. In 1853 the same parties organized a bankruptcy club, the members of which were allowed to contribute to "the Clinton Line Extension," to run from Hudson to Tiffin. In the same year Hudson citizens were asked to contribute toward defraying the expenses of another dream, iridescent and alluring, called the "Hudson and Painesville Railroad," designed as an extension of the "Akron Branch Railroad." The work on all these railroads was started and carried on to various extents. Much of the old grading, fills and culverts may yet be seen in the woods and pastures near Hudson. At least one of the roads was nearly half completed, when, in 1856, the bubble burst. The dream was over, but the lapse from consciousness had cost the village every available nickel in it. These roads remain today just as they were left when work stopped in 1856. As a promoter, Prof. Day was a very great failure. Besides his railroad enterprises, which ended in disaster, might be mentioned his "Pentagon" scheme and his book-publishing company, both of which were wound up by assignees. It is a pleasure to turn from these business failures to some other enterprises which were built upon a more substantial basis and thus became successes. The most conspicuous is the immense business built up by S. Straight & Co., established in 1867. Their business was the manufacture of butter and cheese and at one time they operated fourteen factories. In 1870 E. A. Osborne erected his butter-tub and cheese-box factory. Other mills were those of Erastus Croy. built in 114 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY 1878; E. B. Shields, 1890; E. J. Tobdell; the Oviatt Manufacturing Company, in 1878, and the G. H. Grimm Manufacturing Company. Hudson's mercantile status is better today, perhaps, than at any time in the past. The great fire of a few years ago, which wiped out the entire western portion of the business part of town, has been the means of bringing about a great change for the better. Fine brick blocks have taken the place of the antiquated frame buildings in which business was formerly done and merchants have filled these modern rooms with larger stocks of finer goods. The Cleveland Bank failure, which brought so much loss upon Hudson merchants, through its Hudson branch, has been largely forgotten. After the fire above mentioned, Hudson possessed but one hotel, "The Delta," located near the depot, the old "Mansion House," located on the west side of Main Street, having been destroyed in that conflagration. In 1907 a fine, new hotel was opened up in the old Beebe Mansion, on the north side of the square, and called the "Park Hotel." Among the prominent merchants of the past and present should be mentioned Charles H. Buss, Edwin S. Bentley, John Whedon, George V. Miller, Dennis J. Joyce, R. H. Grimm, Sebastian Miller, James A. Jacobs, Henry Wehner, John G. Mead, C. A. Campbell, C. H. Farwell, J. N. Farrar, P. N. Shively, J. L. Doncaster, W. M. Beebe, Charles Kilbourn and others. Hudson village was incorporated April 1, 1837. At the first election, held that year, Heman Oviatt was chosen mayor; Lyman W. Hall, recorder; Frederick Baldwin, Harvey Baldwin, John B. Clark, Jesse Dickinson and Daniel C. Gaylord, trustees. Hudson was one of the centers of anti-slavery sentiment in Ohio. Like Oberlin and Talimadge, her citizens took an open and active part in attacking the great evil and arousing public opinion against it. Many fugitive slaves found an asylum here. When the Civil War broke out Hudson did her full duty and furnished more than one hundred and fifty men for the Union Army. Today, nowhere in the county is Memorial Day more reverently celebrated. Hudson Township has given us Judge S. H. Pitkin, M. C. Read and W. I. Chamberlain. At the present time E. E. Rogers is township clerk and also justice of the peace. The census of 1890 gave Hudson a population of 1,143; the last census (1900) showed a decrease to 982. NORTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP. In the drawing of lands of the Connecticut Land Company the present township of Northampton fell to W. Billings, David King, Ebenezer King, Jr., F. King, John Leavitt, Jr., 0. P. Holden, Luther Loomis, Joseph Pratt, Timothy Phelps, Solomon Stoddard and Daniel Wright. It was first settled in 1802 when Simeon Prior, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, brought his wife and ten children overland from the beautiful village of Northampton, on the Connecticut River, in the green hills of Hampshire County, Massachusetts. Other early