HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 575 the bell found that Smith's horse had gone far off ; and waked up Holmes and Smith ; and got his bridle, and followed by the sound of the bell; overtook the horse in Brookfield, and caught him. It was a dark night, but I managed to ride him back, keeping the course through the woods; and we then hobbled him, and so found him near by the next morning. The next day I went with General Smith to Sharon, the place afterwards named Sharon. There were then three families in that vicinity, Andrew Paterson, Henry, Budd, and Benjamin Budd. General Smith had some supplies to be taken from that place to his land, and we loaded them on the skiff, 3 barrels of flour, 1 of whiskey, some meat and cooking utensils, etc. A man by the name of Ely and I took the skiff. Smith rode his horses. We, Ely and I, rowed and shoved the skiff up the Shenango, the day after getting to Sharon, to the mouth of the Pymatuning ; and then up that creek to the southeast corner of Vernon township. We had a good deal of difficulty in getting up our skiff, had to cut out logs for the skiff to pass along the stream in several places. I had like to have drowned in one place, being no swimmer, and lost my only coat and stockings in the stream. We tied up the skiff at the corner of the township and camped there over night. The next day we went up the south line to the northwest corner of the township and with a pole, measured by my hands, nearly correct, measured the line, and found the middle or center of the south line ; and from that place, by Smith's pocket compass and my pole, we measured and set stakes, marking the line to the southeast corner of the old Wilcox farm about half a mile south of the center. In looking for water I followed that little run up to the large spring where David Sutliff now lives, then the Wilcox land. We agreed to make an encampment there by the spring, and I cut a little white oak there, the first tree ever cut by a white man in the township, in June, 1798. We set up posts cut from that tree and with poles laid across, and peeled bark, made us a very good cabin, which we occupied for some time. The next day we went down to Smith's skiff and brought it up to his farm, extending from near our cabin to the creek, and landed the skiff and cargo on his land. We then made a dray of two long poles and bark, and put the 576 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY barrel of whiskey on the dray near the horse. I took the further ends of the poles on my shoulders, and Smith, leading the horse, we carried it to the encampment we had prepared; and in the same way we brought up the flour, and the other things from the skiff. We hid the whiskey under a heap of brush. An Indian came for whiskey but we refused him the whiskey, but gave him a slice of bread and also a slice to another Indian, and two squaws and two papooses, to each a slice of bread. The Indian that wanted the whiskey would after that, for some time, call every noon for his dinner but refused to bring the squaws and children. After a while General Smith returned to Pittsburgh, and returned, bringing Aaron Brockway and his wife. The two Indians, Isaac and Billy Mohawk, then came each with his squaw and three papooses to our encampment. Aaron Brockway and wife were the first family that came into that township. They lived in the encampment until Smith, Ely, Brockway and myself early in July, 1798, put up a log house for them, the same house afterwards occupied by old Mr. Pelton. We all worked, making an improvement of some twelve or fourteen acres where Daniel Sutliff 's orchard now is. Our seed grain we packed on oxen, from Beaver, sixty miles. No roads were cut out, but the path was by blazed trees through the woods. In August, 1798, when Holmes was about to return, we all wrote letters to send back by him. I wrote to Ephraim Lilley with whom I had lived. It was asked by someone of our company, "What name of the place shall we date our letters ?" and I said Smithfield, to which they all agreed, and we so dated our letters. In my letter to Lilley I made a picture of a stake, after the name Smithfield, and wrote "the place where John Rogers was burned"; and the township continued to be called Smithfield until 1812 or 1815, when, without any good reason, the name was changed to Vernon. The next year, 1799, Martin Smith came back, bringing his family. Joseph DeWolf came with him and took up the farm on which he settled, the next farm south of mine, which was the farm on which Erastus Chapman now lives. Mr. Palmer and his son, Warren Palmer, also came. The old man took up the farm next south of the center, on which Asa Haynes afterwards lived, and Warren, his son, took up HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 577 the farm south of Joseph DeWolf. They each made improvements in the summer of 1799, put in crops and built cabins, or log houses. In the beginning of the next season, 1800, only Brockway and General Smith had their families. Old Mr. Palmer and his son Warren had returned for their families in the fall before. In June of 1800 Abner Moses came with his children, Abner and John and Polly, who afterwards married Hosia Merry. His. wife had died on the journey. About the same time old Mr. Palmer and his son Warren returned with their families, and Joseph DeWolf with his family, his son Tensard R. driving his team. I went back and married and returned with my wife in June. Abner Moses took up the farm afterwards occupied by Jones King, and Obed Crosby took up the farm next north, and boarded with me and made a clearing that summer. My place was the farm now owned by Erastus Chapman. In 1801 Obed Crosby brought his family. Perry Sheldon came with his wife and one child and took up the farm on which he lived and died; also Plumb Sutliff, who took up the farm south and adjoining his, and Samuel Sutliff, who took up the farm on which he lived, and died in 1840. Wright took up the farm south of Plumb Sutliff, now owned by Ralsa Clark, and Luther Thompson the same year took up the farm on which he lived, and died recently. Thomas Thompson, the same year, took up the farm east of the creek, afterwards owned by Gilbert & Miner. In 1802 Morgan Banning took up his farm south of Thomas Thompson. Andrew Burns took up the farm east of Joseph DeWolf, afterwards owned by Sterling G. Bushnell. Samuel Sutliff brought on his family. Doctor Wright married and brought his wife. In the winter of 1802-03 Perry Sheldon and Samuel Sutliff killed thirteen bears. In 1805 or 1806 I killed a young bear on a Sunday with a dub, and defended against the old one; drove three cubs up a tree and killed one of them, which provoked the old bear to attack and drive me off, but I returned with Aaron C. Sutliff and Abner Moses, who helped me to fell the tree, and we captured the two cubs, and I gave one of them to the boys for helping me and they kept it for a pet, chained in a hollow stump. Samuel Sutliff and Perry Sheldon had good dogs, Sutliff had a gun, and Sheldon a spear made by Vol. I-37 578 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY Thompson, who was a blacksmith, and attached it to the end of a stout pole. The dogs would drive the bear up a tree, Sutliff would shoot it, and often