Ashtabula County, Ohio - Ashtabula Township, 1924

Ashtabula Township

FORMATION - FIRST SETTLERS - REV. JOHN HALL - EARLY DAY CONDITIONS - HOSPITALITY - LOG CABIN RAISING - ASHTABULA CITY - MOSES CLEAVELAND - THOMAS HAMILTON - NUCLEUS FOR NEW VILLAGE - CHURCHES - FIRST SCHOOLS - ST. PETER'S PAROCHIAL - ASHTABULA ACADEMY - THE COMING OF THE FIRST RAILROAD - TRIBULATIONS OF THE FIRST FAMILY - CITY STREET CAR LINES - TOWNSHIP PARK COMMISSION - PUBLIC LIBRARY - PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

_ Formation. - Township No. 12, in Range No. 3, of Ashtabula County, was passed from the possession of the Connecticut Land Company to the ownership of Nehemiah Hubbard, Esq., and fractional township No. 13, the west part, to Nehemiah Hubbard, the next east to Urial Holmes, next to a company called the "Erie Company", and the eastern part to Gen. Gideon Granger. The next step toward bringing the lands of these several owners into the market was to survey them into lots. Township No. 12 was divided into 200-acre lots, that is lots 200 rods long from west to east and 160 rods wide from north to south. Township No. 12 was surveyed by Caleb Palmer in 1803. No. 13 was divided into lots and tracts of unequal dimensions. In May, 1801, the State of Connecticut ceded to the United States her jurisdictional claims over the Western Reserve, and in November, 1802, when the Constitution of Ohio was adopted and she became one of the states of the Federal Union, these townships composed a part of Trumbull County. In 1805 they were included in the northern section of Trumbull, set aside as Geauga County, and in the organization of townships Nos. 12 and 13 were a part of Richland County. The commissioners of Geauga County called a meeting to be held at the home of Capt. Walter Fobes, on April 4, 1808, on which occasion the township of Ashtabula, including the western part of Monroe and the whole of Kingsville, Plymouth and Ashtabula, was organized. The residents of the terri- tory included in the organization set forth with guns and dogs, almost to a man, to attend the meeting, and made the day one of jollification over the prospects of having a little commonwealth of their own.

The organization resulted in the election of the following officers: Clerk, Roger Nettleton; trustees, Roger Nettleton, Israel Harrington and William Perine; overseers of the poor, Henry Gillman and Gideon Leet; appraisers, Matthew Hubbard and Thomas Harrington; fence viewers, Walter Fobes and Gideon Leet; supervisors of highways, Joseph Kerr, Gideon Leet, Zachariah Olmstead, Elijah Lewis and Hiram Blackman; constables, John Dillingham and Joseph Rockwell; treasurer, Zachariah Olmstead. :

The borough of Ashtabula, on the west side of the river, was incorporated as a village on February 28, 1831, and as a city in 1892. In 1850 there were 801 residents. In 1855 a census taken by order of the mayor showed a population of 1,216, in 1868 1,936; in 1870 they had grown to nearly 2,000; in the next decade it more than doubled, showing 4,444 on 1880, and nearly doubled again to 8,333 in 1890; in 1900, 12,949; 1910, 18,266; 1920, 22,082, and estimate based on school enumeration in 1924 places the population at over 25,000. The population of the county, by the official United States census of 1920, was 65,545, thus it will be seen that more than one-third of the residents of Ashtabula County were within the city of Ashtabula.

In 1838 that part of No. 12 that is bounded on the north by Ashtabula Creek, Hubbard Run and the road running west on the north line of lot No. 34, etc., to Saybrook line, was separated from Ashtabula and organized into the township of Plymouth.

First Settlers. - The Rev. John Hall, who was for a long time a resident here and for several years rector of St. Peter's Church, wrote a series of historical sketches in the year 1856 relative to Ashtabula as a township and village, from which much of the following information is taken. Introducing himself, the writer stated that he came from Massachusetts and arrived in Ashtabula on Feb. 7, 1811. Regarding the first settlers - the men who braved the dangers of the unbroken country to pave the way

"The writer, upon arrival, found settled here the Rev. Joseph Badger, the first minister of religion ever located in this township; Mr. Hall Smith, the first merchant; Matthew Hubbard, Esq., the first permanent settler and the land agent of Nehemiah Hubbard, Esq., for selling his extensive lands in this and several other counties. Mr. Smith had been a trader with the Indians and early white settlers in the Western Reserve and the Fire Lands, and at this time was one of the only two merchants on an area of 40 by 60 miles, I found the country in a very wild state. In this township there was not more, I think, than one farm which yielded an entire sufficiency of food for its tenants, and pasturage and fodder for their cattle. The following exhibits the population in February, 1811, on the several roads, beginning on the South Ridge road at the Saybrook lines: ;

John Perrine, born in New York and emigrated to Ashtabula in 1804; farmer; served in capacity of surveyor and magistrate; gets a scant but honest living.

Joseph Kerr, born in Pennsylvania; came here in 1804; farmer and shoemaker; his wife bore the first white child born in Ashtabula, a male; N. Hubbard, Esq., presented her with $50. Kerr was a good man and beloved by all.

Matthew Hubbard, born in Connecticut ; came here from New York in 1804; had large family of small children; farmer, land agent and surveyor; one of the principal business men; public-spirited, liberal and helpful to the poor; himself and wife were hospitable and kind to strangers and wayworn travelers.

John R. Read, born in Connecticut; came in 1808; farmer, boot and shoe maker, tanner and currier; served in capacity of surveyor. He tries to live.

William Starr, born in Connecticut; came in 1808; was out of his element - the city and ocean; gets a poor living by help of friends in Con-' necticut; good-hearted and shiftless.

Nathan Strong, born in Connecticut; came to Ashtabula in 1809; farmer and employed workmen; had a smart wife; lived well; they were noted for their hospitality ; he always paid his debts.

Hall Smith, born in Massachusetts and came to Ashtabula, then Austinburg, in 1809. Had a new farm clearing; employed many laborers and was a public benefactor; charitable to the poor and paid most for preaching.

Peleg Sweet, born in Rhode Island and came to Ashtabula in 1807. Had a family; was a shoemaker, tanner and tavern keeper, after the fashion of the times, but sold too much whisky. Lived well; was wealthy.

Enoch Stevens, born New Hampshire; came here in 1810; lived on farm that was partly improved by John Dillingham; boot and shoe maker, brick maker and layer; smart, pleasant man.

Amos Fisk, born in Massachusetts and came to Ashtabula from Pennsylvania in 1810; farmer and salt trader; had the old Gilman grist mill, the first built in Ashtabula.

Purchas Sawins, born Vermont; came here 1807; farm; was blind; one eye put out by a chip when he was chopping wood; the other by a bush flying up as the sled which he was following passed over it.

Joshua Rockwell, born in Connecticut; came to Ashtabula in 1806; was a farmer on the farm of George Beckwith, the first settler in Ashta bula.

Anan Harmon, born in Massachusetts; came here in 1810; engaged in clearing the farm on the east bank of the Ashtabula, opposite the stone grist mill of Ed Harmon.

Gideon Leet, born in Connecticut; came to Ashtabula in 1806; chief farmer; postmaster, innkeeper, and a good family; lived well, but sold too much whisky.

Samuel Beckwith, born in Connecticut and came to. Ashtabula in 1804. Had a family; farmer. He was found here by Col. M. Hubbard, June 2, 1804, with the widow of his brother, George Beckwith, who froze to death six months before. He lived in Ashtabula 10 years, then hung himself.

In 45 families there were 69 male adults, 52 female adults and 138 minors of both sexes. Total number of souls in Ashtabula Township in February, 1811, 259.

Early Day Conditions. - Some of the early settlers, by great labor, attended with extreme disadvantages, had enabled themselves to provide for their families most of the bare necessaries, with none of the luxuries of life. 1 do not recollect any farm but that of Gideon Leet, Esq., lying on the east bank of the Ashtabula, one mile above its mouth, which furnished an entire support for its occupants. This productive farm yielded a surplus. To make up their deficiencies and complete their supplies, the other inhabitants resorted to Messrs. Smith, Hubbard and Leet, and farmers and dealers in the older settlements in this county and Trumbull.

Col. M. Hubbard lived in a small frame house and had a frame barn. Amos Fisk had a small frame house in progress which was soon finished. William Jones had a frame barn and sheds, and Samuel Beckwith had a frame barn. All other houses and barns in the township were of logs.