settlers were Justus Remington, David Parker and Samuel King. Later came Rial McArthur, David Norton, Nathaniel Hardy, Sr., Daniel Turner. Northampton Township was very slow in being settled. The Indians remained here longer than in any other part of the country. It was not until the American forces began to assemble here for the war of 1812 that the last of the red men departed. Many of their village sites, mounds, etc., may be seen at the present time. Here was a rendezvous for militia during the second war with England, and three vessels of Commodore Perry's fleet were built in Northampton and floated 'down the Cuyahoga to Lake Erie. In 1836 the village of Niles, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, was platted. It never grew to anything more substantial than a vision in the minds of its projectors, Peter Voris and his associates. The site is now called Botzum Other hamlets are Northampton Center, Steele's Corners, McArthur's Corners and French's Mill. Northampton did far more than her share in furnishing men for the AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 117 Union Army in 1861-65. More than one hundred and forty of her citizens responded to the call of the nation. In 1907 W. E. Voss is township clerk, and P. D. Hardy and L. A. Hart are justices of the peace. NORTHFIELD. Northfield was first settled in April, 1807, when Isaac Bason brought his family from Massachusetts and built a log-house for them about a mile and one-half from the present Town Hall. Other early settlers were Jeremiah Cranmer, George Wallace, Orrin Wilcox and William Cranny. The township was organized May 24, 1819, when an election was held, at which Jeremiah Cranmer, John Duncan and George Wallace were elected trustees; Henry Wood, clerk ; Watrous Mather, treasurer; and Abraham Cranmer and Edward Coyne, constables. In 1840 the township had a population of 1,041. It furnished more than one hundred and twenty-five men to the Federal Army in the Rebellion. In 1907 M. A. Van Horn is township clerk and 0. E. Griswold and H. A. McConnell, justices of the peace. Flourishing centers are Northfield, Little York, Macedonia and Brandywine. NORTON TOWNSHIP. Norton township was originally a part of Wolf Creek township, but was organized as a separate township in April, 1818. It was named for Birdsey Norton, one of its Connecticut proprietors. It was first settled in 1810 by James Robinson, who came from New York and built a cabin for himself on Wolf Creek. Other early settlers were John Cahow, Abraham Van Hyning, Henry Van Hyning, John D. Humphrey, Charles Lyon, P. Kirkum, Seth Lucas, Charles Miller and Nathan Bates. At the organization in April, 1818, the following officers were elected: Clerk, Joseph D. Humphrey ; justice of the peace, Henry Van Hyning, Sr.; trustees, Charles Lyon, Abraham Van Hyning and Ezra Way; supervisors, John Cahow, Elisha Hinsdale and Joseph Holmes. Norton possesses some of the richest land in the county and many of her citizens have amassed much wealth from agriculture and mining of coal. The township also possesses some of the most prosperous hamlets, like Norton Center, Western Star, Loyal Oak, Hometown, Johnson's Corners, Sherman and Dennison. It is also fortunate in having within its limits that marvel of the closing years of the nineteenth century, the "Magic City"—Barberton. It is a city that was almost literally built in a day. In 1890 its site was a typical Ohio farm, with its fertile fields, rich meadows, stretches of woodland, running brooks, comfortable farm-houses and huge bank-barns. In its center was a little pond of clear water, fed by springs in its bottom, and named "Davis Lake." Rolling farm lands surrounded it on all sides. A mile or two to the north was the village of New Portage, a station on the Erie and Cleveland, Akron and Columbus Railroads, a port on the Ohio Canal, and the southern terminus of the Portage Path, that aboriginal highway which connected the northern waters of the State of Ohio with the southern. Five miles further north was Akron, then a city of 27,000 people. In one short year all this was changed as though a magician's wand had swept over the scene. The old farms were platted into city lots, streets, parks and factory sites. An army of men set to work, leveling the land, removing fences and grading, and curbing the streets. Hundreds of workingmen's cottages were commenced; splendid residences along the shady boulevard around the lake gradually took form ; great factory buildings along the railroads arose day by day, and a