when wounded the bear would be too much for the dogs, and Sheldon would then use his bear-spear to save the dogs. Wolves, deer, turkey, and all game was very plenty. In 1804 I sold the farm I had taken up, to William Chapman, the grandfather of Erastus, who, with his wife and their son William and wife and their family, had come from Connecticut. I then took up the farm between Samuel Sutliff 's and Perry Sheldon's, owned now by Archibald Black. In April, 1805, I got a log house raised on that place, and the same day we raised Perry Sheldon's frame house, the first frame house in the township. In February, 1807, I sold to Stephen Linsley, and moved on the farm I then took up, on which I have since lived, a mile east of the center of the township. In the fall of 1803, while living on the farm sold to Chapman in 1805, I went to Washington county, Pennsylvania, to purchase sheep, and there found much excitement upon what they called "bodily-exercises." They were holding frequent and general meetings in that settlement, as there told, in which men as well as women and children would suddenly fall down, and when again on their feet frequently fall again and again, without any perceptible cause. There were three resolute young men there at that time who said they would go and see for themselves, whether a man could fall down without any cause, and they attended one of the meetings. And all of them, the same as many others at the meeting, suddenly fell one by one, and one or two of them and perhaps all three, fell again and again upon rising to their feet and without being able to give any reason for it, said they could not prevent it. The same thing, as I have heard, extended along the settlements north in Pennsylvania to the settlement a few miles east of Vernon, where Mrs. Brockway, my wife's sister, on a visit to Mr. Linche's family, found this "bodily" exercise had made its appearance, and was herself, while there, the subject of it. Upon her return to my house, my wife, and the family of General Smith, our nearest neighbor, became afflicted in the same way as they were in Washington county, as were others in our settlement. I. have seen General Smith's HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 579 daughters, then little girls five, six, and seven years old, in the winter of 1804-05, in coming across to my house, fall face down suddenly in the snow, and jump up and go along a few rods, and fall again, without any apparent cause. They complained of no pain, nor were they frightened; but those affected in this way would thus, in meetings and at other times, suddenly fall. Their health seemed good, and not affected. The thing continued for two or three years. Neither the preachers or doctors could explain it or prevent it. To hold or attempt to restrain when they were thus attacked only made the matter worse. Their health seemed good and their behavior neither better or worse by being so affected. When I first came in 1798 there was a small tribe of Indians that had an encampment in the southeast corner of Gustavus and southwest corner of Kinsman, from 75 to 100 in numbers. Ten or twelve of the tribe, in the spring of 1806, were near the spring on the farm of Samuel Sutliff, the next farm to the one I then lived upon. In the fall they would dig our potatoes nights to supply themselves. I tracked them with my dog to their encampment, and told them they should not steal, that Sutliff and I would each give them, if they would come and ask us when they were hungry, or wanted anything to eat. After that, while they stayed, they would come and ask for corn or potatoes, and we gave them, as we had promised, and they stole nothing afterwards.  Mathews, the preacher in Kinsman, about that time undertook to teach the tribe to work, how to plant and work, and to read. Some of them learned to read, and by the time the war occurred in 1812 Mathews had taught and improved them very much. On the commencement of the war, however, they all disappeared, or nearly all, and went, as supposed, to Canada, as we could never hear of the tribe afterwards. Myra K. Pelton prepared for the Woman's department of the Cleveland Centennial Commission an excellent article in regard to Vernon, from which we quote directly and indirectly as follows : The first woman who braved the hardships of a journey to the unbroken forests of this section and helped to raise 580 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY the first log cabin was Mary Willian Emmons, daughter of Dr. Jeremiah Emmons, the first practicing physician of Hartland, Connecticut. She was born March 11, 1776, and married Aaron Brockway, of Hartland, June 30, 1796, and with him came to New Connecticut, Gen. Martin Smith and Thomas Giddings being in the party. They arrived June 19, 1798. Her brother, Jeremiah Emmons, was drowned in the Pymatuning, and the night after in the midst of a terrific thunder storm a babe was born, which uttered no cry, for life had fled. Hers was the first child born in Vernon. In 1803 Mrs. Brockway died, leaving a son, Jeremiah, who was given to the care of Mrs. Ruhama Pelton, of Gustavus, with whom he remained until after the return of his father from Connecticut, where on February 1, 1804, he married Lucy Bushnell. One night Mrs. Pelton dreamed that Jeremiah was sick and died. She awoke, then slept and dreamed as before. Squire Hawley, of Austinburg, was at Mr. Pelton's that night, and getting up to see to his cattle, asked Mrs. Pelton what was the matter, as he saw she had left her bed. She told him her dream. The next day Squire Hawley went to Vernon, remained over night, and on his return told Mrs. Pelton that Jeremiah was dead. "Martin Smith converted his Revolutionary sword into an ax, and came to prepare a home for his wife (Sarah Kellogg) and their seven children." In the fall of 1798 he went back to Connecticut, Hartland, and the following spring brought his family, Mrs. Smith riding on horseback, carrying little one-year-old Charlotte. They arrived in April, and must have been most gladly welcomed by Mrs. Brockway, who had lived for months without seeing the face of a white woman. The Smith family was an influential one from the beginning. The daughter, Electa, taught the first school in 1802, near the southwest corner of Samuel DeWolf's farm. She also taught in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Charlotte and Henrietta lived together in the old house built by their father north of the homestead. "They kept their maiden names, but the novelist of today could take incidents which occurred in their lives and weave them into a romance." Mrs. Martin Smith, the mother of this family, was on very friendly terms with the Indians. "They would request HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 581 her to allow them to take her baby, Havilah, born in 1801, to their camp on the Pymatuning for the day, and they in return would loan a papoose. No harm befell him, and towards evening the little fellow would be returned." Rev. Alvin Coe came to Ohio in 1809 with Rev. Joseph Badger. He married Sarah Smith. Both were set apart as missionaries in 1822 by the Western Missionary Society of Pittsburg, and set out to labor amongst the Indians. They located in Huron, taught school at Fort Mackinaw; she