Portage County, Ohio - Atwaieb Township, 1885

Arrivat- or Atwater and Others - Early Privations - Birth or Pir^ Child - AxoTHEH J.oxk Skttlek - Organization M ahuiaoes and Pi atit-^ - Some Old and New TiiiNos - An Ancient Musket - Early Chi rches AND Preachers - Schools - K£W8PAPBB» - l2n>vsTBiE8, Era - Ofpioess A2n> Statistics.

ATWATER is one of the five towmbips in wfaidi a settlement was made as . early as June, 1799, and in second only to Mantua, which antedated Atwater only about six months. Tho township was laid oflf in tho pnrvpvs as Town 1, Bange 7, which fell to the lot, as well as two or three other town* ships and porls of townships, of Capt. Caleb Atwater, one of the original pio> prietors of the Western Beserve. He gave this township to bis only son, Joshua Atwator, who, however, did not visit his land till 18(^5.

In April, 1790, Capt Caleb Atwater, in company with Jonathan Merrick, Peter Bunnell, Asabel Blakesley and Ash Hall and his wife, left Wal1ingf(»d, Conn., and after a long and tedious journey arrived in what is now the township of Atwator. Tho ontiro party remained till tho following fall, when they all returned to the Eabt with the exception of Asa Hall and wife, who came for permanent settlement, and baying pat np a cabin daring the spring, settled down to make thonLsolves, as comfortable ns the (^ttomstances would admit) and from tliat tiTin' till the sprinoj of ISOl they were the only white persons living in the townshipi in fact, there were only six or seven other settlers in the entire county, there being one in Mantna, one in Bavenna, one in Aorora. one or two in Deerfield, and one in Palmyra; bis nearest neighbor being Lewis Ely, in l)pprfu>l(l.

As .soon as the party of Capt. Atwator airived they began surveying the townshi)) into lots and laying out roads, and many were the hardships enoonntered by tlujso hardy old adventurers, bat they were made of the medial and had the wills to withstand all the privations with which they came in contact. Shortly after their arrival the horses of the party broke loose and ran off into the dense forest Jonathan Merrick started* after them in the morning, bat soon became lost in the woods, and wandered around till evening, vh>Mi he found himself on the banks of the Mahoning, near the southeast corner of the township. The next day he continued his search, but with no luck, and atilJ not knowing exactly where he was, bat on the third day had better success, readung camp in the afternoon. He was almost exhausted with fatigue and * hunger, and had been given up by bin oompnnions, who thought he must have been devoured by wild beasts, or killed by some roving band of Indians.

An event occurred early in 1800 that enlivened matters considerably in the Hall household. A child was born, and this first little visitor was named Atwater, in honor of the proprietor. Thif was the first birth in the county. *

About the time Hall moved away from the Center, David Baldwin, Jr., came in and settled two miles south of the CSenter. He came on tiie 20tb of Jane, 1801, and was from Wallingfovd, CSonn., where hia^fathor had removed from Massachusetts. For the next three years Baldwin and Hall and their families were the only persons in the township, anil thpy lived five miles apart. During the first few y»'ars flour, or rather meal, and provisions were extremely hard to get They had to go to Smith's Ferry, forty-five miles, to a grist- r mill, and as for shoes, th« shildren of thuss times in this locality never j had a pair on their feot till they were nearly grown. lialdwin was the agent J of Capt. Atwater, and was a man Lic^'hly respeotwl by all who came in contact with him. In 1802 a child was born to David Baldwin, and this child is now the hale and hearty old gentleman of eighty-two years, Maj. Ransom Baldwin, ho btnng iho second l)orn in the township, and the oldest and only person near his a^o now living inside tbe county ujum tbe Kj)ot where born. The Major is well preserved in all his faculties, and has filled several honorable positions dnring hia long life, notably that of Major of the Independent Bifles.

After a journoy of nearly six weeks from ( 'onnecticut, there arrived, November 1, 1804, a party consisting of David lialdwin, Sr., Moses Baldwin, iiis son, and Theopliiliu) Anthony, Capt Joseph Hart axriving soon after. Anthony settled in the Bonthern part of the township, and cleared up a fine farm, the first plow he used being brought frum .Sntlicld on his back. Hart Bottled at the Center, and raised the first frame barn, which was the first frame erected in the township. A frame saw-mill was erected abont the same time.