belt line of railroad began to encircle the town. By the end of 1891 there was a population of nearly 2,000 people settled on the old Coventry farms of the year before. The reader should be cautioned that this was not a "boom" town ; that its growth was not like the mushroom towns of the western mining regions; that the buildings were not temporary structures to be replaced later by a more substantial construction. Here were no rough 118 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY pine store-buildings, no tents, no "slab" saloons or groceries. On the contrary, severe building restrictions were incorporated in each deed of land and were strictly enforced by the grantors. The residences around the lake would be a credit to any city. The store-buildings were mainly of brick and each factory building was of the most modern steel, brick and stone construction. Indeed, the thing which most impressed the visitor in those early days was the substantial, permanent character of all he saw about him. During that first year the construction of the magnificent Barberton Inn was commenced. No city in Ohio had a better hotel at that time. The fine railroad station and the Bank building were also started. In a few months more than a million dollars had been invested in permanent improvements. The old farms had disappeared forever; the walls of Barberton had arisen to endure so long as men shall buy and sell. The founder of Barberton was Ohio Columbus Barber, the president of the Diamond Match Company, the American Sewer-pipe Company and a hundred other companies, and the boy who, in the fifties, had peddled matches which his father had dipped by hand in the little frame building in Middlebury. Early in 1890 he associated with himself Charles Baird, John K. Robinson and Albert T. Paige, and together they purchased nearly 1,000 acres of land. Later in the year they sold an undivided one-half interest in their holdings to George W. Crouse, Sr., and a Pittsburg syndicate, the head of which was M. J. Alexander. In May, 1891, these men organized themselves as "the Barberton Land and Improvement Company," with Mr. Barber as its president. One-half of the stock was owned and held by the four men first above mentioned. Their first endeavor was to bring to Barberton as many manufacturing establishments as possible. They organized many themselves. By 1892 the following big concerns were doing business in the new city and employing many hundreds of workmen, namely: The National Sewer Pipe Company, with a capital invested of a quarter million of dollars and employing 200 men ; the American Strawboard Company, capital $6,000,- 000, and employing 200 men ; the Sterling Boiler Company, capital, half a million, workforce, 300; Kirkum Art Tile Company, $300,- 000, 500 employees; Creedmoor Cartridge Company, $500,000, men employed, 200; the American Alumina Company, $500,000, employees, fifty ; the United Salt Company, capital one million, men employed, 150. Mr. Barber was made president of all these companies, as well as of the Barberton Belt Line Railroad Co., and the Barberton Savings Bank Company, with a capital of $100,000. The other men interested with him were elected directors and officers in nearly all these companies. The next year the great corporation, known as the Diamond Match Company, and which had its principal factory in Akron, began the construction of its vast factory on the line of the Cleveland, Akron and Columbus Railroad just south of the station. When completed, the entire Akron plant was moved to Barberton and the working population of the town was thus increased by nearly a thousand persons. The Creedmoor Cartridge Company was soon absorbed by the Cartridge trust, to the great profit of the local promoters, and the plant dismantled. The buildings, however, did not long remain idle, for the Alden Rubber Company was later organized and its business grew so rapidly that large additions to the original buildings were soon necessary. Before the end of the decade had been reached the Columbia Chemical Company, with its millions of capital and its hundreds of employees; had come within the zone of Barber-ton's activities. Its plant covers many ac in the southern part of the town and it has been one of, the big industrial successes of the place. About the same time the Pittsburgh Valve and Fittings Company was added to the long list of industries successfully doing business in Barberton. So, we say, advisedly, that Barberton will endure so long as men engage in commerce. Its foundation is as