Most of the inhabitants had exchanged their small estates in the East for new lands here, with some money to transport them hither and furnish the first year's subsistence. Meanwhile they hoped and labored to raise crops for their supplies and provisions, after the money they had brought with them should be exhausted. Some poor men went in debt entirely for their new homes. By a slow process they were obliged to clear their farms for the support of their families and to meet annual payments for the soil.

Another class were young - some with and some without wives - and had neither property nor money to help themselves with. Others had ~ brought money from the East with which to purchase their homes and to buy for others. It was a serious impediment to our progressive improvement that the wide and dense forests were for several years the pastures in which our cows and oxen wandered for a sufficiency of herbage to sustain them. Often they would be away so long that they would be entirely dried of milk, and occasionally one would disappear and never be found. So much time would sometimes be lost hunting for the oxen that when found it would be too late for them to perform the labor so essential in preparation of the land for seeding, thus depriving the owners of the harvest for that season. This one impediment, to say nothing of others, very seriously retarded the progress of improving the country and the advancement of its inhabitants to competency and comfort.

Before the commencement of the War of 1812 the farmers in this vicinity having small quantities of produce to sell could obtain from Hall Smith the nominal prices of $1.00 per bushel for wheat, 50 cents for corn, 25 cents for oats and 4 cents per pound for pork and cheese, in exchange for Onondaga salt at $6.00 per barrel, and dry goods, groceries, castings, utensils, etc. During the war the prices of produce tripled, greatly benefiting the few who had produce to sell, but drawing in proportion on the pockets of the new settlers and others who had to buy. Encouraged by the big profits, Hall Smith and other speculators along the frontier offered high prices to induce the farmers who could do so to bring their pork and grain from the back-country and sell to them. Thus they brought in produce from considerable distances. But the war terminated sooner than was expected, leaving a great portion of this property unsold and it had to be disposed of at far less than it had cost. All the business men were injured and many of them reduced to bankruptcy. A great stagnation of business ensued. The prices of produce were reduced to one-fourth and one-fifth of war prices, and at no price could much of it be sold for cash, since the war stopped new settlers during its continuance and for some time after. The great want of money induced the people to adopt a ruinous expedient, to make the surplus wheat, rye and corn bear transportation, which was the reducing of the bulk by turning it into whisky. For this purpose numerous distilleries were erected. The surplus grain was distilled and stored in casks for the foreign market. The people having been too much habituated to a free use of this beverage, a large proportion of it never reached the foreign market, but found too ready a market at home, to the detriment of health, wealth and morals.

several new settlements. As late as 1811, all the help that could be mustered in Ashtabula was requisite to raise a heavy log house. The established custom forbade the performance of the raising without what was considered the indispensable aid, refreshment and comfort flowing frequently and copiously from the whisky jug. The most abstemious were exhilarated and the rest were excited and noisy. The logs were raised up with greater celerity than care, and limbs and heads and lives were in jeopardy and sometimes sacrificed. Some went home staggering, while other were too drunk to get home till next day; and almost all went home noisy, but perhaps not many ashamed, because the laws of custom were not violated.

At all public gatherings, at the domestic hearth, where friends greeted each other, neighbors associated and the rites of hospitality were extended to passing friends and the wayfaring stranger, the law of custom imperiously demanded of principal officers and entertainers the liberal extension of the bottle and the social glass on pain of reprehension for niggardliness. The same law bound men to treat each other when they met at taverns; the merchant must treat every customer who made ever so smal] a bill with him, although the merchant's profits might fall short of the price of the customer's drink of whisky. Common laborers must be supplied with what whisky they demanded to drink while at work. In the early twenties the evil of this indiscriminate use of liquor began to dawn on the populace, after Rev. Badger had started a crusade against intemperance. He was the first man to come out boldly on the subject. He began the reform by substituting "small-beer and cake" in place of whisky at the raising of his house. (Editor's Note - This was the original part of the present house owned and occupied today by Miss Jennie Blair and her brother, Frank, corner of Lake and Parsons streets.) The result of the reformation work started at this time and pursued by Rev. Badger till he left Ashtabula, in 1828, was that he had the satisfaction of seeing many of the leading citizens discontinue the use of liquor as a beverage, merchants and innkeepers refuse to sell whisky by the dram, and the "treating" habit practically stopped. This of course put the distilleries out of business to the extent that only about one in five survived. Ashtabula obtained the well merited reputation of a quiet and very moral village subsequently to this genuine reformation. .

of our early settlers in this wilderness. They were exceedingly friendly, hospitable and kind to each other and to the wayfaring stranger. They would spare no pains to make the passing traveler exploring the country comfortable at their board and fireside. When new neighbors arrived from the East, the men and big boys of the community turned out with alacrity and pleasure to raise the log cabin for the newcomers' home.

Ashtabula City. - After a railroad was built through the Reserve from east to west, Ashtabula, the title city, became and has always since continued the metropolis of the county. They derived their name from the river that runs through the county. This stream was called by the Algon- _ quin Indians by a name that sounded like "Ashtabula", and the early settlers adopted that name for the settlement Ree and when the town was laid out, the name became official.

When Moses Cleaveland, in charge of the Connecticut Land Company's surveying party, passed through where is now Ashtabula, he admired the river so much that he proposed to name it for his daughter, Mary Esther. Accounts of the incident state that, in honor of this christening, Cleaveland brought forth from the expedition's stores two gallons of wine, and a jollification followed. 'Mary Esther'? was very popular while the wine lasted, nobody but Cleaveland caring what they called the stream, but when the liquid inspiration had become exhausted, "Mary Esther' was soon forgotten.

Cleaveland and his party worked on westward till they came to the Cuyahoga River, where they laid the foundation for the now great city that bears his name, minus one letter.

So far as any historians have been able to learn, one Thomas Hamilton was the first white man who located and established his home in Ashtabula. Hamilton selected a secluded spot beside the river not far from where it emptied into the lake, and prepared to build a home. That was in the year 1801. About the time that he had the logs cut and was wondering how he was going to handle them alone, Providence seemed to 'take a hand, for just at this stage of the proceedings a boat came in from the lake and moored near Hamilton's camp. There was on board a family from the East who had decided to seek their fortune in the new West, of which they had of late heard so much, through those who had journeyed to the wild country and returned with glowing stories of its attractions and possibilities.

Members of this party were induced to remain and partake of Hamilton's hospitality, and in the meantime he arranged with them to assist in the construction of his cabin. They left him with a roof over his head and well housed.

The following account of early settlers was printed in the Daily Standard some years ago. It was taken, in the main, from The Williams Brothers' History of 1878, and was therein credited to the Rev. S. D. Peet, at that time a pastor of one of the Ashtabula churches. Taking up the story of Hamilton's house building, it says:

"It is supposed that this young company were the Austins, as Judge Austin is said to have been the first settler who entered the harbor with a boat. Two citizens of Conneaut, Daniel Baldwin and Capt. James Montgomery, afterwards helped Hamilton finish his cabin, covering it with a bark roof. Hamilton remained in this lonely hut for two or three years.

"The first family which took up their residence in this place was, however, that of George Beckwith, who moved from Austinburg in the year 1803. In January of the following winter Mr. Beckwith perished in the snow, some 40 or 50 rods north of the South ridge and a few, yards west of the Saybrook line.

"After the death of Mr. Beckwith, his wife remained in the cabin and supported her children in part by assisting travelers to cross the stream.

"Her method was to paddle her canoe to the spot where the ford was and then, requiring the travelers to place their load at the top of their wagon, she would fasten a rope to the tongue, then paddle with it across to the other side of the river. She then helped the passengers push their wagon into the creek, and to drive the oxen across, when she would attach them to the end of the rope and so draw the load across.

"In the year 1804, Matthew Hubbard, of Tranton, Oneida County, N. Y., became the agent for his uncle, Nehemiah Hubbard, and started for the place, accompanied by a man by the name of Pierce. When they approached what now is the Harbor, they proceeded along the bluff toward the mouth of the creek, in search of the cabin of George Beckwith, which they supposed was deserted, but on nearing it they found it fully occupied.