In 1805 the then jirnprietor of the township. Deacon Joshna Atwater, with Josiah Mix, Jr., camo to tbe township from Connecticut, having ridden all the way on horseback. This was the tirst visit of Deacon Atwater to the townshipb Mix retomed in the fall to his home in the East, but in tiie spring follow! tig camo out again on foot, in company with Jeremiah Jones, the latter gentleman afterward becoming a Magistrate, and the best commentary on whose official course is the fact that but one appeal was taken from his decisions to the County Court

The year 1806 brought several pei"8onB into the township who very materially helped to shape the future of the community. In addition to Jeremiah Jones and Josiah Mix, came John H. Whittlesey, Asahel Blakesley, Caleb Ifattoon and Ira and Amos Morse. Blakesley, who was one of the party who came out in 1 ('.»*.(. was the only one to rotnrn to tlu? West^ bot having macrisd in the meantime, brought his wife ami throe children.

The year 1807 saw quite a number o£ new settlers, as at that time came William Strong and family from Durham, Gonn., who erected the fir^t frame house in Atwater. He enlisted in tbe war of 181*2, and died at Black Bock. Alec came Capt. James Webber, who is now ninety years of age, being brought ont when a boy of about twelve years, Jared Scranton and one or two others from the East At this time a number came in from South Carolina, who settled in the southwest part of the township, ineludiog Enos Davis, who brought - a son about ten years old, Lsaac Davis, who is now living at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, William Marshall, John Hutton. John Campbell and t(nne others. William Marshall was a stone mason, and had helpe<l to build Fort Sumter; he brought two mason's picks with him u-od in that work.

In 1810, the township being attached to Deerfield, which had been organized several years before, David Baldwin, Jr., was elected Justice of the Peace, receiving his commission from Gov. Huntington. The first entry on the docket of the Squire was April 1. ISII, in a case of debt and damage, being Lewis Day vs. Lewis Ely, which was, however, settled by arbitration. The first trial before him occurred the following fall. Petition having been made and granted, the township was organized, and the first election held April 3, 1815, at the atore of EUcanah Morse, wbioh reanlted in the election of

Ira Morse, Justice of the Peace: Joremiah Jones, Town Clerk; Gideon Chittenden, Joseph Marshall, Amos Morse, Trustees; David Baldwin, Jr., Caleb Ifatftoon, Oreraeon of Ihe Poor; In Hanafteld, Charles Ohiliteiiden, Fonoe Viewers; John H. "Whittlesey, Josiah Mix. David Baldwin, Jr., Supervisors; Almon Chittenden, Constable; David Baldwin, Jr., Treasnrer, which office the latter held for twenty-one years; he died on the 23d of December, 1837, after a long and niefal life.

The first marriage that occurred in the township was solemnized January 28, 1807, the parties bein» Josiah Mix, Jr., and Sally Mattoon; Lewis Day, of Deertield, officiated. On the 23d of April Jared Scranton and f hcebe Ifotocm united their fbrtanea, and Day also officiated. The next fall Ifioaos Baldwin and Nancy Botdb were married. In the spring of IBOS Maria Stmng, daughter of William Strong, died, at the age of seven years, and her grave was the first in the little cemetery at the southwest corner of the Center. In the fall following, on September 1, 1808, David Baldwin died.

The first sheep brought to the township were procured at Georgetown by John H. WhittlpHey and Jeremiah Jones, who on their trip to the point named, while traveling through the dense forest, came upon and captured an immense

. bear, to which they ^ doae enoogh to strike with a dnb on the note. They brotight twelve sheep and the bear back with them, but were in a dilemma bow

The first mill was pat up by Asa Hall, on Yellow Oreek^ In the norUieBat part of the township^ wbtoh was, poadbly, the greatest aoqniaition then made to the township.

John Norton, who lives one mile and one- fourth north of the Center, and ^ whoee father, Jerry Norton, came from Dorham, Oonn., in 1812, has in his

I possession a musket that no doubt has the history that its possessor givee of it. Mr. Norton says that it bolongod to his father's great-grandfather, and that it came over in the Mayflower in 1020. It was five feet, six and one-half indies in length, but has had four or five inches eat tttm it No gun of the character of this one has been made later than 250 years, and it is precisely like one or two others that camo over in the Mayflower, now owned by New England families, who possess indisputiible evidence in regard to them.