taught at Sault St. Marie. A]1 the settlers who knew Mr. and Mrs. Coe speak of them with the greatest tenderness. They seemed to be welcome in families wherever they went. Governor and Mrs. Cass, of Detroit, often entertained them. "On one occasion a number of girls were gathered to hear Mrs. Coe tell about the squaws and the pappooses whom she had been teaching. One little instance she mentioned impressed her name indelibly on my memory. Upon being asked by one of the papooses what her name was she told her it was Sallie Coe, whereupon the child repeated Sally Coe, Sally Coe, that makes me think of calico.' " The author of this work is informed that Mrs. Coe died in the infirmary of Trumbull County. It hardly seems possible that she could have been so neglected and forgotten by the people of the county. Probably in those days there was no fund for the dependent members of ministers' families. In this history we have noted many sad things which happened to the early emigrants, and Miss Pelton writes of Abner Moses, his wife and four children, who accompanied General Smith and Joseph DeWolf when they came to the township in 1800. Mrs. Moses "had ridden as usual one day and was sleeping in the wagon with her children." In the morning she was dead. " For some reason, probably because they were only immigrants, the town authorities refused to bury her." The party started on with her remains, and when they reached the foot of the mountain they made a grave and laid her away. The father and children, dumb with sorrow, proceeded with the party. Two of the DeWolf children, Catherine and Ruhama, secured daffodils and "crown imperials" from the mountains on their journey and they are still blooming on the old homestead. 582 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY Vernon township furnished many men who have been known in county, and some in state history. Corydon Palmer, of Warren, one of the most skillful dentists of the state and known throughout the United States by the students who studied dentistry in Baltimore, was born in Vernon. In 1800 Ambrose Palmer and his son Warren came to Vernon from Litchfield, Connecticut. Warren had married Eunice Spencer, after much protest on the part of her people, first because she was so young, and second because he was coming into the wilderness to live. This objection was not heeded. They were married in 1797, and the following year had twins, who looked " so nearly alike that their mother put badges on them to distinguish them." Minerva Palmer, sister of Warren, accompanied the family, riding her horse. She was engaged to marry Titus Brockway, and he rode with her. They were married a year later and their wedding was the first in Vernon. Charlotte and Harriet Palmer, the twins above referred to, were fun-loving girls and used to exchange dresses in order to confuse their friends. One evening Elder Jonathan Sheldon visited, as lie supposed, Harriet, but it turned out. afterwards that it was Charlotte arrayed in Harriet's raiment. These young women married and removed to different parts of the country. One day Charlotte (Mrs. Perry) was at a hotel in Cleveland, and was delighted to see her sister Harriet (Mrs. DeWolf) approaching. Hurrying toward her, she reached out her hand, exclaiming, "Why, Harriet how did you get here?" Her hand touched a mirror and not Harriet. Another member of this gifted family was Sylvia, who was an artist of no mean reputation. The author has seen some of her work, wild flowers, which was exquisitely delicate. Dr. Corydon Palmer, above referred to, was a brother of Harriet, Charlotte and Sylvia. Dorothy Bates Holcomb married Ralsa Clark, Vernon's wealthiest resident. Mrs. Clark lived in Vernon about seventy years. Her daughter, Wealthy, married Dr. Robert Brackin, of Kinsman, and Julia, Dr. James Brackin, of Warren. Three daughters of the latter, Mrs. S. B. Palm, Miss Laura Brackin and Mrs. Mary Streator, now reside in Warren. The most remarkable woman who founded a home in Vernon in 1804 was Ruth Granger, wife of Deacon Samuel Sutliff, who came from Hartland, whence came so many of those hardy pioneer mothers. Deacon Sutliff assisted Rev. Badger to organize many of the early Congregational churches of the HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 583 Western Reserve, and held the office of deacon in the church until his death. Mrs. Sutliff was a relative of Gideon Granger, postmaster general during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, and was descended from a family distinguished for patriotism and intellect. With no means of obtaining an education, she did what but few of those busy women thought of doing—taught herself, and assisted her sons when they commenced their studies. Her six sons honored her and the place of their birth by their lives. From their mother these boys inherited strong intellectual qualities, and four of them became lawyers. Milton graduated at Western Reserve College; he was state senator and chief judge of the supreme court of Ohio. Levi was admitted to practice' in all the courts of this state. Calvin G. was a partner of Milton, and later of Hon. John Hutchins, now of Cleveland. These three located in Warren, Ohio. Flavel died young. Hon. A. G. Riddle made him one of the characters of his story of northern Ohio, but with a slightly altered name. Mrs. Sutliff's attainments were varied, and Judge King, who was acquainted with her, said she was the strongest-minded woman he ever knew. Her knowledge of history was extensive, and she was a woman of great piety, the Bible, Milton's poems and Pilgrim's Progress being among her ;favorite books. Owing to her strict observance of the Sabbath, a bear escaped being killed. Thomas Giddings saw one near the east of where Mr. and Mrs. Sutliff lived, and went to the house to get a gun. Mr. Sutliff was at church and his wife would not loan it because it was Sunday. She entered the higher life in 1844. Dr. John I. King, of Vernon, had a horrible and peculiar experience when a lad. He lived with his, father and mother in Plattsville, Wisconsin. When he was two years old his father died in California, and his mother, in due time, married Harvey H. Jones and had two children. In the spring of 1854 Mr. Jones, with his family, started from Wisconsin, across the plains, to Washington territory. They stopped near Seattle, and on the 28th of October Mr. Jones and his wife were murdered by the Indians. Mr. Jones was shot in the house and his body burned with it. Mrs. Jones was butchered outside. Young King was then about seven years old. He took his half-brother and his half-sister, one nearly four and the other about two years old, to the wigwam of some friendly Indians, two and a half miles away. These Indians took the children to Seattle 584 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY in a canoe that night, and in 1856 they were brought back east. The Jones children were left in Wisconsin, and although they lived three miles apart and had not seen each other for three weeks, they died within three days of each other, of diphtheria, in 1864. Dr. King's boyhood days were spent in Vernon township, and he is now a practicing physician there. To him the author is indebted for the following information: In 1800 Rev. Obid