"As they approached, it was difficult to decide which party was the more surprised. They were the first white travelers that the Beckwiths had seen in twelve months. The family consisted of the widow of George Beckwith and her two daughters, Samuel Beckwith and a Mr. Thompson

"On the third day of June, Mr. Hubbard selected land for a farm and a site for his cabin, and he and Pierce went about felling trees and building the cabin. They had prepared themselves with a yoke of oxen, a cow and mush-pot, also some flour and cornmeal, which was brought on horseback from Youngstown. They were possessed of two tincups, two jackknives, two wooden spoons and two axes. Their beds were of cheap construction, being split from a log sufficiently broad for convenient lodging.

"Their cow soon left them and they saw her no more, depriving them of an article then regarded among the luxuries of life. Once during the summer they indulged in eating a piece of elk's flesh, presented by an Indian called Omick and his companion; otherwise their diet consisted of mush and water, and musty at that. \

"These Indians had shared with them on several occasions the contents of their mushpots. The Indians ever met them with the salutation of 'Brother', to which they replied in a kind manner.

"In a short time they formed a camp of several of their tribe near them. In the course of this season they had put in eight acres of wheat, and had chopped and deadened over about as much more. They dragged in their wheat with a crab apple tree. They fenced their clearing and finished their labors in October. :

"Occasionally after the coming of the white man and the appearance of his cabin on the bank of the river, bands of Indians were seen making their way up the stream and encamping on their favorite hunting ground. A single picture will be given. It was narrated by Mr. William Jones, who settled in the place in 1807.

"He related that soon after his settlement in the south part of the present city, then in the wild forest, there came a party of 25 or 30 Indians 'for a winter's hunt. Immediately after their arrival Mr. Jones followed his new neighbors down to the place selected for their encampment among the firs and hemlocks, a little up the creek, south of the village and east of his own dwelling. He found them merry and cheerful and very friendly.

"The men immediately set about building some wigwams for shelter. This was done by driving forked stakes into the ground and laying poles across, resting them in the forks on the tops of the stakes and covering the roof with hemlock boughs, resting on poles. Thus, in the space of an hour, with their only tools, their hatchets and long knives, they constructed two or three wigwams of ample dimensions for sheltering the whole company.

"The next want to be supplied was food. To obtain this they sent out two or three of their men with rifles to hunt for venison. In a few hours Mr. Jones was surprised to see the hunters return with so many deer. Mr. Jones said it often took a white man one or two days to shoot one deer. An old Indian replied, 'White man know not how. He travel, travel, travel, in woods; deer see him, run way. Indian no do so. He sit down, deer come along, Indian shoot him; sit down again; another come along, shoot him, too. Indian know how, white man not know how.'

"The hard-beaten Indian trail which extended along the South ridge from the east to the west remained for a number of years and was known to the early settlers.

"An incident is told of this race which is particularly touching. It appears that a Seneca had for some reason been exiled from his tribe and people. As there was no other tribe left to which he could go, he made his home among the whites. His name was Standing Stone. He gained his living mostly by fishing and trapping on the Ashtabula River. His wigwam was in the valley near the river.

"One evening in 1812, as Standing Stone was at his camp, he was aroused by the tinkling of a bell, and, looking up, he saw a squaw putting the bell upon the neck of her pony, to turn him out for the night. She was a Seneca woman of the Sandusky nation of that tribe who had been to Buffalo and was returning. Standing Stone recognized her, and after some conversation, it was agreed that he would prepare a place for her to spend the night. While she went across the river to call on Rev. Badger's family, the Indian built a hut for his guest, beside his own. She went on next morning to join her own people, who would not welcome him.

"When the first settlers arrived the streams were plentifully supplied with fish and large herds of elk and deer ranged through the forests. Multitudes of birds inhabited the woods and wild turkeys and small game were found in abundance.

"This immediate vicinity was a great hunting ground for the Indians, the territory of the respective tribes being bounded and respected by all. The Ashtabula River was a dividing line which western Indians must not cross, and the west side was never trespassed upon by those from the east."

As the immigration from the East progressed from year to year, clearings became more numerous. The first sight that the homeseekers had of their new home section was usually at Conneaut or Ashtabula Rivers, as the lake route was popular. The beauty and quietude of the land adjacent to the lake seemed to attract their fancy and many decided to east their lots 'near the point of landing, and did not venture farther inland.

Thus it was that there were enough settlers in this vicinity in a few years to warrant assuming the dignity of a town. The suggestion was made and discussed generally, until 1808, when a township was organized and named Ashtabula, after the river that coursed through its territory to Lake Erie.

The township then included all the territory now embraced by Ashtabula, Kingsville, Sheffield and Plymouth. The first officers elected to direct the destiny of the new town were: Trustees, Roger Nettleton, Isaac Harrington, William Perrine; clerk, Roger Nettleton; overseers, Henry Gillmore and Gideon Leet; appraisers, Matthew Hubbard and Thomas Harrington; fence viewers, Walter Fobes, Gideon Leet; supervisors of highways, Joseph Kerr, Gideon Leet, Zachariah Olmstead, Elijah Lewis, Hiram Blackman; treasurer, Zachariah Olmstead; justices of the peace, William Perrine and Gideon Leet.

In 1810, Kingsville, which also included Sheffield, was detached from the parent township. Ashtabula retained the Plymouth territory until 1838, when that also was withdrawn, and thus was left that which still remains as the township of Ashtabula.

The town first started on the east side of the river, and quite a settlement was there established before there was any activity on the west side. The following is taken from a historical sketch written by O. H. Fitch, in 18738:

"For many years there was a strong rivalry and some asperity of feeling between the citizens of the two little villages on the opposite sides of the creek, each striving for the ascendancy, which continued until about 1827, when, owing to several causes, but mainly, perhaps, to the death of three of the prominent citizens of the East Village - Judge Thomas Smith, Edwin Wheeler, Esq., and Horatio Wilcox - all active business men, the

"With one meeting house, one town house, used for the quadruple purpose of Masonic hall, town hall, schoolhouse and church; one tavern, one grist mill, one tannery, four stores, four distilleries, a respectable number of mechanic shops, two daily lines of stages, and a population of about 300, the people on the west side of the river, in 1827, thought their village 'was large enough and of sufficient importance to be incorporated as a borough, and on February 11, 1828, the Legislature passed a law incorporating the borough of Ashtabula. The first election under this charter was held on May 5, 1828, at which R. W. Groswold, Esq., was elected mayor; Henry Loveland, recorder; and Amos Fisk, William W. Reed, Matthew Hubbard, Philo Booth and John C. DeBlair, trustees."

It is thus observable that Ashtabula, town, village and city, has enjoyed a very healthy growth since the time of its founding. It has never had a false "boom" that caused it to, take on an abnormal growth for a time and then dropped it with a "dull, sickening thud', to be worse off than before it began. The old town has just plodded along its own generally prosperous course, early taking its place as the metropolis of the county and always retaining it.

Ashtabula was incorporated as a village in 1831, and as a city in 1891. It has always kept apace with the times in advanced ideas. It was the first city of the country to adopt the city manager plan of government and the proportional representation idea in voting. Also the first city in Ohio to own its own street railway. The city has its own electric light plant, which is one of the most successfully conducted in the country. The present plant was completed in 1923 and cost over a million dollars.

Ashtabula was the first city in the State of Ohio at which the postal savings system, in connection with the postoffice, was introduced, and a school was conducted here at which postmasters from over the state, and

The only Federal building between Erie and Cleveland, and south to Warren, is the postoffice building in Ashtabula, which was opened in February, 1912.

Nucleus for New Village. - (By H. L. Morrison, 1901.) The location of Hall Smith's store, grist mill and saw mill, also a blacksmith shop at the north end of Main street, served as a nucleus to gather to that vicinity the people who came to town for any business purpose, and the village seems to have begun at that point.

In the year 1810, Amos Fisk, originally from Massachusetts, located in Ashtabula and purchased a tract of land bounded on the north side*by Division street, on the east by the creek, on the south by lands belonging to the Hubbards, and on the west by a north-and-south line about where is now West street. He settled on this land and commenced improving it.

Some lots had been sold from Hall Smith's property at the north end of Main street, but the peculiar condition of Smith's business and a question of title to the land, rendered his property rather undesirable as a purchase. Amos Fisk, a deacon of the Baptist Church and known as "Deacon" Fisk, opened up his farm and, laying it out into lots as people wanted them, he embraced every opportunity to sell.

William W. Reed purchased of Deacon Fisk about three acres of land on the opposite side of the street and erected thereon a store building at the corner of what is now the City Hall lot, corner of Main and Division streets. In 1835 this property passed to the hands of Horace J. Hulbert.