substantial as any business community in the world. It has shown a remarkable power to rally from reverses. It has had several such, AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 119 The Kirkum Art Tile Company ceased to do business after its large plant had been entirely wiped out. by fire. The Barberton Pottery Company, after an unsuccessful career, was finally sold in bankruptcy proceedings. One of Barberton's two banks also found the stress of competition too severe and succumbed. There were other failures which also brought great losses upon Barberton people, but they are all infinitesimal in comparison with the colossal successes which have been won. Barberton today is a splendid monument to American energy and sagacity. The census of 1900 was the first in which the name of Barberton appeared. The total population then was 4,354. Today it is probably in the neighborhood of 7,000. The present officials are : Mayor, James McNamara; clerk, George Davis ; treasurer, E. A. Miller ; marshal, David Ferguson. FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP. Green and Franklin are the southern townships of the county, and originally were part of Stark County, being inhabited by the descendants of the Germans of Pennsylvania, or, as they are familiarly called, "Pennsylvania Dutch." Summit County is made up of fourteen townships from Portage, and Franklin and Green from Stark, the formation taking place in 1840. Vigorous opposition arose on the part of Stark to this separation, both because of natural affection for the parent Dutch stock and on account of the geographical location of the new county seat at Summit. At the time it was said that the Dutch and Yankees could not mix, but, like all idle assertions, time has shown the absurdity of that remark. Franklin is noted in natural features for the possession of numerous small lakes. The Tuscarawas, in early days a much larger stream than at present, offered a water supply apparently unfailing, and Turkeyfoot Lake seemed to hold out large promise. The coal deposits have always been large, and during the first settlements the cranberry crop was an unfailing source of revenue, great quantities of this berry being sent east. The peach crop was also large, and from this a compound known as peach brandy was made, and thoroughly tasted before shipment abroad. In 1833 distilleries were established, but flourished for a comparatively short time. The more stable product of lumber enriched the possessor, of forest, and great quantities of it were shipped up to Cleveland, and from thence to the more distant Lake ports. The early settlements of Franklin were Cartersville and Savannah. The first was named for a Wheeling quaker, who owned large tracts of land on which his town was located. Inability to withstand the encroachments of the rivers made this place speedily uninhabitable, and shortly after its founding, 1806, it was abandoned. In 1816 David Harvey planted and planned the town of Savannah, but after a struggle of ten years, this settlement yielded to the superior merits of Clinton. The latter had all the advantages resulting from proximity to the canal. Clinton was originally laid out in 1816, and from the first was a consistent business mart. It became the center of business for several adjoining counties. Large storehouses for grain were erected, doctors, lawyers and merchants settled there, and the increased shipment of coal made the town a veritable emporium. After flourishing till about 1850, Clinton declined in influence and; owing to the encroachment of Akron and several allied towns, decreased in power and influence. The passing of the railroad beyond its borders consigned it permanently to the role of the rural village. The town of Manchester was started in 1815, and, being inland in location, never rose to anything like the business gait of Clinton, but, nevertheless, has had a steady, substantial growth. The township organization took place in 1817. Previous to that, in 1811, it, with Green and Lake and Jackson, Townships of Stark, had had one set of officers. In matters of education and religion Franklin has been second to none. While it is somewhat uncertain as to the first teacher, yet it seems that a Mr. Mishler has that honor. Rev. J. W. Ham- 120 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY mond was the first preacher and varied the language of his sermons according, as the majority of his hearers were German or English speaking. The township has an honorable Civil War record, and was very active in