Crosby, from Hartland, Connecticut. located lands in township 6, range 1, first called Smithfield and later Vernon. He selected lot 6 in the Wilcox tract and remained during the summer. In the spring of 1801 lie returned with his family, moving into a cabin which he had assisted his brother Timothy to build the year before on lot 7. The location of this cabin is of much interest because in it was organized a Methodist class which was the first to exist, not only in Trumbull County, the Western Reserve, but in a goodly part of Ohio as well. This log house stood a little southeast of the present (1909) Hotel Dilley, in the village of Burghill. Mr. Crosby and his family, his daughter states, remained in that cabin six months. During that time Mr. Crosby was erecting a house of hewed logs upon the exact site of Mr. Robert Milliken's home. The persons composing this first class were Rev. Obid Crosby; Jerusha, his wife; Ewing Wright and wife ; Eunice Brockway, who afterwards married Daniel Bushnell—five in all. Ewing Wright and his wife may not have been members at the start, but it is supposed they were. This class met in Mr. Crosby's new house, and here, for a year or so, preaching was had. After that, class meetings with preaching were held in a log barn, in the northern part of Hartford township, opposite the present residence of Enoch James. This barn stood a mile and a half south of Mr. Crosby's hewed house ; it belonged to Co]. Richard Hayes. Services were held in this place until 1804, when a log schoolhouse was built in front of the house where James Jones now resides, that is, upon old Burghill. The class continued to meet in that log schoolhouse for five years, when the frame schoolhouse was built. The latter stood upon the east side of the road, southwest of where Enoch James resides. The site of this frame schoolhouse is still plainly seen. It was moved to the west side of the road and placed south of the spot where the Orangeville road begins. This frame schoolhouse was used for Methodist services until the two-story brick HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 585 schoolhouse was built in 1827-28. This brick schoolhouse stood a few rods north of the township line within the present limits of the cemetery and on the east side of the road. In 1849-1850 it was torn down and a frame schoolhouse erected on its site. In 1885 this frame schoolhouse was moved a mile and a quarter south and is now used as a barn on the old farm of Dr. Miner. In 1816 an offshoot of this first Methodist class was organized at number 4, now Deneen's Corners, on the Kinsman and Orangeville road. This class was divided, or abandoned, after twenty-five years' existence, part going to number 3, at Superior. on the Kinsman and Orangeville road, and part to Orangeville. Number 3 was gradually absorbed by. Vernon Center and by Kinsman. In 1835 the portion which was at Orangeville was organized into a church. In 1836 the Hartford class drew off and built a church. This growth of branch classes depleted the parent class at Burghill. In 1848 "the burg" was abandoned as a preaching place and a class was formed which met in the old brick church (Congregational, built in 1826) at the center of Vernon. In 1853 the Methodists fitted up a room in the warehouse which stood on the south side of the road leading east from the center of Vernon. This building stood across the street from the present residence of Edward Gilmore. After staying a year in that building the class went back to the brick church. Although the first class was formed in Vernon at such an early date, it was not until 1864 that a regular appointment by the Methodists was made at Burghill. Meetings were had in the frame schoolhouse, and Rev. Josiah Flower divided his time between Burghill and Vernon Center. The latter was abandoned as an appointment in 1867. At that time Rev. J. B. Shearer was the minister. In 1869 the class rented Bennett's Hall. This is now occupied by F. H. Pruden as a hardware and furniture store. September 24, 1871, is the date upon which the Methodists began using the Grove Holcomb house, which they moved from the center of Vernon. It stood between the places of Daniel Coe and Dr. King. In June, 1872, the first Methodist Episcopal church building was erected in Vernon upon the land bought by Rev. Obid Crosby in 1801. This building was used until 1897, when it was sold, and the money appropriated towards building the church at the center of Vernon, where 586 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY services have since been held. The church erected in 1872 and sold in 1907 is now known as "Citizen's Hall." Rev. Obid Crosby, the leader of the first class of Methodists on the Western Reserve, was probably born in Hartland, Connecticut; at least it was his early home. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, serving under Washington. He was small of stature, had blue eyes and sandy hair which he allowed to grow quite long. He was an eloquent speaker and a good singer. He was born in 1753, his wife, Jerusha, four years later. They both died in Vernon and are buried in the old cemetery near the center. Miss Pelton says : "The Hartford and Vernon Free Will Baptist Church of Christ" was organized March 9, 1840, by Elder Ransom Dunn, and in September of the same year Elder Dunn accepted the pastorate of the church. Services were held 4 in a brick building erected in 1827-28, with a school room on the first floor and a room for church purposes above, south of the Hayes cemetery, Burghill. This gave place to a frame schoolhouse on the same site, which was used by the society until a church was erected near the north line of Samuel Merry's farm during the pastorate of Elder E. H. Higbee. Elder A. K. Moulton delivered the dedicatory address May 28, 1871, and was assisted by Elder Higbee, who was pastor of the church for sixteen years. In 1897, when the society was in charge of Rev. F. E. Mantle, himself a member of the Disciple church, the church building was removed nearer to Burghill station and remodeled. At the rededicatory services, which were held February 13, 1898, Elder Ransom Dunn, who had organized the society fifty-eight years before, officiated. The charter members numbered thirty-seven, and there were fifteen additions the following year. The membership is thirty-three at the present time, and includes one charter member, Wales Henry, who is over eighty-seven years old. The Vernon Presbyterian church, like many of the early Congregational and Presbyterian churches, was called "The Church of Christ." The first effort at organization was made in 1802. In September, of 1803, Edward Brockway and Sarah, HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 587 his wife, Timothy Crosby, Sarah Bates, Titus Brockway, Plumb Sutliff, Susannah Palmer, and Sarah Smith gathered at Martin Smith's house, Rev. Badger being present, and the church was organized. On the following Sunday the first communion was held in a grove. Rev. Tait, of Mercer, who so often associated with the Rev. Mr. Badger, preached the sermon. This society, like many of the societies of the time, adopted "the plan of union," which later proved distasteful to both Presbyterian and Congregational. Rev. Harvey was installed pastor of this