Deacon Fisk laid out lots 77 feet frontage on the west side of Main street, extending back about 40 rods. This reached nearly to Elm street. On one of these lots was built the first brick building put up west of the river. It was a small one-story building and was for many years known as the Central News room.

Churches. - The Rev. Joseph Badger, noted missionary, mentioned more extensively 'elsewhere, was the first resident minister in Ashtabula. Quoting from the writings of the Rev. John Hall, made in 1856, we give the following:

"The first sermon preached in the township is said to have been ' delivered by a traveling preacher, whose name is not recollected, in a log house at the end of the South Ridge road, on the west bank of the Ashtabula. His congregation must have been small, if all the inhabitants attended, for that was in 1809. The Rev. Joseph Badger located here in the spring of 1810. Here he officiated a part of the time until 1821, when he removed to Kingsville, which had all this time received a share of his service. His congregations here and in Kingsville were too small to afford him support, and he moved to Kirtland in 1822.

"The first Methodists in this township were the families of Thomas Benham and his sons, Samuel and Adnah, who located here in 1811. They immediately set up meetings in the log dwelling of the father, which were continued without a minister until 1812, when Father Erskie, of Jefferson, visited and preached to them. Their number soon increased by conversions and immigrations. The location of Father Thomas and his son, Adnah, were on the hill now called 'Bunker Hill', at the junction of the Austinburg and South Ridge roads. The class members held their meetings in homes and schoolhouse until 1822, when, with the aid of the friendly neighbors, they erected, near the Benham homes, a meeting house of hewn logs, which was the first house built solely for public worship in Ashtabula Township. In 1830 the society built their present chapel on the west bank of the Ashtabula, in the borough, and finished it in 1836."

Editor's Note - This building continued in use by the Methodist congregation until the completion of their brick church on Park street, in 1860. That was at that time one of the finest church edifices in this section of the country. The old building was sold and remodeled from time to time, serving as hotel, saloon and for other purposes, finally being purchased by the Order of Moose, who razed it this summer (1924) to make room for their new lodge home, now in course of construction.

The present massive stone church of the First Methodist society was erected a few years ago on property on Elm street donated by the late James L. Smith; in memory of his parents, a condition that it be\known as the Gillmore-Smith Memorial Church.

Lake Street Methodist. - Lake Street Methodist Episcopal Church, at the Harbor, was formed in 1890. Activities at once developed that resulted in erection of its present church home.

First Baptist - The first frame structure erected in Ashtabula especially for religious worship was the First Baptist Church. Resuming Rev. Hall's history: "Among the first Baptists in Ashtabula were Amos Fisk and the Watrous family, who came into the place in 1810. In 1813 came Thomas Whelpley and his family. About 1814, it is believed, Elder Barnes commenced preaching to the Baptists in Kingsville, where the Baptists of Ashtabula also belonged and attended as members. In 1824, while Elder William B. Curtis was preaching in Ashtabula, Baptists of this village were separately organized. The Baptist Church in Ashtabula was incorporated in 1834 and organized January 5, 1835. The Baptist meeting house was built by Deacon Amos Fisk, about 1824, and was given to the society at his death." The present church of the Baptist denomination was dedicated in 1900. The original church was built on the north green and moved to the present site in 1853.

St. Peter's Episcopal - 'In 1811-12 several families of Protestant Episcopalians immigrated from Plymouth, Conn., and settled in South Ashtabula (now Plymouth). In 18138 they began to meet for divine worship, according to the liturgy of their church, by lay-reading. Zadock Mann was their leader. On February 16, 1817, their former minister, the Rev. Roger Searle, arrived among them from Connecticut. On the 19th of the same month, Ash Wednesday, they assembled at the house of Hall Smith, in the west village, on an appointment of the Rev. Mr. Searle, at which time those present organized the parish of "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States'. This was the first parish of that denomination organized in the State of Ohio. The number of communicants was eleven. The Rev. Mr. Searle was requested to name the parish and he called it "The Parish of St. Peter's Church of: Ashtabula'. In 1819 the parish voted to hold their services alternate Sundays in North Ashtabula and South Ashtabula (Plymouth). They applied for and received permission to finish off the lower story of the Academy Building, in the North Green, the understanding being that a district school might be kept in the room during the week days. The house was thus occupied until the completion of St. Peter's Church, in 1829, when the same arrangement was made for occupancy by the Methodist until their building, started in 1830, was completed in 1836. The present church building was completed | Feb. 22, 1829, and was consecrated by Bishop Philander Chase, on August

St. Matthews. - "In the spring of 1834 another parish was oreenized and set off from this, in South Ashtabula, which is now 'The Parish of St. Matthews, Plymouth'."

Grace Memorial. - Still another parish was ratio in 1878 in Ashtabula. The widow of the Rev. Dr. Washburn, who was one of the victims of the Ashtabula bridge disaster, donated a lot at the corner of William and Lake streets for a Harbor parish. In 1880 the "Old Yellow Schoolhouse" on Lake street had to give place for a new and larger building, and the communicants of this mission purchased and moved it onto this lot. In 1882 additional lots were' secured and the name "St. Michaels", by which the parish had been known, was changed to "Grace Memorial", in memory of Miss Grace Schwacofer, who was for several years one of the most devoted members of the parish prior to her death. The present church was erected in 1885.

Presbyterian. - The Presbyterian Church in Ashtabula was organized on Dec. 7, 1821, by the Revs. Giles Cowles and Joseph Badger. Their first house of worship was erected in 1836 and served until the construction of the present one, which was dedicated on October 18, 1892. Up to 1850, the church was on the "Union Plan", a combination of Presbyterian and Congregational. In that year the congregation voted to become distinctly Presbyterian. The church had no regularly installed pastor until 1847, when they employed in that capacity the Rev. John Ingersoll, father of Robert G. Ingersoll, who later became known the world over as atheist and infidel. In the year 1860, in consequence of the anti-slavery agitation, over 50 members withdrew from this church and formed the First Congregational Church.

Prospect Presbyterian. - In the late years of the last century, members of the Presbyterian Church who resided in the western section of the city organized the "Prospect Presbyterian Mission" and later built themselves a church home at the corner of Prospect and Samuel streets.

Harris Memorial. - Early in the present century Samuel R. Harris organized a mission in the southern part of the city and later built for them a neat little church on the corner of South and Adams streets.

Congregational. - The First Congregational Church was organized on May 29, 1860. They held services in Smith's Hall until February 12, 1862, when the present church on North Park was dedicated.

The Finnish Congregational Church was organized in 1890, and on May 24, 1892, dedicated its own house of worship at the corner of Oak and Coyne streets.

Church of Christ. - The Church of Christ, corner of Division and Prospect streets, was organized in 1892, and very soon afterward erected the building it now occupies. A few years later the society acquired property across Division street, corner of Fitch, where its Men's Club and chapel is located.

Reformed Episcopal. - In 1889 Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church was organized and erected the present church building at the corner of Elm and Henry streets. In 1891 the church property was enlarged by purchase of the adjoining lot on the north, the residence on which was converted into a parish house.

Lutheran. - The Swedish Lutheran Capernium Church was organized in 1879 and has always been prosperous and progressive. For many years it has conducted a branch mission in a building of its own on Hiawatha street, and the organization some years ago purchased a piece of property centrally situated on Prospect street, and an abutting lot facing Station street. The Prospect street site is to have a modern church within the next few years and a parsonage will be built on the other.

The Finnish people of Ashtabula have three churches of the Lutheran faith, namely, the Evangelical, the Bethany, and the National. All are situated on one street and in close proximity.

, St. Joseph's Catholic. - St. Joseph's Church was organized about 1850, and its fine church edifice on Lake street was dedicated on Nov. 11, 1906. A parochial school is conducted in connection with the church.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel. - Desiring a church of their own, Italian Catholics of the city in 1902 organized Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, and that same year started erection of a church home on Columbus street.

Hungarian Catholic. - Some years ago the Hungarian Catholics organized and built a church in that section of the city that has now assumed the name of East Ashtabula.

Spiritualist - The Spiritualists of Ashtabula and vicinity have an active organization and a neat church home on Main street. This building is said to have been the first one erected in the State of Ohio for the especial use as a Spiritual Church. It was built in 1906.

Christian Science. - The First Church of Christ Scientist was organized in Ashtabula in one of the latter years of the past century and held 'meetings in the Fassett Block for some time, then bought its own home on Elm street, later making changes by which property on Division street was acquired.

