Ashtabula County, Ohio - Chapter 23: Hartsgrove Township, 1924

TITLE LITIGATION - HALEF OF TOWNSHIP WEDDING GIFT - SETTLED IN 1822 - FIRST SCHOOL - HOSKIN'S MILL - MAIL ROUTE - TOWN ORGANIZED IN 1830 - CHURCHES - -COMMERCE - TORNADO.

Samuel Mather, Jr., once laid claim to ownership of the land that was destined to bear the name of Hartsgrove. His claim was accepted to the extent that the section was first named Matherstown. In the division of the land by the Connecticut Land Company this portion was drawn by one William Hart, who had to put it through protracted litigation before he was able to establish rightful ownership over the claims of Mr. Mather. This controversy lasted more than 20 years and, as a result, Hartsgrove was the last township in the county to be settled. Thus, while all the surrounding territory was being cleared by the settlers, Hartsgrove retained its virgin condition of forest and stream, and when the settlers of other townships desired to lay dull care aside for a time and indulge their fancy for hunting, they packed their kits and set out for the Harts: grove woods and valleys, where they always found the best sport in that line. It was also a favorite hunting ground for Indians, who, for some years after the advent of the white man, continued to come there in numbers and remain indefinitely hunting.

When William Hart's daughter married the Rev. William Jarvis of Connecticut and they decided to make their future home in this county the bride's wedding gift from her father was the north half of Hartsgrove Township, a tract comprising about 8,000 acres. Rev. and Mrs. Jarvis at "once proceeded to take an active interest in the matters pertaining to the settlement and clearing of the township.

year Frederick Alderman became his neighbor. They built cabins and were the only families resident there until 1828. Then George moved back to Windsor, but Thomas Burbank and family at once took possession of the house thus vacated, and became permanent residents. In the following year the families of Alford, Shubel Adams, David Griffin and Carmi Hoskins swelled the population, and thereafter the settlement grew rapidly for several years.

In 1829 Miss Parmelia Frazier taught the first school, which was conducted in a room of the residence of Shubel Adams. There were 17 pupils, .

of whom several were from over the line in Windsor Township. In 1830 the "slab" school house, so named because of it being constructed of split logs, was built, and Miss Clarissa Norris was the first teacher therein. By winter of that year there were forty scholars in attendance in this school, many of whom had reached man's and woman's estate.

gristmill. Meantime the industrial facilities of the town had been added to by the erection of two saw-mills by Orson Grant. John White built the first frame house in Hartsgrove in 1834. The town did not have a resident physician until 1844, when Dr. Hiram Morgan settled there. General Charles Stearns opened the first store in the township in 1837.

In 1800 a road was cut through from Gregory's place on Grand River to the Griswold property in Windsor. This was the first road through Hartsgrove Township. Later a state road was laid out extending from Unionville through the western range of Ashtabula County to a point in Trumbull County where it intersected the Warren-Painesville state road.

From 1804 to 1830 the mail route from Warren to Austinburg and points east and west cut diagonally through Hartsgrove, but not until the last named year did that township boast a post office. Thomas Matteson was appointed postmaster and thereafter, so long as he held that position, residents of that immediate section had mail service through this office in his residence.

The year 1830 was an eventful one in the history of Hartsgrove. That was the year when the town came into its own through organization, which was effected on April 5, when the following original officers were named to preside over the destinies of the infant town till they should be displaced: Township clerk, John Thomas; trustees, J. B. Harper, Caleb Brooks and Thomas Burbank; overseers of the poor, Joseph Brooks and

Calvin Grover ; fence viewers, Destine Alford and Warner Munn; constable, Stephen Matteson. In the following month Thomas Matteson was elected justice of the peace.

It was in the year 1830 also that religiously inclined dwellers in Hartsgrove decided upon some concerted religious action, and to that end called a meeting that was held in the home of Calvin Grover, with the Elder John Norris, of Windsor, in charge. Subsequently, during the same. year, the Methodist Church was organized with 11 members, and meetings were held in the school house in South Hartsgrove. In 18383 a church of like denomination was organized in Hartsgrove Center, with 10 Ong anles members, and the Rev. John Ayers as pastor.

Following a revival series conducted by the Rev. Calvin Smith in 1858 a Disciple Church was organized with a membership of about 15, which grew from year to year till the church boasted the largest congre-

As a lively commercial village Hartsgrove took its place with its neighboring towns and it developed into one of the most thrifty dairy centers in the county. As many as three cheese factories were in operation at one time in the middle years of the last century. The first was put into operation in 1850 by Charles Stearns. The farmers would make the curd at their own homes and take it to the factory to be converted into cheese. In the crest years of the business about $200,000 worth of cheese was produced in the township annually.

R. D. Norris conducted for several years the largest pearl-ash manufactory in the whole Western Reserve. H.H. Grover established a carriage shop in 1876 which changed hands several times but thrived for some years. In 1866 Alexander Watson built and put in operation a large steam planing and saw-mill, which also turned out cheese boxes and shingles. This was destroyed about a dozen years later by fire, whereupon Mr. Watson built another mill.

rural community, with but little change in the general aspect of the village. In the present year the town came out of the mud, however, to a considerable degree by the construction of an improved brick highway through the town, thus affording much easier access to neighboring

Tornado. - On July 2, 1859, a storm of cyclonic proportions broke loose over this county and vented its greatest force on Hartsgrove Township. R. D. Norris, Esq., then a prominent resident of the village, sent the following account of the visitation to the Ashtabula Sentinel:

"The storm, which amounted to a tornado, spread ruin and destruction in its course. Houses and barns were unroofed, exposing the contents to the driving rain that followed. Forests and orchards were wholly or partially destroyed, while fences were literally strewn over the fields. Persons in the fields or roads were blown off their feet, and so violently and suddenly did the storm approach that few were able to seek shelter. The Rev. W. Wilson, with his horse and carriage, was blown off the highway onto an adjoining field, where he was found after the storm in a very perilous situation, and seriously injured."