the promotion of the celebrated "Underground Railroad." At the present time Franklin has a tax valuation on all its property of over a million dollars and from her people have gone forth men who have served with fidelity and intelligence in all the walks of life. The township has given to public life Hon. Hugh R. Caldwell, judge of common pleas; Hon. John Hoy, judge of common pleas; Hon. Jacob A. Kohler, representative, 1883- 85; attorney general of the State of Ohio, 1886-88, and judge of common pleas, 19001906. GREEN TOWNSHIP. Green, the sister township of Franklin, has had a varied experience. In the first place, her Indian history, like that of all early settlements, has been full of romance. Turn as we may from time to time to the old stories, as we read that of Green the thought of the sufferings and hardships of those pioneers in conflict with the red man must absorb our attention. What battles were fought there we may not know, but from time to time great masses of flint arrow-heads have been turned up, also an old mass of stones with its awful suggestion of an altar for human sacrifice—these are matters that divert our minds from the prosy life man has been condemned to live with only work as a mitigating circumstance. However numerous the Indians were, they were driven out shortly after the war of 1812, supposedly because the aborigines sided with the British. With them gone, the "Dutch" were allowed to turn their energies to the cultivation of their farms. At first there was some promise of coal, but this failed and at this time the township is experiencing a boom from clay found there, which is worked up in the village of Altman. As is often the case there is some question as to who was the first settler, but the consensus of opinion gives that honor to John Kepler, with others claiming that it was either William Triplett or John Curzen. A distinct township organization was effected in 1814, and in 1840 occurred the separation from Stark County with the promise that there should be no tax on public buildings in the township till 1890. Probably the nearest Green ever came to a boom was the event surrounding the organization and up-building of the Seminary. This was a Methodist school, started in 1854, with a capital of $2,000, divided into shares of $50 each. At one time some one hundred and thirty students attended the seminary and it passed through various stages till its final decline about 1875. The towns of Green are: Greensburg, founded in 1828 by David Baer; East Liberty, founded in 1839 (as might be expected these towns have been rivals in a quiet way, but this feeling has shown itself chiefly in political contests) ; Myersville, founded about 1876, has importance chiefly because it has railroad facilities and has shown some elements of steady and vigorous growth. George W. Crouse was reared in Green Township. He has served as county treasurer, State senator, 1885-87, and federal representative, 1887-90. RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP. Richfield, like the other townships of the Western Reserve, became the separate property of individuals upon the drawing of lands conducted by the Connecticut Land Company. It was settled soon after by families who came from Connecticut and Massachusetts. The first settler was Launcelot Mays, who came in 1809. The township was organized in April, 1816, and John Bigelow was elected clerk ; Isaac Welton, treasurer; William Jordan, Daniel Keys and Nathaniel Oviatt, trustees, and Isaac Hopkins, c stable. The population then was in excess o 150. In 1840, it had grown to 1,108. In 1818 a Union church organization was ef- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS - 121 ted, which, in a few years, became the rst Congregational Church. The Method, Baptists and United Brethren also orized societies very early in the history of township and have been uniformly prosous, thus indicating the sound basis upon ich society in Richfield is built. The inanduence of Richfield has always been exerted behalf of the personal and civic virtues. Her schools are among the best in the coun. In 1836 the Richfield Academy was ned and attracted many pupils from out-e the township. Some of its graduates afterwards acquired a national fame. It afterwards became the East High School, was burned in 1887 and replaced by a fine modern building. There is also a brick high school building at the West Center. Richfield Center is composed of two parts—the East Center and the West Center, situated about a mile apart. Both centers had a