Nazareth Church. - The Church of the Nazarene, organized a few years ago in this city, has its house of worship at the corner of Pittsburgh and Washington streets.

Seamen's Bethel. - The Ashtabula Seamen's Bethel Association, an independent religious and philanthropic society, was incorporated on June 6, 1899, and for many years was an active agency for good in the. river district at the Harbor. In 1907 Mrs. Robert Riddell purchased property on High street and erected a fine brick building for the institution, but of late years it has been used intermittently by the Salvation Army.

Colored. - There are two churches of colored denominations in the city, the Gordon A. M. E., located near the north end of Main street, and the Shiloh Baptist, on Depot street.

First Schools in Ashtabula. - (Written in 1856 by the Rev. John Hall.) Several of the early settlers had made sufficient attainments in science and literature to enable them duly to appreciate the utility of giving their children a good education. The first schoolhouse erected in Ashtabula was a small log building standing near the junction of old Jefferson and South Ridge roads, opposite the house of Mr. John Faulkner. This schoolhouse is supposed to have been built in 1809, and the first teacher was Miss Julia

Hubbard. After five weeks she was taken sick-and was succeeded by Miss Achsa Nettleton. Subsequent teachers in this house were Warner Mann, Miss Lucia Badger, Harvey Nettleton, Betsy Nettleton, and the writer, John Hall. In the summer of 1815, Miss Sarah Booth taught this school in Amos Fisk's barn, in the center of the present incorporated village of Ashtabula, then included in this district. In the winter of 1816-17, Alden Spaulding taught this school in a log house standing on the site of the present dwelling of Mrs. Hulbert, widow of the late Horace J. Hulbert. We will call this district No. 1.

The second schoolhouse in Ashtabula was a small log building on the east bank of the creek, in the woods, a few rods south of Harmon's Corners, and of the present brick dwelling of Edwin Harmon. (Editor's Note - This is the present home of B. B. Seymour.) "The first teacher in this house was Israel A. Robinson, Esq., of Salem (Conneaut), in the winter of 1809-10. In the summer of 1811 this house was burned. In the fall of the same year a large house was erected in this district at the southeast corner, at the crossing of the North Ridge and East Jefferson roads. It was the third schoolhouse erected in Ashtabula. It was used as a schoolhouse, town house, meeting house and for other public meetings for eight years, and then it was destroyed by fire. This may be called District No. 2.

The fourth schoolhouse, used also as a church, was erected near William Foster's, on the north road to Sheffield, and another on the south road to Sheffield, near Joseph Mann's. During these log house days the school districts were voluntary locations, dictated by convenience. The ninth and last of these schoolhouses recollected by the writer was on the corner next east of the present church in Plymouth, which succeeded the one near . Joseph Mann's.

These schools were supported on assessments on the individuals who sent scholars, levied by the number of pupils sent by each. Each person furnished fuel for the fire and board for the teacher, according to the number of pupils he had in the school. If scholars were sent whose parents were too poor to pay, the tuition and wood bills were levied on the rest and included in their bills. The poor were thus enabled to give their children a common education, enabling them to transact the most necessary ordinary business of life. In 1816 an attempt was made to erect a frame building in the West Village, which should be convenient for a meeting house, town house and schoolhouse for District No. 1, by subscription.

Mother Of Sorrows Church And Rectory, Ashtabula, Ohio

Some subscriptions were made, but not more than $15.00 were paid, and that by Moses Hall and Thomas Whelpley. Noah M. Bronson also drew one of the longest timbers first upon the ground. With this assistance only, Messrs. Amos Fisk, Hall Smith, Matthew Hubbard and Philo Booth erected the frame of the building which is now the town hall, commonly called "Fireman's Hall', on Main street, in front of the present Baptist meeting house. The frame remained uncovered until the summer of 1817, when the four gentlemen last named, feeling the great need of such a public building, enclosed the frame, laid the upper and lower floors, erected the chimney, with a fireplace in each story, and some partitions in the lower story. This house was used until 1832 for a schoolhouse, town house, house of worship and Free Masons' hall. In the winter of 1817-18 the writer taught the first school in this building. The scholars attending it daily came from an area not less than five miles square, comprehending the families north and south from the extremities of the settlement on the West Jefferson and diagonal Austinburg roads down to the lake on the west side of the Ashtabula, and five miles along both the Ridge roads in Ashtabula and Saybrook, comprehending at various times most of the scholars in the East and West Villages. In the winter term of 1820-21 this school had 95 pupils.

The old common and academic school was continued on the voluntary principles until 1832. Then this school was suspended by the Ashtabula Academy, which was incorporated Feb. 6, 1833. Its use for an academy continued for 20 years, then the building was sold to the borough for $150 and converted into a towri and firemen's hall. The borough moved the venerable old building to the southwest corner of the same siete that it has occupied for 40 years at various points.

By the enterprise and commendable public spirit of the late Hon. Thomas Smith, Esq., Dr. Elijah Coleman, Mr. Peleg Sweet, Capt. Horatio Wilcox, Mr. Anan Harmon and Mr. Jabez Manley and others, a schoolhouse was erected on land given by Mr. Sweet, near the southwest corner of the East Village public square, with a lower story for schools and an upper story for public assemblies similar to that in the West Village. It was built in 1821. Five years later this house, like its two predecessors, was destroyed by fire.

In 1851-2, by contract with the trustees, Mr. Lorenzo D. Gates built an edifice of wood, three stories high and 40 by 50 feet on the ground, at a cost of $1,825,eto which was added an expense of $146 for desks, furniture, etc. The stock in the Academy consists of 65 shares, held by 52 stockholders. The third story of this building is equally divided into a north and a south room. The lodge of Odd Fellows purchased the occupancy of the south room, and the Free Masons that of the north room, at a cost of $300 each. The contracts with the lodges were made with the trustees in 1851 and they commenced occupying their respective rooms in 1852. The school in the new academy was opened in 1852, its teachers being Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun. In 1856 the Academy was suspended by a village union school, as were also the common schools within the boundaries of the incorporated village.

Believing that the schools should impart religious education with other sorts of learning, and conscious that this could. not be brought about in the public schools, the rector of St. Peter's parish launched a project looking to the establishment of a parochial school for the children of his church and Sunday school. This resulted in the erection of a building for the occupancy of the proposed parish school, in 1850. This was 50 by 20 feet on the ground and two stories high. In the course of the year, School Association was legally organized as The Protestant Episcopal School Association, and by-laws were legally adopted. The first officers were Elisha C. Strong, R. W. Griswold and Lorenzo Tyler, trustees; George Willard, treasurer and clerk. The board of school directors consisted of the trustees, the Rev. John Hall, rector, and the Rev. George F. Richards, his assistant. This school was opened on October 21, 1850, with the Rev. George F. Richards as principal. Mes ®

Here the story written by Rev. Hall ends. The parochial school continued for a number of years, but as the congregation of the church increased, and the attendance of the school grew in proportion, it finally became too expensive a proposition and was discontinued. There are still (1924) a few persons living who were pupils in that school.

The public schools progressed with the passing years and today are in the highest class of common school educational institutions. The splendid system and the magnificent school buildings of the present period stand as monuments to the memory of the good men who, through their philanthropic spirit and determination that Ashtabula should hold its place with other new and growing towns, donated to the village its first building for educational and religious purposes.

St. Peter's Parochial. - The next term of this flourishing and highly interesting institution will commence on Thursday, Jan. 2. The cause of education has no firmer friends than our fellow citizens of the borough of Ashtabula. We have already called attention to the Public Square Academy, and the high qualifications, as teachers, of its principal and assistants; it is a pleasure further to announce the commencement of the second term of the parochial school and academy, St. Peter's Square, under auspices of the greatest promise. This institution has been founded by citizens of Ashtabula for the purpose of ensuring for their children and those of their neighbors the benefits of a sound, secular and moral education, continuously and without the interruptions, changes, and frequent dead stops experienced under the usual imperfect organization of our schools, which too often interrupt the progress of education, or are equivalent to a total denial of it. Accordingly, a school edifice of a style and finish in keeping with the purpose of it - solid, grave, and of ample dimensions; with excellent interior arrangements, and secured from future neglect and dilapidation by the wise provisions of its founders, has been erected, opened, and has completed its first quarter of instruction.