church in 1814, and continued in that capacity for sixteen years. Part of the time he preached in Hartford, Vernon and Kinsman. In one year he added one hundred and eleven people to his congregation. We are told that more people were expelled from the church for using intoxicants than for any other one thing. A brick church was built in the center of Vernon in 1825 and eventually the church disbanded. Again we quote from Miss Pelton : Electa Smith, daughter of Gen. Martin Smith, one of the first settlers of the township, taught the first school in the summer of 1802, the schoolhouse having been built on the Joseph DeWolf farm on the site where now stands the Samuel DeWolf house. Dr. Amos C. Wright taught the following winter and some of the DeWolf children studied Latin under him. Sally Wright, sister of Dr. Wright, taught in the summer of 1803. Then a Mr. Gilpin, followed by Ebenezer Chapman. Other early teachers were Harriet Hull, Anna Babcock. Anna Lindsley, Asahel Jones (father of Dr. Allen Jones), Charles Pickett, Milton Morse, (Hon.) T. A. Thompson, Mary Ann Reed, (Hon.) Edmund A. Reed, Samuel Galpin, Elizabeth E. King, Mary E. Crocker, Ephraim Kee, John D. King, Theodore Ward (father of Mrs. Schuyler Colfax) two winters at Vernon Center, Edward Waid (afterwards member of Congress) one winter at the Center, Sarah A. Beach, Annette Clark, Harriet Reed, Caroline Russell, Edmund Borden, Frederick Partridge, Moses Beach, Taylor, -- Bartlette, C. P. Barnes. In 1901 the district schools were abandoned and the centralized system inaugurated. It has proved a success. Mrs. Lilian A. Davis, Mrs. Elizabeth Beach, and Mrs. 588 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY Ellen Rutledge have served on the board of education. The members of the present board are John S. Pelton, president; Wm. J. Martin, clerk ; David Lees, Mungo Brownlee and Mark Rudkin. The teachers are Superintendent J. E. Boetticher ; assistant high school teacher, Mrs. Lena Noxoa Boetticher grammar, Miss Edna E. Lowrie; intermediate, Miss Elsie Neikle; primary, Miss Zulu Davis; assistant grade teacher, Miss Mary Hobart. Caroline Gray, afterwards Mrs. Daniel Miller, taught school here when the schoolhouse stood south of where the road diverges to Orangeville at the late Alvan Hayes farm. She cut notches in the benches, and the girls' dresses were not allowed to lie over them. She had a whip with a pin in the end which she used on the pupils who did not sit up straight. When the girls swept, she would complain of the floor not being clean. If they excused it by saying dirt had been tracked in since the sweeping was done, she would reply, "I can see old dirt." George Hallock, who came from Rhode Island and settled in Fowler, also taught in this schoolhouse. Sylvia Haines, the daughter of Asa Haines, was also one of the early school teachers. She taught in Vernon in 1830, just north of the Sutliff grove. Her sister Harriet taught in the brick schoolhouse in Burghill. Sylvia Haines was the mother of Judge D. R. Gilbert, and spent her last days in Warren. Mary Anne Smith, who married Nathan Morton, was a school teacher in the early '40s. She had five daughters who also taught school. Asa Haines Sr. moved to Vernon from Connecticut in 1818. He died there in 1849. Asa Haines Jr., who always spelled his name "Haynes," was born in Connecticut. He was one of the last of the associate justices of this district. He was a saddler by trade. He was the father of Sylvia Haines above mentioned. Two men who achieved national reputation resided in Vernon. One was P. P. Bliss, who moved there with his parents in 1844 and lived there some little time. His mother possessed a beautiful voice, and was one of the early singers who could "read notes." Calvin Kingsley, who attended Allegheny College, taught school in Vernon, and resided there for some little time. He afterwards became the well known Bishop Kingsley. CHAPTER LI.--VIENNA. FIRST EVENTS.-BETHSHEBA BURR.—HUTCHINS.—WOODFORD.— WHEELER.-BARTHOLOMEW.-BETTS.-HUMISON.- BALDWIN.—MACKEY.—THE SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. The group of townships in the eastern part of the county were separated in 1806, number 4, running through the first and second range. In 1810 the ranges were separated, and number 4, range 2, was created, and later known as Vienna. When or why this name was given is not known. The first marriage was that of Samuel Hutchins and Freelove Flower, and the second, of Levi Foote (Bethsheba Burr Foote's son) and Millie Allen. Lavinia Flower, born in 1801, living eighty years, was the first child born in Vienna township. The first death was that of Abiel Bartholomew; He was killed by the falling of a tree in 1805. The first frame barn was built by Joel Humison, and the second by Simeon Wheeler. Both were still standing a few years since. The first sawmill was built by Samuel Lowrey and was on Squaw creek. The first frame house was Isaac Humison's, and Isaac Powers was the first merchant. The first orchard was planted by Simeon Wheeler on the I. B. Paine farm. Some of these trees were seen by the author a few years since. Squire Clinton was the first justice of the peace, and the first lawsuit in the township was tried before him. A man who drank too much and abused his wife was complained of, by her, and a hearing on the matter was held. Among the names of the early families we find Flower, Foote, Palmer, Paine, Woodford, Humison, Wheeler, Bartholomew, Lowrey, Truesdell, Stewart, Andrews, and Hutchins. - 589 - 590 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY The original owners of Vienna were Uriel Holmes, Ephraim Root, and Timothy Burr. Mr. Holmes, it is said, came out with a surveying party in 1798. As was the usual way, they went east in the fall, and returned the following spring. The dates of these first comers are confused, and no written documents could be obtained.. So whether Mr. Flower and Palmer came in 1799 or 1800 is not positive, but that they were the first settlers, is sure. Very little is known of Mr. Palmer. He was one of the surveyors employed by Holmes. That his cabin was burned in 1800, is recorded. Possibly this is the place to speak at length of one of the most remarkable women Trumbull County has ever had. She was Bethsheba Burr, a relative of Aaron, and apparently she had some of his initiative and energetic spirit. She was born in 1755, in Granby, Connecticut, and married a Mr. Foote. Some records say his name was Joseph, others Asa. Undoubtedly it was her energetic spirit which brought the family to New York. While living here, her husband, like most of the men of that time took up arms in the Revolutionary war. He was killed, and she was left in her western home so desperately poor that it is a wonder some of her children did not die of starvation. Once she carried a sack of corn twenty miles to get it ground into meal, leaving her children alone during her absence. It was that or starve. The nearby neighbors looked after her somewhat, one of them giving her a piece of meat and some meal, upon which she subsisted for a little time. Finally, binding out her oldest son, she started for Connecticut on foot, and begged her food as she went. She carried her baby in her arms, led one little child, while the other walked