hotel and a post-office. The West Center has now a fine hotel which is the equal of any of the rural hotels in the county. Of late years Richfield has been gaining prestige as a summer resort, many wealthy Cleveland families coming here to spend the summer. Owing to the lack of transportation facilities, Richfield has never had any manufacturing industries. Mr. H. B. Camp, of Akron, is now (1907) promoting a railroad from Cleveland to Akron, which, if built, will pass through the centers. In mercantile life, however, many of her citizens have been successful. Among such may be mentioned William C. Weld, Everett Farnam, George B. Clarke, Frank R. Brower, Henry C. Searles, Baxter H. Wood. The hotels have been successful in the hands of Lewis P. Elias and Fayette Viall. Other village enterprises which have been successfully conducted, some of them for many years, owe their success to John Ault, Peter Allen, Seth Dustin, T. E. Ellsworth, Z. R. Townsend, C. P. Townsend, S. E. Phelps, Henry Killifer, Michael Heitz, C. F. Rathburn, Henry Greenlese, Percy Dustin, Samuel Fauble, George L. Dustin, Julius C. Chapman, Asa P. Carr and E. D. Carr. Mention should be made of the tile factory built by Ralph Farnam and Berkly S. Braddock. The former was an expert in ceramics, and a large factory and pottery was built upon the old Farnam farm about 1890. About the same time, these two gentlemen equipped the finest stock farm in Summit County for the raising of fine horses and cattle. One stallion alone cost them $5,000. The tile industry proved unremunerative, owing to the long distance from a railroad. Both men sunk their large private fortunes in these enterprises. Ralph Farnam afterwards went to New Jersey and was very successful in the tile business. The old farm finally passed into the possession of Charles F. Brush, of Cleveland. Richfield gave over 150 men to the cause of the Union in 1861-65. Two men of national fame have gone forth from Richfield in the persons of Russell A. Alger and Samuel B. Axtell. The present township clerk is R. H. Chapman and 0. B. Hinman is justice of the peace. SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP. Springfield township was first settled in 1806, when Ariel Bradley moved from Suffield to what is now the village of Mogadore. Other early settlers were Thomas Hale, Benjamin Baldwin, John Hall, James Hall, Nathan Moore, Reuben Tupper, Abraham De-Haven, the Ellet family, the Norton family, Patrick Christy, James McKnight, William Foster et alii. The township was organized in April, 1808. The manufacturing of the township is all in the pottery line, as great beds of potter's clay are found here. Coal is also mined. Mogadore is the principal village. North Springfield, Brittain, Thomas-town, Millheim and Krumroy are also flourishing hamlets. Springfield furnished nearly 150 men to the Federal armies in the Civil War. At the present time, J. Ira Emmet is township clerk, and R. C. Gates, Milo White and M. S. Mishler are justices of the peace. STOW TOWNSHIP. Stow Township is named after Joshua Stow, the original proprietor by grant from the Connecticut Land Company. The first 122 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY settler in this township was William Walker, who in 1802, came from Virginia. He was followed in 1804 by William Wetmore, who built a house at what is now called "Stow Corners." Other pioneers were Gregory Powers, John Campbell, John Gaylord, Adam Steele, George Darrow, Erastus Southmayd, James Daily, Isaac Wilcox and David Ruggles. The township was organized in 1808. It is now best known as the location of Silver Lake, a summer resort which is spreading its fame country-wide. Since the death of R. H. Lodge, his family have wisely continued his policies, under which great prosperity came upon Silver Lake. Near by are two other beautiful lakes—Wyoga and Crystal Lake. Stow township also contains Monroe Falls, a village on the Cuyahoga River a few miles above Cuyahoga Falls. This village was founded in 1836 by Edmond Monroe, a wealthy capitalist of Boston, Mass. A number of mills had been erected there to make use of the water power afforded by the falls in the river. Up to the advent of the Monroes it had been called Florence. Mr. Monroe organized the "Monroe Falls Manufacturing Company," and built a large store, many residences and the mill which is now used for the manufacture of paper. The township furnished 104 men to the country when our national life was threatened in 1861. W. Nickerson is now township clerk and Noel Beckley and