From the commencement this school has been under the tuition of the Rev. G. F. Richards, a gentleman of learning and piety, and devoted to the labors he has undertaken. His classes speak warmly of his facility and talent for imparting instruction, and his benevolent zeal for the improvement of the young people committed to his charge.

Ashtabula Academy. - The new building of the Ashtabula Academy, one of the early mediums of education, was formally dedicated on July 5, 1852, the event being in conjunction with the celebration ceremonies in honor of the Fourth of July. The womans' committee of the celebration exercises arranged the program and served supper in the new building. The charge for admission to the entertainment and dedicatory exercises was 121% cents and the supper was 3714 cents.

The academy had a very successful career for many years. The building was located on ground that is now the southwest corner of North Park. 'The upper story was occupied by the Masonic Lodge on one side and the Odd Fellows on the other.

village section, while it temporarily sounded the death knell of the Harbor's commercial importance. The work of construction of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula railroad was begun in 1851, and the first regular passenger train from Cleveland arrived at Ashtabula depot at 9 o'clock in the evening of Saturday, June 19, 1852, from which date trains ran on a regular schedule between the two places. At first there was but one train a day, which left Ashtabula at 6:30 A. M. and returning from Cleveland arrived at 9 P. M. A. C. Hubbard was the first local agent for the company.

The arrival of the first train of cars ever seen by many of the residents of Ashtabula was a signal for a demonstration. The following account of the occasion was published under a one-line caption in the Ashtabula Telegraph of the following Tuesday:

"Some hundreds of our citizens were on the ground ready to give a hearty welcome to the first stated advent of the iron horse, and an outspoken welcome they did utter when the train, which had been visible in the gloom of the evening for miles on the long, level and mathematically straight line between the station at Geneva and that of Ashtabula, came like a conqueror to put a final end to slow coaches and give to the people the power to go ahead demanded in this age of progress. The passengers of too well-filled cars cordially responded to the cheers which greeted them. In the future history of Ashtabula, last Saturday can not fail to be a marked day. No neglect of Congress to provide for our Harbor can isolate us or prostrate our business. The people have, hereafter, a line of their own, cheap, swift, ever open and in their own hands."

The first excursion train ever run out of Ashtabula was on Monday, | July 5, 1852. The 'Fourth' coming on Sunday, its general observance was made on the following day. On this occasion the railroad company "stood treat", having announced that the regular passenger train on Monday would be at the disposal of the people living along the line, who wished to take a ride on the cars and spend the day in Cleveland. Regarding this trip the Telegraph said:

"In honor of the Fourth, Superintendent Beckwith, of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula railroad, placed the line at the disposal of all people along it who might desire to celebrate the day in Cleveland. Accordingly, on the morning of Monday, the 5th of July, all was ready at the Ashtabula station, where a monster train, six hundred feet in length, was in waiting. Long before half-past six, the hour for departure, the station grounds and the plank road leading from the borough presented an unusually animated appearance. There appeared to be a general turnout from all quarters. Some 300 took the cars for Cleveland, and when the iron horse dashed away with its forty rods of cars, there were enough of the lookerson to make a celebration there and then. This is the first excursion train out of Ashtabula and July 5, 1852, will be a day in our annals."

The throwing of a railroad bridge across the valley of the Ashtabula River was no trifling undertaking in those days of early methods of construction. The science of engineering had not reached the stage where nothing was too great to accomplish, as is practically the case today. Work of installing the bridge at Ashtabula was begun on June 1, 1852, and on July 12 the first train was run over the structure. The bridge was 780 feet long and was of what was known as the Howe truss style of construction. It extended from bank to bank of the valley and was supported by a stone abutment at each end and four piers sunk to the rock in the valley. The superstructure of the bridge was entirely of wood, the timbers being intricately applied and so closely interwoven as to make them almost solid wood. The construction between the rails was of V shape, so water would run off. The sides were painted white, and from a distance it gave the appearance of being a wide, white streamer stretched across the valley. Outside the rails, on each side, the floor of the bridge was sloped and tinned over, giving the top the appearance of a tin roof. A watchman was kept constantly at the bridge, to warn people off and to look out for fire.

It is related that one dark night a passenger train from the east stopped with some of the coaches on the bridge. The conductor went back through the cars to warn passengers not to get off and on the platform between two coaches he saw a man just about to step off. He hailed him with "Where are you going?" and, as the man proceeded on his way, he replied "Out there where my brother is'. They picked up his body a short time after the train had reached the station and the conductor had reported the occurrence.

This bridge was used for 11 years, when it was replaced by the iron bridge that fifteen years later caused the "Ashtabula Disaster'. When this second bridge was installed, much filling was done, thus shortening the structure. A further fill was made during the construction of the third bridge and eventually the valley was filled entirely across, a huge stone archway being built over the river channel, and from that time trains crossed on solid ground.

The construction work toward the east was pushed rapidly and the regular train from Cleveland on Saturday night, August 28, 1852, was run through to Conneaut. That was the establishment of regular service between Cleveland and Conneaut, and sounded the death knell of the stage coach business. :

At this time a railroad was being built westward from Buffalo, which had been completed to a short distance west of Dunkirk. The stage coaches, that had been the only means of transient travel between Buffalo and Cleveland for many years, gradually 'shortened their journeys, as the railroad progressed, going each way only between the points touched by the railroad terminals. Knowing that Saturday night, August 28, was to open the road through to Conneaut, the proprietors of the stage lines arranged their schedules so that the night preceding, Friday, they made their last trip to Ashtabula from the east. The Ashtabula Telegraph of August 31 had this to say of the suspension of the stage service:

"The last of the stages and the east and west line of mail stages made their last visit to Ashtabula on Friday night, the 27th, after running regularly for more than thirty-five years. Thus the four-horse stages became matters of tradition, the long whips and tin horn things of the past in Ashtabula, and stage-houses evoluted to hotels." Then followed a paragraph on the effect of this suspension on the general business of Ashtabula and especially on the smiths, harness makers, repairers, wagonmakers and many other lines of trade that relied largely on doing. the work needed by the stage coaches.

The original rolling stock of the new railroad consisted of four passenger and three freight engines, eleven passenger coaches, three mail cars, sixty freight cars, fifteen platform cars, twenty gravel cars, ten lumber cars, and seven handcars, said equipment representing an investment of $145,425.00. The estimated cost of 74 miles of track was $488,962.40, the price of rails then being $45 a ton. The sum of $30,700 was apportioned for erection of buildings.

The company obtained their water supply here by a novel means and the water must have been good, for it came from "Orthodox Place". That name was given to a section of the village that embraced Vine street and adjoining property on its west. In the rear of the Presbyterian Church there were several very active springs, affording a voluminous flow of water. Here the railroad company built a reservoir and, catching the water, piped it to their line of road. That constituted the supply of water until the Jamestown branch was constructed, after which the pumping station was built beside the river that supplied the road until the city water was available.

The original station building at Ashtabula which was erected by Contractor Loveland, and embraced waiting-rooms, telegraph and ticket office and baggage-room, all under one roof, was displaced in 1901 by the present splendid building and annex.

The original Lake Shore roundhouse built in 1872 had eight stalls. Very soon its capacity was doubled and the one in service now has stalls for forty locomotives.

The road was double-tracked from Ashtabula to Kingsville in 1872, and in course of a few years had two tracks its entire length. Now there are four.

The Lake Shore Company had a stroke of conscience and suspended the running of freight trains on Sunday in the year 1872. How long that lasted available history fails to relate.

When the change of fuel was made from wood to coal for the locomotives, the Lake Shore Company had 4,000 cords of wood on hand at this point.

This railroad was first called the Cleveland & Painesville, then changed to the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula. When it had been extended to the Pennsylvania state line, the name of Cleveland & Erie was adopted. Shortly afterward it became the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, which title continued until a few years ago when it was taken over by the New York Central and assumed that title.

The first accident worthy of note that occurred on the new railroad was a collision between the construction train, hauled by the locomotive "Lion'', and a dead car on the track, at Kingsville. There were no casualties

The Ashtabula & Jamestown branch, completed in 1873, became the southern feeder and outlet for the L. S. & M. S., additional advantages being obtained by the extension to Oil City from Franklin, to Youngstown from Andover, and then from Youngstown to Pittsburgh, by the completion of the P. & L. E., in 1879. The last direct connection was the "Clearfield" line from Franklin to connect with the Beech Creek road, which was constructed in 1906-7, with the design of acquiring for the New York Central and Lake Shore the shortest rail route between Chicago and New York by exactly ninety-nine miles. It was stated that fast passenger trains would be put on, running from Chicago to Ashtabula over the Lake Shore and from this point south, via the new route, to New York. Ashtabula was scheduled to become a great terminal point in connection with this new arrangement, but nearly a score of years have passed and the new route has not yet been adopted for fast passenger service. It is, however, an important freight line.