by her side. Could there be a more desolate, desperate picture than this t Two things brightened her way, one, the kindness of the people to whom she applied, and the other, that she was going home: After such an experience, one would expect to find her a broken-down, pessimistic person. However, she was not. What she did for a little time, we do not know, but when Isaac Flower and his party started for the Western Reserve, she, as his wife, accompanied them. When they arrived at Youngstown, the wagons were more or less dilapidated, and the roads impassable, and her daughter Bethsheba with Freelove Flower (undoubtedly her step-daughter) walked the eighteen miles to Vienna, and were therefore the pioneer women in that town. With her energetic HISTORY OF TRUMBULL .COUNTY - 591 spirit she entered into her new duties, and died in that township, the oldest woman to have ever lived there. However there were eventful years between the time she first set her foot on Vienna soil to the time she was laid away, peacefully to sleep in the cemetery. Her daughter, Lavinia Flower, was the first white child born in the township. She married a Mr. Steele, and died in 1881. During Mrs. Flower's early life in Vienna, she and her daughters, possibly the girls who had walked to Connecticut with her, were. in their cabin, when an Indian was seen to come out of the thicket, followed by five or six others, two or three squaws, carrying papooses. They came directly to her door. Laying their bundles on the grass, they had a consultation in which there was a good deal of merriment. Of course Mrs. Flower was alarmed. But her natural courage served her well, for she walked out, greeted them cheerfully, shook hands with them, invited them in, and gave them food. Presently they asked for "fire-water." She explained to them that there was none in the house. This they did not believe since they saw the whiskey barrel in the corner. She explained to them that the contents that morning had been taken to a raising, and there was nothing in the barrel but the odor. At length they were convinced, and withdrew. In 1813 Isaac Flower died. Levi Foote, Mrs. Flower's son, had moved to Fowler, and his child was the first white child born in that township (Fowler). One of the foremost citizens of Hartford was Captain Thomas Thompson. The woman he brought with him was his second wife, and she died about the time that Isaac Flower passed away. Captain Thompson was a strong char. acter and certainly Bethsheba Burr Foote Flower was also. It was natural therefore that these people, of this character, both "twice bereft," should marry. The new Mrs. Thompson displayed the same courage during her third venture in her new home as she had in early life. She killed at least one wolf, probably two. A recorder of the history of one township says she shot a wolf, and another that she caught one with a trap, and received the ten dollar bounty offered for it. We are sorry to record that the man who loaned her the trap claimed half the money, and as far as we know this was the only time Bethsheba got the worst of the bargain. She spent her last days in Vienna as recorded above. Samuel Hutchins, a lad brought up by Holmes, had helped Palmer survey the township, and for his services, was given 592 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY one hundred acres of land. He chose what is now known as "Payne's Corners," and this farm was probably the first to which any man had a deed, in Vienna. His marriage to Free. love Flower was in January, 1803. Their children were: Hiram, who married Eliza Lane ; Amoretta (Mrs. Richard Treat) ; Mary (Mrs. Augustus Fuller) ; John married Rhoda Andrews; Serena (Mrs. Augustus Reid) ; Lucia, who was first Mrs. Cotton and then Mrs. Andrews; and Betsey, Mrs. L. B. Lane. The latter was a missionary to Siam. These children, most of them, were identified with the early history of Trumbull County. Hiram's daughter, Lovisa, married S. W. Strain, and he has been a route agent for fifty years. He is greatly respected. His youngest son, Charles, is the leading dressmaker of Trumbull County. Urial, undoubtedly named for Urial Holmes, who had been a father to Samuel Hutchins, married Emily Bennett, of the Bennett family of Hartford. One of her sisters was the second wife to Samuel Quinby, the other was Mrs. Calvin Sutliff. John early moved to Warren, was a lawyer, became interested in politics, local and state, and was a member of the national house of representatives from 1859-63. He had a number of children, Mary, the oldest being a leader, socially, in her girlhood days; Horace, who became associated with Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company when a young man, and is now exceedingly wealthy ; John C., who was first a lawyer in Warren, then moved to Cleveland, where he practiced law, became judge of the court, postmaster of the city, and now is an attorney in good practice. The third family to settle in Vienna was Isaac Woodford's. He came in the usual way, by ox-cart, and suffered the usual privation, cutting a roadway, and all that. The Woodford family dates back to the Puritan stock more directly than many of the early settlers of Vienna. He was ordinarily called "Deacon," and haying joined the church at twenty-four, it is recorded that he adhered to the motto. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." This puts the author in the right frame of mind to preach a sermon. Was it not strange that custom interpreted religion and men themselves believed that a man was absolutely religious, that he was saved from hell fires, when he said that "He and his house would serve the Lord." It has only just begun to dawn upon people that a man can speak for himself ; that the wife may have her own religion, that the children under guidance may HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 593 develop themselves. No man has a right to say what others shall do, but he has not only a right, but a bounden duty to say what he himself shall do. Well, Deacon Isaac was a pretty good man. He led prayer meetings,. taught Sabbath school, did his share of civic work, and his wife, Statira, literally, "kept to her knitting." She not only knit, but she spun and wove, made cheese which she sold at five cents a pound. She not only sold her products, but she packed the same on her horse, and trotted off to Warren, ten miles away, when she exchanged them for necessaries and luxuries, which her family ate or used. It is said she had an indomitable will, was exceedingly robust and healthy; at any rate, the deacon died before she did. She then married Henry Lane, and was the second time a widow. She had six daughters. The year that Isaac Woodford came to the township, Joel and Isaac Humison, Simeon Wheeler, Seth Bartholomew, and Sylvester Woodford came also, and their descendants have always been among the prominent citizens of the township. Darius Woodford, who came in 1804, possibly 1803, married Bertha Bass, and together they made the trip from their Connecticut home. They stayed in the log cabin of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Woodford until their own house was erected. Their frame house, which replaced the log one, was built in 1812. One night during the early years of their