W. R. Lodge are justices of the peace. TWINSBURG TOWNSHIP. The first settlement of Twinsburg Township was made in April, 1817, and the honor of being the first settler belongs to Ethan Alling, who was then a mere boy of 17 years. sent on by his father to prepare for the later coming of the Alling family. Moses Wilcox and Aaron Wilcox, twin brothers, were also among the very earliest settlers. They were also among the original proprietors, as was Isaac Mills, who gave the township its first name "Millsville." The Wilcox twins afterwards persuaded the settlers to let them name the township, which they did, calling it Twinsburg in honor of their relationship. The township was organized in April, 1819, The first officials were Frederick Stanley, Lewis Alling, Luman Lane, Samuel Vail, Elisha Loomis and Elijah Bronson. Ethan Alling died in 1867, and by his will left eight shares of the stock of the Big Four Railroad Company to the mayor of the city of Akron for the purpose of having the dividends, declared thereon, being used to buy clothing, so that destitute children might be enabled to attend Sunday-school. These dividends are being used for this purpose at the present day, being turned over to the city poor director by the mayor upon their receipt. As early as 1822 both the Methodists and Congregationalists organized churches in Twinsburg. The latter built a church in 1823 and the present one in 1848. The Methodists built churches in 1832 and 1848. The Baptists organized in 1832 and built a church in 1841. In 1843 "The Twinsburg Institute" was opened by Samuel Bissell, which was one of the most successful educational institutions in the county. The beautiful soldiers' monument on the Public Square was dedicated July 4, 1867. One hundred and twenty-eight men of Twinsburg went to the front during the Civil War. From 1856 to 1870 "The Twinsburg Fair" was one of the great features of agricultural life in this vicinity. At the present time, E. J. McCreery is township clerk, and A. J. Brown and Isaac Jayne are justices of the peace. CHAPTER VI PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AKRON CITY HOSPITAL. The City Hospital of Akron had its inception in the fund left by an early French resident of Akron, Boniface De Roo, many years ago. This fund, which represented the lifetime savings of a frugal hard-working man, amounted to $10,000. The first building used was the old frame house at the corner of Bowery and Center streets. Here a number of patients were cared for, but the place was palpably too old and behind the times, so it was given up and the city got along for a number of years longer without hospital facilities, the trustees holding the fund until such time as the sentiment in favor of establishing a permanent hospital should take form. In April, 1892, the City Hospital Association was formally organized, with T. W. Cornell, president; 0. C. Barber, vice president; Henry Perkins, secretary, and William McFarlin, treasurer. Twelve trustees were chosen from the Hospital Association. The De Roo fund, $10,000 contributed by T. W. Cornell, and a like sum by 0. C. Barber, were used to purchase the Bartges homestead on East Market for hospital purposes. After some improvements the building was opened as the City Hospital of Akron on October 18, 1892. Before many years this building became constantly overcrowded, and 0. C. Barber announced that he would see that a larger one was built. With the completion of this new building and its opening on June 5, 1904, Mr. Barber has invested nearly one quarter of a million of dollars, and the city of Akron has a hospital equipment second to none. Modern operating rooms and nursing facilities, with the best of everything in its line, have been secured. The training school for nurses was opened in 1897 with a class of two, and has been constantly increasing in number of students and efficiency since that time, graduating eight in May, 1907. June 27, 1906, the first resident physician or interne was engaged, and his presence proved so helpful that another was secured May 1, 1907. The internes serve for eighteen months without pay, their compensation coming from their experience gained during residence in the institution. The officers of the new institution are as follows: President, 0. C. Barber; vice president, George T. Perkins; treasurer, Harry J. Blackburn ; recording secretary, Alexander H. Commins; president of the Auxiliary Board, H. M. Houser; superintendent, Marie Anna Lawson. The Board of Trustees : 0. C. Barber, George