If aj. Banaom Baldwin has a powder horn that was carried through the Revolutionary strugglo. The first Postmaster in the township was Caleb Atwuter, a grandson of the original proprietor. Charles Bradley, Sr., who is ninety-two years of age, is the oldest man in the township.

** The Qaeen of the Harem," Amelia Folsome, one of tiie wives of Brigham Tonnf^. was bom in Buffalo, and settled at Atwater Station with her parents,

Mrs. Susan Carter (widow of James Carter, who is supposed to have been mnrdered md his body sabeeqaently placed on the trai^) was killed by a pass* ing train in December, 1S8-1, near Atwater.

On January 3, 1885, Dr. Be%'inp^ton, of Freedom, was killed and Miss Eva Elliott nearly killed by u train on this road just north at Atwater Station.

Early Ghnrehee and Preachers. - ^The first sermon preabbed by a Freabyterian minister in the township in supposed to have been one delivered by Bev. Leslie, at the house of Maj. ManHfit ld, in I SOS, which may have been in the spring or summer, as Kev. Mr. Scott, a Prebbyierian minister, preached the funeral ser* mon of David Baldwin, Sr., in September of the year named. In 1806 a Rev. Mr. Ely visited the settlement and preached regularly that year. A nnmber of ministers visited the township at different times, antil 1812, when

Deacon Ozias Norton came in and began holding services in a small log-house at the Center. About this time an event occurred that gave evidence that thooe early worahipors had not lost their patriotism, for on one Satorday thej raoeived notioe that 'nearly all the able bodied men would be reqaired to march to the seat of war on Monday, so the son of Deacon Norton mended all their shoes, and the women made their knapsacks on the Sabbath. In 1813 Deacon Norton left, and from that lime till 1816, when bis place was filled by Deacon Jonathan Baldwin, the spiritual wants of the settlers were rap* plied by missionaries who would visit occasionally. No regular services were held, however, till 1818, when, according to previous notice, on the 2()th of March a little band a^isembled at the house of Sylvester Baldwin, ^hioh was organized into a chnrchi Beva Oaleb Pitkin, William Hanford and Joaeph Treat ofiBciating. After a sermon by Rev. Treat, eleven persons were formed into a church, namely . Deacou Jonathan Baldwin and wife, Aaron Baldwin and wife, Joseph C. Baidwiu and wife, Sylvester Baldwin and wife, John H. Whitileaey and wif^ and Mra. Baohel Norton. Meetinga were held in Tariona bouses and iu a log schoolhouse until 1822, when a Hmall brick church was erected a few rods from where the present church now stands, which was used till the elegant and commodious editice that now adorns the Center was dedi> cated, tihat anrent oooorrinf; November 7, 1841, Prof. HiekoK pceaching tiie dedicatory sermon. Bev. E. C. Sharp became the regular pastor June 1, 1842, and for upward of a quarter of a century continued in charge of the church, dying in 1867. Bev. John Field preached one year as stated supply iu the little briok ehnrch abont 1824.

The old Methodist Church of the Center, built in 1821 near the Center Square, is now used as a barn by J. M. White, one mile and a fourth south of the Center. The first preaching of the Methodist Episcopal Church was at flw Joaiah ICiz bonastead. The next honae of worahip the Center waa a schoolhouse pnreliaaad by the society. Then the building now used as a town hall was erected and used until sold for ?8(X) to the town. "With this $800 and subscriptions a new building was erected at Atwater Station, foorteen jean ago, and dedicated by Rev. Moaea Hill. The praaahan ainee that time were B. F. Wade, Rev. John Brown, George lUlioit, Sherwood, Jamea Axel I. Mark McCaslin, C. H. Merchant, and Moore, the present pastor. There are abont fifty members. Tlie land on which the church stands was donated bj J. H. Whittlesey, and Mr. Hillyw donated abont $3,000. Thia building, when finished, was paid for and dedicated.

Holy Teinne Dutch Reformed Lutheran Church, of Atwater, was organized as a society, under State Law, December 7, 1850, and elected Michael Jaiser, O. Beichke, and Jamea Miller, Tniateea, and Jaoob Botman, Olerk. This ehnroh ia two and a half milea aonth of Oentetv and ia one of the old religions associations of the county.