Tribulations of the First Family (By Rev. John Hall; 1856). - The first white man's habitation in Ashtabula is said to have been a small log cabin raised by Thomas Hamilton in 1801, a little above the shipyard on the west side of the creek. When the logs were ready for raising there happened to come into the creek a boat with a family on board, bound up the lake. Hamilton persuaded one or two of the men to assist in raising the body of his house. Daniel Baldwin, Esq., and Capt. James Montgomery, of Conneaut, having been previously invited, engaged to call and help him on a certain day, when returning from Harpersfield. The raising was finished and the house roof covered with bark by these men's assistance. -It is presumed that Hamilton had no family, as the first family in this township has always been said to have been that of George Beckwith.

According to Col. Hubbard, the first family residence was that of George Beckwith, erected in 1803 by the assistance of his neighbors, the pioneers of Austinburg, among whom he was one of the earliest. He perished in the snow in January, 1804, some fifty rods north of the South Ridge and a few rods west of the east line of Saybrook, as he was returning home from Austinburg with a heavy load of salt, etc., on his back. Sitting down to rest, he may have fallen asleep and thus have frozen to death.

Mrs. Beckwith, with two little daughters and herself to support in the wilderness, was thus left a widow. She was a woman of great energy of character, and deserves to be numbered as a benefactress. She endured great hardships in her lone condition, but is said to have found means to assist others.

Emigrants from the East would come with loaded wagons, and not know how they could cross the creek, for the depth of the water. Mrs. Beckwith would know by the depth of the water in the stream whether it was fordable or not at the crossing place, some three-fourths of a mile below her dwelling. She would row down to their assistance in her canoe. Her method was, first, to ferry the family across the river in her canoe; then direct the men to bind on their loads stronger; to tie a rope to he end of the tongue of the wagon, giving her the other end of the rope to carry in her canoe to the opposite shore, then, the oxen having been loosened from the wagon, drive them into the stream and let them swim over; then roll the wagon into the creek, hitching the team to the rope, and let them draw the wagon through the water. The wheels would touch the bottom so as to prevent oversetting. The load was easily drawn, being buoyed up by the water, betwixt sinking and swimming, until it comes to the shore, when the rope must be shortened and doubled, and a strong pull by the team brings the load upon terra firma, on the western bank of the Ashtabula. They let their load stand and drain while they pay Mrs. Beckwith a liberal ferryage, well earned and much needed by her.

Samuel Beckwith, a brother of George, whom Col. Hubbard found with the widow in May, 1804, about four months after George's death settled on the opposite side of the creek, where he resided until 1811. In the latter part of his life his constitution was broken with hardships, and he suffered till he became insane. About the middle of October, 1818, there fell a deep and heavy snow which broke the treetops and bent young trees of considerable size to the ground, holding them down till the snow melted. While the saplings were thus bent Beckwith took his ax and a rope and went into the woods a short distance east of his house, tied one end of the rope around his neck and the other end fast to one of the bent saplings. He then struck before him and jarred the snow off the sapling with his ax. The tree sprang up forcibly and hanged him. The staddle then bent back again by his weight and when he was found he was suspended, with his knees almost resting on the ground.

Seventeen days after the body of George. Beckwith had been buried, in the clothes in which he had died, it occurred to the wife that her husband must have had some money with him on his fatal trip, so she caused the remains to be exhumed and was rewarded by finding of $10.22 in cash in his pockets. That was a happy thought for the widow, for that was

City Street Car Lines. The advent of the railroads at the Harbor and consequent revival of marine business caused that section of the township to suddenly become an important factor in the life of the village. The traffic between the two points was quite heavy and was taken care of by the A., Y. & P. road, which ran two trains daily to the Harbor station; and one - sometimes two - bus lines. In January, 1875, Contractor Kenneth McKenzie made a proposition to the village council to construct and equip a street-car line from "Near George Nettleton's residence on Prospect street", via Prospect, Center, Main and Lake streets to the Harbor, a distance of a little more than four miles. His proposition specified the inclusion of equipment to the extent of four new, first-class cars to seat 14 passengers each, and two 12-passenger cars, horses and everything else necessary to the operation of the road, the price completed to be $25,000. This proposition was not accepted and the hacks continued to do a good business until 1882, when John N. Stewart, of Chicago, was given a franchise to build a street railway from the city to the Harbor. This horsecar line exacted a fare of 10 cents and was appreciated so long as it was kept up, but it was not the policy of the owner to put back for maintenance the good money that it was bringing to his coffers and the result was that in 1890 the council ordered the road removed from the streets. This order was utterly disregarded by the owner, and the outcome of the controversy was that he, while on a business trip to Chicago, received a telegram one Monday morning that he had no street railway. At midnight, on a Saturday night in the summer of 1890, by order of the city council, of which George B. Raser was president, men from the docks were put on the road with tools and by noon on Sunday there was not a tie or rail on the road where the track had been. Mr. Stewart instituted damage proceedings against the city, asking for $100,000 to reimburse him, and he carried the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the city won the final contest.

The drastic measures that put the Stewart line out of business were the culmination of long-standing grievances. The determined policy of the owner to not make any improvements in his line, and to not keep his track in proper condition, brought forth dissatisfaction within a few months after the line had been put in operation, and in August, 1884, after he had refused to take proper care of the street, the council tore up the track in four places. He put his men at work and replaced the track, only to have it again torn out, whereupon he got out a restraining order against the city and soon had the road in operation again. Just before the big tearup he was warned that the public would not stand for conditions much longer, in response to which he is said to have said ""The public be damned"'. That was the beginning of the end. About the time his line was thrown out, he was projecting an extension to Jefferson.

Right after the Stewart line quit, a franchise was asked for a line to the Harbor by H. H. Hall, A. C. Tombes, M. H. Haskell and B. B. Seymour, but their project did not become a reality.

The elimination of the John N. Stewart line was a signal for action looking to the installation of another, and it was not long in materializing. Several projects were set afoot early, but Attorney Thomas Fricker and some~Cleveland men landed the plum and secured a franchise for the Ashtabula Rapid Transit' Company, which built an electric line and had it in operation within two years, the charter being granted on June 3, 1891, and the cars being started April 11, 1892. This line maintained . until September 1, 1922, when it was taken over by the city and equipped with new one-man cars. Incidentally it is worthy of note that Ashtabula is the first city in the state of Ohio to own its own street railway.

The Ashtabula & Lake Shore railway is an adjunct of Woodland Park, and built about 20 years ago, for a feeder for that resort. It runs from the park to the east end of Bridge street at the Harbor, a distance of less than a mile, and it is claimed it is the shortest independent electric car line in the country. The A. & L.S. Company was incorporated on Jan. 27, 1903.

Township Park Commission. - Following the passage, in 1904, by the State Legislature of an act "To authorize any township to establish a free public park", influential citizens of Ashtabula got busy and, at the September term of court, obtained the appointment of a township park commission, the personnel of which comprised the Messrs. H. M. Kunkle,

B. B. Seymour and J. F. Munsell. A levy of taxes of eight-tenths of a mill was voted, and a landscape architect of Youngstown was employed. He came to Ashtabula, looked over the different desirable locations for public parks, and recommended the acquisition of Harmon park, now Lake Shore Park. A proposition to issue $25,000 in bonds for the purchase of this property was lost in a special election held on October 1, 1906. The December installment of taxes that year yielded the commission $2,576.92. | ?

The first acquisition was the property abutting Main street, on the bank, opposite Sycamore street. This was to give access to the gulf property, of which 35 acres were purchased by the commission the following month. Twenty-four acres were purchased in another lot, 2514 in another, 65 in another, 5 in another, and Mr. Munsell, of the commission, donated 22, thus giving the commission a total ownership in the beautiful Ashtabula Valley, immediately adjacent to the city, a total tract of 15114 acres,

In 1910 the commissioners purchased Harmon Park changing the name to Lake Shore Park. This tract embraces 2,542 feet of lake frontage, contains 50 acres of land and cost $1,500. In 1919 contracts were awarded for construction of a pavilion 240 feet long, 24 feet wide and to cost $40,- 000. The lake front has been graded and boulevard entrances built and one section of the property set apart for free camping grounds for automobile tourists.