T. Perkins, M. O'Neil, H. B. Camp, C. B. Raymond, J. A. Kohler, George W. Crouse, C. E. Sheldon, I. C. Alden, P. E. Werner, A. H. Marks, C. C. Goodrich, C. C. Benner, William A. Palmer. Junior Board of Trustees: George W. Crouse, jr., Tom A. Palmer, L. C. Miles, A. H. Commins, W. B. Baldwin, E. E. Andrews, H. M. Houser, E. S. Harter, H. H. Camp, C. H. Isbell, B. N. Robinson, George C. Koh- ler, Karl Kendig, Alvin V. Baird. Officers of Staff: President, Dr. H. H. Jacobs; vice president, Dr. William Murdoch; secretary, Dr. J. N. Weller. Hospital Staff : Consulting surgeons, Dr. C. W. Millikin, Dr. L. S. Ebright; consulting physicians, Dr. J. P. Boyd, Dr. William Murdoch, Dr. L. S. Sweitzer, Dr. O. S. Childs, Dr. F. C. Reed. 124 - HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY Visiting Surgeons, Dr. J. W. Rabe, Dr. F. C. Parks, Dr. A. F. Sippy, Dr. D. E. Cranz, Dr. G. F. Rankin, Dr. L. C. Eberhard. Visiting Physicians, Dr. E. S. Underwood, Dr. E. J. Canffield, Dr. H. D. Todd, Dr. J. H. Seiler, Dr. W. S. Chase, Dr. A. A. Kohler. Assistant Surgeons, Dr. G. W. Stauffer, Dr. J. H. Hulse, Dr. J. H. Weber, Dr. E. S. Underwood. Gynecologists and Obstetricians, Dr. I. C. Rankin, Dr. H. H. Jacobs. Assistant Obstetrician, Dr. A. W. Jones. Consulting Oculist, Dr. A. E. Foltz. Oculists, Dr. J. G. Grant, Dr. M. D. Stevenson. Ear, Nose and Throat, Dr. T. K. Moore, Dr. E. L. Mather. Anaesthetist, Dr. J. N. Weller. Neurologist, Dr. W. W. Leonard. Pathologist, Dr. L. C. Eberhard. Bacteriologist, Dr. C. E. Held. Ladies, Auxiliary Board: Mrs. W. C. Jacobs, president; Mrs. William Murdoch, first vice president; Mrs. Ira Miller, second vice president; Mrs. T. C. Raynolds, secretary ; Mrs. C. H. Palmer, treasurer. Members: Mrs. W. B. Raymond, Mrs. R. L. Ganter, Mrs. F. H. Mason, Mrs. G. W. Plumer, Mrs. H. J. Shuffier, Mrs. L. M. Wolf, Mrs. Ira Miller, Mrs. F. H. Adams, Mrs. John Greer, Mrs. M. O'Neil, Mrs. William Murdoch, Mrs. H. M. Smith, Mrs. G. G. Allen, Mrs. S. N. Watson, Mrs. J. M. Beck, Mrs. C. H. Palmer, Miss Dorothy Work, Mrs. R. P. Marvice, Mrs. C. I. Bruner, Mrs. E. S. Underwood, Mrs. Albert Roach, Mrs. I. C. Alden, Mrs. H. K. Raymond, Mrs. G. W. Crouse, jr., Mrs. C. L. Brown, Mrs. I. C. Rankin, Mrs. R. H. Kent, Mrs. T. C. Raynolds, Mrs. E. W. Barton, Mrs. W. C. Jacobs, Mrs. Louis Loeb, Mrs. J. H. Greenwood, Mrs. F. H. Smith, Miss Emma Whitmore. THE COUNTY INFIRMARY. In the early days of the county the poor and indigent were cared for by action of the trustees of the various townships. The meth ods varied much in different townships and the system was far from satisfactory. The usual way was to "let out" the keeping of the unfortunate citizens to the lowest bidder. This was a shiftless and lazy way of disposing of the burden, and remains a great reproach •to those unworthy trustees who were guilty of such a breach of trust. The contractor was bound to get as much out of his contract as possible, and the only way to accomplish this was to do as little for the pauper as possible. In the great majority of cases all that was done was just sufficient to keep the soul in its wretched body. The first poorhouse was built in the forties, and was a rough affair, situated in South Akron, between Main Street and the present Brewster switch. In 1849, the old regime, with its neglect and cruelty, came to an end. The county commissioners, acting under an Ohio statute, purchased 150 acres of land about two miles west of Howard Street, and lying between Market, Exchange and Maple Streets, extended. In the summer of that year $2,000 was expended in adding a two-story frame building to the other buildings upon the land. This was the beginning our fine County Infirmary of today. In 1856, and again in 1879, additional land was purchased, until today the county farm embraces a tract of nearly 225 acres. In 1864, legislature authorized the expenditure o $16,000 for the erection of the brick main building. By utilizing the labor of the inmates and burning the brick from clay found on the farm, and using strict economy, a much finer building was built than was originally contemplated. Large additions were made to this main building in 1875, 1880 and 1887, and many smaller additions since 1890. Today there is no better county farm or poorhouse in Ohio than the Summit County Infirmary. The infirmary directors are chosen by the people at the time of the State election. The present efficient officers are Z. F. Chamberlain, of Macedonia; J. M. Johnston, of Fairlawn, and W. E. Waters, of Akron. The present superintendent is S. B.