The first school is supposed to have been taught hf Mrs. Almon Chittenden in 1806-07, at the Center, in a little log-house that is now gone. Another is said to have been taught abont 180Q in the southwestern portion of the township, but the exact location and the old oneer teacher are now numbered among the forgotten things. The condition of the schools of this township in August, 1884, is shown by the following statistics: 21-1 boys and 193 girls enrolled in primary school Total revenue, $3,445.09; paid teachers, $2,275.75; number of schoolhonses, 0; valued at $7,000. Average monthly pay of male teachers, $39; of female teachers, $21.

The Sharp Sickle was published at Atwater by William Hicks up to the time^of the eiditor'a death in 1879. The preaa need in the office ie now in possessioD of William Stratton. The Atwater iVet^ was issued in July, 1SS4, and oesMd after the pablioatioo of a few sumbera. Owing to the fact that thp Xeirn wafl printed at Allinncp, fnll postal rates werecolleoted bera. This was one of the main rensons for discontinainrj this journal.

The first hotel at the Station was opened by Mrs. Massie White, in a house built by Joel Haugh. Mrs. White conducted the house for some yeais, under the name of the (^lonade, now the Atwater House, whidi is at present oper* ated by Abrnm Huffman. In 1881 Abram HnflTiuan opened a hotel in a house which he built opponito the present Atwater House. The American House is also conducted as u hotel, with W. A. Loomis, proprietor. Wells Hillyar eondneted ahotel at the Center for many years. There was also another hoose opened there and condurtHd for n time.

The Atwater Stone ware Company's Works were established by Pardee <!k Loomis, and a company was organized February 22, 1871, with A. W. Loomis, J. B. Oonrad, Joseph T. French, £. M. Chapman and Joseph Peck, members. The capital stock w^as $r)0,OCH\ This Company went into liquidation, and the works were snspended, until {)nrchjiaed by George Stroup. The value of buildings and ])iHnt is placed at $4,(H)0, and of annual product $9,000. This industry gives employment to ten men.

Atwater ('oal Company was organizetl May 1, T>TI, with George L. Inger* BoU, S. A. Fuller, A. K. Spencer, John Hutchina, J. K. IngersoU and J. C. Hutchins, for the purpose of mining and selling coal, building railroads, etc., ete. The capital was $300,000 in $100 sharea Iq Jnly, 1878, the stock was reduced to Si < *<\f^00. An explosion in the mines of this company killed ten men a short time after the opening of the works. Since that time the mine ha.s been closed down. Another coal bank is operated by \Voolford on the Spires coal land. John Spires & Sons' pottery was established 1^ Pardee & Husted on lands belonging to Mr. Hill}(>r. William F. Bums operated the works until his death. The present owners have operated the works since 1878. This industry gives employment to twelve men annually. The capacity is 6,000 gallons of stone- ware per week or about 1,000 tons of clay annually. The value of annual jirodnpt ranges abou* $7,(HH) or $8,000 per year. The raju-ket for both stoue-ware and tile (the latter munufacttired at the works three and a half miles east of Atwater Station), extends over the Eastern and Western States. O. J. Ellison is Sa|»erintendent of the ware works at Atwater Station.

A saw mill was erected by Capt. Hart in IhUo, which was the pioneer manufacturing industry. Many of the pioneers believe that this mill was on the town line, and the same^whioh Abel L Hall eondneted snbeeqnently.

George Stroup's saw mill, one and one-foiirtli miles north of the Station, was established and operated by Stacey Dole about thirty-two years ago, as a muley*mill. This is now operated by Mr. Stroup of the Atwater stone-ware works.

David Class operates a steam saw-mill and grist mill just north of the Center. This was built by Grannis &, Co., and run by cattle-power. Grannis also operated a grist-mill at this point.