In 1913 the board bought the H. D. Kunkle and W. W. Starkey properties on Walnut street, at the end of Lake street, paying $6,000 for the former and $30,000 for the latter, obtaining thereby a frontage on the street of 378 feet, extending to the water's edge and embracing about five acres. The Kunkle house was removed and a roadway to the beach constructed, being a direct extension of Lake street. The old Starkey house was turned over to the use of the Harbor Woman's Community Club, as a a public playground, with 'tennis courts and on the beach was erected a commodious bathing and refreshment pavilion. There is not a better bathing beach on the lake shore than the one at this resort.

The present personnel of the township park commission consists of H. M. Kunkle, president; I. H. Pardee and J. F. Munsell, the latter secre-

The Public Library. - (By Fred A. Williams.) The first Library Association that. was established in Ashtabula was formed in 1813. It speaks well for the intelligence of the early settlers that such an association should be formed nine years after the first permanent settler came to the township. The association was formed, largely through the efforts of the Rev. Joseph Badger, assisted by a young man by the name of John Hall, who afterward became an Episcopal clergyman, and was for a good many years rector of St. Peter's Church. He was then a young man, clerking in the only store in the village. A small, but choice, collection of books was purchased, and John Hall acted as librarian. The association continued for quite a number of years, but finally the books were divided among the members and the association was discontinued.

In 1830 the Ashtabula Social Library Association was formed and duly incorporated. W. W. Reed purchased the first list of books on one of his trips to New York, buying goods for his store. O. H. Fitch was one of the most active members in getting the new library association started and was made librarian. The library was kept in his law office and he continued to act as librarian for over fifty years. He took excellent care of the books. After the death of Mr. Fitch, in 1881, E. W. Richards, who was justice-of-the-peace, was made librarian, and the library moved into his office.

A few years later there was a local Y. M. C. A. established (in 1888) with rooms on the second floor of the Fickinger block, and the secretary of that organization was made librarian. About 1894 the books were stored, as no one could be found who was willing to take charge of them.

Early in 1895 a committee was appointed by the school board to establish a free public library. They obtained a loan of the books of the old Ashtabula Social Library, containing about 2,500 volumes, and secured a room in the Neptune Hose Company building, which stood on the corner of Elm and Center streets, and opened the library in June of that year. In 1896 the library was incorporated and in 1903 the present library building was erected, with money furnished by Andrew Carnegie. In 1900 Miss Maria Conklin, who had been a dressmaker in Ashtabula for a great many years, died, leaving her property to establish a public library. The money realized from her estate is now held by the library as an endowment fund. In 1923 Mr. L. Lyon died. Several years before he had turned over his library, about 2,000 volumes, which he had been collecting for some forty years, to the Free Public Library, as a reference library. He willed his property to the library to maintain and add to this collection of books.

Early in 1924 the library was reorganized under the Ohio School District Library law, as amended in 1923. By this change the library secures better support than it ever before had.

Proportional Representation. - The comparatively new system of voting known as the "Proportional Representation" plan was given its premier tryout in Ashtabula, thus giving to this city no small distinction, not only because of its having been the first to venture in that direction, but also because it is the home of the "father" of the method. At an election held on August 10, 1915, the proportional representation way of holding elections was adopted by a vote of the people, as an amendment to the city charter then in force. Today, 1924, 24 municipalities in the United States and Canada are using this new means of election.

Like all innovations in public matters, the plan had its opponents, and after it had been regularly adopted here some of the local attorneys claimed it was unconstitutional, but that question was not taken into the Ohio courts until after Cleveland had also decided upon the new way of voting, in 1921. Then it was taken up from that city and its constitutionality was affirmed by the Supreme Court of this State, the opinion being written by Judge Florence Allen, a native daughter of whom Ashtabula county is justly proud, and who is given more extended notice elsewhere. Gyn =

Mr. C. G. Hoag, a Philadelphia Quaker, secretary-treasurer of the Proportional Representation League, a position which he filled for many years, without salary, was primarily responsible for the adoption of the P. R. system in Ashtabula. He brought the message of "P. R.", as it is now commonly called, to this city in 19138, soon after the adoption of the "Home Rule" amendment, which gave the people of Ohio cities the right to frame and adopt charters prescribing the form and rules of government under which the city should operate.

together, and to them expounded the virtues of the P. R. plan, showing how it could be depended upon to elect a council which would be really representative in character and to which any group or party could elect its proportionate number of members.

He also explained that this method of election fitted in very nicely with the city manager plan of government - in fact he made it appear indispensable to that plan, if it were to be really democratic and responsive to the will of the majority. Among those who heard Mr. Hoag explain P. R. was W. E. Boynton, a locomotive engineer by occupation, and at that time president of the city council. He was deeply impressed with the apparent importance and desirability of P. R., and adopted it as a part of his plan for a charter in Ashtabula, for which he began agitation, and of which he came to be known as the 'father'. Mr. Boynton, who was an ardent advocate of public ownership of city utilities, confided to his friends that his underlying motive in working for a city manager and P. R. charter was to secure the adoption of a plan of city government, which, he believed, the people would feel they could safely trust with the ownership and operation of street cars and other forms of public service that are usually left to private corporations.

At the next municipal election, in November, 1913, the proposition to elect a commission to frame a charter carried by a good majority, and early in 1914 the commission organized, with P. C. Remick as president and F. R. Hogue as secretary, and began the work of framing the charter. The city manager plan was favored by nearly all of the members, but Mr. Boynton, who was on the commission, was unable to induce them to include P. R. as a part of the charter, and the ordinary election-at-large plan of elections was used instead.

Nothing daunted, however, Boynton, soon after the adoption of the charter at the November election in 1914, began to work for an amendment to it, which provided for P. R. Petitions to that end were prepared and circulated and the necessary number of signatures secured. After some delay, the council set Aug. 10, 1915, as the date of the election on the proposition.

The principal argument used by advocates of the proposed amendment was that the election of the councilmen by the straight election-atlarge plan at that time provided for in the charter would not give either the people living in the different sections of the city or people having different opinions regarding city policies the representation to which they were justly entitled. As a "horrible example" of the possibilities of the old system, it was pointed out that some time before that, a city board of education had been elected in which the six members were all members of the same ward, five of them living in the same precinct, and three or four of them being brothers-in-law.

The vote on the proposed amendment was light, and it was adopted by 558 for and 400 against the adoption. The claim of its backers that its use would give a truly representative council was fully justified by the result of the first election held under the P. R. system, on Nov. 2, 1915. This was supported by the following statement printed by the Ashtabula Beacon, which had vigorously opposed the P. R. amendment:

"Proportional representation has been demonstrated and found better than expected. In analyzing the result, we find that all sections and factions are represented in the new council. There are two from the first ward, one from the second, two from the third and two from the fourth wards; three from the Harbor and four from Uptown; one from the east side and two from the west side, at the Harbor; one from the west end, one from the south end and two from the central portion of the Uptown section of the city. Four of the old councilmen are re-elected. The drys and the wets are represented; the Protestants and the Catholics, the business, professional and laboring men; Republicans, Democrats, Socialists; the English, Swedes and Italians - all are represented, while there were more divisions than places. It would be hard to select a more representative council in any other way."

Subsequent elections have, as a rule, given similar results and the following from an editorial in the Star-Beacon of April 7, 1923, probably voices the sentiment of a majority of Ashtabula citizens, after watching the result of the P. R. plan for seven years:

"Dictatorship from some political power is a thing of the past. The people have something to say as to whom shall be chosen for city offices. The P. R. system of voting works well, and we recommend it to Cleveland, or any other municipality that wants the best in government."

The belief that a city manager charter, with proportional representation would give the people a government well fitted to own and operate important public utilities seems to be justified by the satisfaction of the people in general, with the service given by the street railway system of Ashtabula, which was taken over by the city on Aug. 1, 1922, and also with the million-dollar light and power plant that was completed a little earlier that same year. ~

While there has been considerable opposition to the P. R. method of election here, most of it has arisen from lack of proper understanding of it, and students of city government are looking forward to the time when, they believe, this plan - city manager and P. R. - in the adoption of which Ashtabula was the pioneer, will come to be the most generally accepted form of city government in America.