marriage, when Mr. Woodford had gone to Warren for salt and other provisions, and was overtaken by a panther, lie stopped at Mr. Lewis' for the night. His wife, standing outside of her cabin waiting for him to come, saw that the roof was afire. She got a ladder, began carrying water, doing all she possible could to quench the flames, which were getting sadly ahead of her. Then happened the thing which usually happens only in books. In that wild country where houses were far apart, where people seldom went out at night, some men who happened to have business in that direction, appeared upon the scene at the right moment, and helped her to save her home. Her oldest daughter was one of the early school teachers of Hartford. She was a splendid student. She attended school in Warren, and afterwards the school at Hartford, Connecticut, which Catherine Beecher and her famous sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, taught. This daughter, Eliza, married J. J. Humison, and thus were united two of the early families. Eliza lived to be eighty years old, dying in 1890. The second daughter married Nathaniel Vol. I-38 594 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY. Hayes, the first practicing physician in Vienna. Sophrona married Adam McClurg. The youngest married Mr. Strain, and lived upon the old homestead. Isaac Woodford Jr. married Phoebe Merritt. She had a rather unusual education for the girls of her time and was the first person to sign a temperance pledge in the township. Her husband's uncle, Darius, was one of the earliest temperance advocates among men. Simeon Wheeler was the father of Albert Wheeler. who began life in Warren as a tinner, and through good business methods and integrity acquired a handsome property. For a number of years he was cashier, and then president, of the Western Reserve Bank. He died a few years since at his home on Park 'avenue, leaving a widow, Sarah, who was a daughter of the Mr. Gaskill who built the Gaskill House, and who is referred to in the early part of this history. From this union there were three daughters, Lillian, Anna and Marion. The oldest and youngest now reside in Trumbull County, Mrs. Late Abel and Mrs. Howard Ingersol. Simeon Wheeler's old farm, after a time, passed by sale into the hands of Ichabod Payne, and the portion of Vienna in which it stood was named Payne's Corners. The Bartholomew family were long identified with Vienna. R. Bartholomew, of the second generation, a carpenter and contractor by trade, early moved to Cuyahoga county. and when he was twenty-two returned to Warren, where he lived a great many years. He then went back to Vienna and died recently. Two of his daughters, Ida and Mary, married and resided in Chicago. Another member of this family, William Bartholomew, for many years lived in Warren, and died in 1908. His oldest daughter married J. M. Gledhill, so long connected with the 'Warren Chronicle. One of the older members of this family, Abial, died' after he had been in the new settlement but a year. He was killed by a falling tree. Miss Lulie Mackey says "The kind neighbors cleared away a little space of the forest, and in a rough coffin, on a bleak winter day, laid him away,—the first in that silent city, which has grown until today its inhabitants are even more numerous than the living around them." Xenaphon Betts and his wife Jane were among the later settlers of Vienna. Betts was a minister and served the Presbyterian church twenty-eight years. He • was 'not only inter- HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 395 ested in his own township, but in the county's educational and religious affairs. He had five children, the best known being Dr. Helen Betts, now a successful practicing physician in Boston. She was the first woman physician in Trumbull County. being a student of 0. B. Woods. After she had taken her medical course and graduated, practiced for a little time in Warren, she went to Youngstown, and then to Boston. She made a place for herself in the profession, when that profession hardly tolerated women. James J. Truesdell reached Vienna in 1805 and lived the remainder of his life there, dying in 1852. He was justice of the peace for eighteen years. His son Harry was also a resident of Vienna, having been born just previous to the coming of the family. In 1834 lie married Emmaline, daughter of Deacon Wolcott. Mr. Truesdell was justice of the peace for twenty-one years. One of the most important families in Vienna is the Humisons, and we are able to get little or no data in regard to them. From the beginning they were good citizens, and Joel Humison, who was born in 1839 and married Juliette A. Betts, was in the vigor of his manhood one of the best business men of the town. He was at the head of the rake factory and engaged in other enterprises. The mother of C. H. Andrews of Youngstown was Julia Humison. His middle name was given for her family and he was born in Vienna. Jesse Baldwin, with his wife, Phebe Pardee, and ten children, came to Vernon in 1815 from their home in West Avon, Connecticut. Their journey was like all the rest, and their hardships were the same after they reached their new home. Mrs. Baldwin (Phebe Pardee) was a cripple from childhood and as little was known about surgery at that time, or about mechanical apparatus for assisting lame people, she went about all her life with the aid of a chair. Nancy, the oldest daughter, married Allen Sutliff, a brother of Judge Milton Sutliff, late of Warren. Phebe, another daughter, married Manson Smith of Fowler. Nelson, who was one and one-half years old when his parents came, lived in Vienna. He married Maria Scoville. The old Baldwin homestead in Vienna, located one and one-half miles west of Vienna Center, is now owned and occupied by William Munson. Mr. Baldwin was a tanner, and Mrs. Baldwin, despite her affliction, made the clothing winter and summer, for the fam- 596 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY ily, and she was a marvelous needlewoman. She lived with her son Nelson, in the old home until she was eighty-one years old. It is said that the old. home in the early days of the Baldwins was a social place, and .that they were all exceedingly honest and straight-forward in their dealings. Andrew Mackey, his wife Mary Murray, and three sons Hugh, James, and Andrew Jr., came to Vienna in 1805. Andrew Jr. married Mary Bartholomew, whose son Ira is the father of Miss Lulie Mackey, Mrs. William McNaughton and Ira Mackey Jr., of Warren. Mrs. Mary Bartholomew Mackey was the daughter of Mrs. Ira Bartholomew, who taught one of the first schools in Vienna. Ira Mackey Sr. was born in Vienna, October, 1829. Early in life he resolved to have a college education, but this was not accomplished, because of the death of his father. In 1855 lie married Elmina Baldwin, who is still living. She "is known to her friends to be ever ready to assist the sick and needy and lend a helping hand in any charitable work; unselfish to the last degree ; ever hospitable, loving her home, children, and flowers better than notoriety." Their children are Mellie (Mrs. Win. McNaughton of Warren) ; Lulie, who is mentioned in the chapter on Bench & Bar ; and Ira B. The last named is a prominent lumber dealer in Warren. He married Mina Brisbane, and has one daughter, Jean. One of the substantial citizens of Vienna was Andrew J. Andrews. He married Rosina Hamblin, and after her death, Mary Barnhisel. His occupation was that of a cattle drover. Two children were born, Lucy E. and Lucius, who married Cornelia Woodford. The son was a teacher, and his daughter, Mary R., is the wife of E. L. Hauser, and resides in Girard. We have noticed that in -each township there was a woman or two, so skilful in nursing and so acquainted with herbs and poultices, that she took the part of an early physician. These women expected to be at the call of the neighbors. Mrs. Daniel Griffis, who came to Vienna in 1819, occupied that place for that township. Her husband, a wagon-maker by trade, a deacon in the Presbyterian church, died rather early, and left her with six children. She is well remembered by the children and the grandchildren of the early Vienna folks. Mr. and Mrs. Alderman came to Vienna in 1804. They walked most of the way. Mrs. Alderman carried a young child, -three years old. They slept in the wagon which carried their HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY - 597 goods, and cooked on the ground. Mrs. Alderman and children often started before the teams were ready in the morning, and would be overtaken by noon. Mr. Alderman died when they had been in the town a few years, and she bought seventy acres of land, and she and her daughters paid for it. In 1812 they wove one hundred yards of tow and linen cloth, selling it to the soldiers in Ashtabula county for fifty cents a yard. Miss Lulie Mackey says : "In the spring of 1805, the worthy fathers and mothers of Vienna recognized the necessity of educational privileges for their rapidly increasing children, and glancing about them for an eligible site, they decided upon an unoccupied hog-pen about a mile south of the center. This was immediately swept, garnished, and supplied with greased paper windows, for the children were more precious than pigs, and when properly dedicated by the insertion of two pins for the support of whips into this temple of learning, came the youth of the neighborhood, and were presided over by Mrs. Ira Bartholomew. The following winter the `schoolhouse' was restored to its original use, and Mrs. Bartholomew taught in a cabin. The next summer a frame schoolhouse was built at the center. From that time forward, Vienna has made a fair school record, sustaining for many years an academy and graded school at the center." In one of the early Warren papers we find the following : The subscriber expects to commence an English school at the center of Vienna on the first Monday of December next, for the instruction of young gentlemen and ladies in arithmetic, English grammar, geography, astronomy, etc. The term will be four months and the price of tuition $3 per term. No scholars will be received for less than half a term. The Sacred Scriptures will be daily read in school and the strictest attention paid to the morals and manners, by NATHAN B. DARROW. The first schoolhouse built in the township in 1806 was a frame building. The next year Andrew Bushnell of Hartford was the teacher. The Presbyterian church existed early in Vienna. It was organized in 1805 by Thomas Robbins, under the "plan of union." Isaac Flower, Rosannah Williams, Samuel Clinton, 598 - HISTORY OF TRUMBULL COUNTY Anne Wheeler, Joseph and Sylvia Bartholomew, John and Lois Clark, Robert and Montgomery Hughes, James and Jane Montgomery, and Isaac Woodford were the original members. At first services were held largely in private residences, and sometimes in schoolhouses. In 1810 they had a regular minister, the Rev. Nathan Darrow. He stayed four years, and entered the missionary field. Later he returned to Vienna, where he taught school and preached until 1828. Rev. John Core was made pastor over the church at Youngstown, Vienna and Brookfield. In 1830 Rev. Bierge had charge and stayed five years, when Rev. E. B. Chamberlain succeeded him. Zenaphon Betts above referred to was installed as pastor in 1843, and continued in that capacity until his death, twenty-eight years. The church was for some little time without a minister, and in 1873 Rev. J. R. Stockton was given charge of the congregations of Vienna and Brookfield. In 1835 Isaac Woodford was deacon ; in 1837, Samuel Hutchins ; in 1838, Dexter Clinton. In 1853 the church building was burned and everything destroyed. The next year the new church was dedicated. Just before the death of the Rev. Mr. Betts, the form was changed from Congregational to Presbyterian. The Methodist church of Vienna is no exception to the Methodist church of other townships, in that few, if any, records are kept. A class was early formed and meetings held in the southwest part of the township. Sometimes this locality was called "Methodist Corners." Here a church was built. Timothy B. Clark was a class-leader, and, besides himself, Ira Bartholomew, Elisha Booth, Maria Fuller, and Andrew Mackey were early members. In 1820 the circuit riders began visiting Vienna, and a meeting-house at the center was erected in 1850. At one time the Catholics held services at the center of Vienna, but after the coal was exhausted in that township, their services were discontinued. In the early '60s the- coal of Vienna, which had been seen in small quantities, was first mined. By 1869 these coal fields were largely developed, and a branch railroad was run into the township. Ira B. Mackey was the contractor who sank the first shaft and the men who were largely interested in it financially were C. H. ,Andrews and William J. Hitchcock. CHAPTER LII.—WEATHERSFIELD. HARMON FAMILY.-OHLTOWN.--MINERAL RIDGE.-NILES.-IRON MANUFACTURE.-THE EATON FAMILY.-FOUNDING AND GROWTH OF NILES.-WILLIAM MCKINLEY.-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. No. 3 range 3, was named Weathersfield from a town in Connecticut, but probably that township had in the beginning, and has continued to have, the least of the spirit of New England of any of the townships in Trumbull County. The famous Salt Springs tract referred to so often by all historians lay largely in this township. Reuben Harmon, of Vermont, bought this tract of land and was early on the ground. The McMahon tragedy delayed the settlement of that district, but finally Mr. Harmon, in 1801, brought Ruth R. Harmon, his wife, and family to Weathers-field. She was the pioneer woman. Mr. Harmon died early, and Mrs. Harmon and her sons, Heman R. and John B., managed this property for a number of years. They finally moved to Warren and were identified with the history of that township. The family, however, continued to own this tract for many years. Josiah Robbins, one of the early settlers of Niles, visited this tract in 1799. His daughter, Maria Ingraham, who made a study of the people and conditions of the early times, in speaking of the pioneer mothers and her privations and courage, says, "A thriftless, Godless woman was the exception among them." The first postoffice was established in Weathersfield in 1825, 'Andrew Trew postmaster. Little is known of the early schools of the townships, and strange as it may seem, there was not a single church in this township until 1840, thirty-seven years after the first church - 599 -