The Spires' saw-mill, three and a half miles east, was constructed by J<An Spires sixteen years ago. The capacity is stated at 10,000 feet per day. Th'ire is a planing-roill in connection with this saw mill.

dnring the year 1884, seventy-five caskets, and attended a like numl>er of bnrial services. Their business calls them to visit the cemeteries of Atwater, Bandolpb, Bootstown, Edinborg, Palmyra, Deerfield, Berlin, North Benton, Snfield, and Marlbonx

Homer Hillyer was appointed first railroad agent in July-, 1851. Tlio lirst shipment was a lot of cheese from B. Huff, who procured it from his broom's faotorj at Bootstown. This wra shipped to bnt Huffnever rsceivsd the prise of the goods. What is now the Thomas & Jones blacksmith shop was a portion of the first depot. In January, 188 1, Mr. Hillyer retired, when Daniel Townsend, the present a^ent, was appointed. The shipments from Atwater Station per month are 161 tons, principally stdne- ware and butter.

In nildition to the industries named above are William Stoutberger's wagon shop at the Center, and a carriage shop, marble shop and two blacksmith shops at the Station. The mercantile circle is made np of J. H. Green & Co. and Webber & Webber at the Center, and Baith & Jackson at the Station; H. H. Woolf's hardware, Stanford & Co.'s furniture store, and W. T. McConney's drug store at the Station, and Craig Bros.' agriculturjil implement warehouse southwest of the Station. Rev. Rosswell CLapin, Congregational Church, Bey. Mioore, Methodist Chnmh, Dr. E. 'Warrington, Dr. O. A. Lyon, and Dental Surn;eon W. A. Loomis, represent the professions in the township. Clarence Green is Postmaster at the Center, and A. Y. Wilisey at the Station.

Conl Bank," proprintor Charles Mnrehead, which usually runs about eight or ten men; a steam saw-mill one mile north of the Station, and a ISweitzer kase factory, Jacob Matti, proprietor.

TownOk^ OJl0ei«.^Trastees: Edgar Whittlesey, W. T. Ifendenha11» Levi Heiser; Clerk, B. F. Hathaway; Treasurer, E. T. Goodman, Assessor, Abner Hoskins; Constables, Charles Gtoodman, William Baith; Jostices of the Peace, H. H. Woolf, S. A. Hinman.

Atwater famished for the service of their ooiuiry in the war for <be Union, seventy-two soldiers, fonrteen of whom liud down Uietr lives, and four were disable<i

The country is strictly agricultural, and the land is first class, tolerably well watered and gently rolling:. The Oleveland & Pittsburgh Branch of the great Pennsylvania system of railways affords an exoelleDt diipping point at Atwater Station for the products of tht> township.

PioNEEit Wife - Otiiku Settlkhs - Eaui.v Hardships- Ouoanization - The Methodist Circuit Rider - First Chi iu ir and Si hools - First Birth AND Death and Othkr Fikst Things - Hunters and IIi xtino Stories - Early Facts - A Small Mestino with Labok Besuli^ - Cuubghes and Schools - Business, etc. - Statistigs.

AURORA is koown in the surveys as Town 5, Rango 9. The origiDal proprietors were David, Ebenezer and Fidelio Kin^ and Martyn Sheldon; John Leavitt, Qideon Granger and Ebenezer ShiudafiD, Jr^ also liad interests.

The first white man to ent«r the township for settlement was Ebenezer Sheldon, of Soffield, Conn., who arrived in his futnre far Western home in June, 1799. fie selected Lot 40, and with the assistance of Elias Harmon and his wife conunenoed a clearing and made preparations for a small crop. Harmon and wife came in the same month as Sheldon, and were employed by him. Ifrs. Harmon was the first white woman to come into the township, bat after setting throngb with their job they moved to Mantoa. Sheldon returned to Oonneoticut, and in the following spring (1800) brou^^t out his wife, four sons ^ ! and two daughters. They came all the way with an ox team and a pair of horses, and a small, rude wagon. After arriving at Warreu they rested over nifi;ht, but the next day started aeroas the wilderness of woods, and were ovfv« . taEen by what we would now call a moderate cyclone. The wind tore up immense trees by the roots and split and splintered them and threw them about in Buch a manner that Sheldon and his wagons were penned in. They had to remain in their perilous situation all night, and were only released by getting aasiatanee and outting a road out But Sheldon was of that sturdy race of pioneers, those grand old heroes to whose daring, perseverance and endurance we owe the settlement of this splendid Western country, so he quietly settled down on his place, built a log-cabin, put out his erop and lived there the bal* anoe of his days.

' Sheldon Justice of the Peace, but the duties for the first three years, at least, were not very onerous; in fact, the only official act performed during that time by the Squire was marrying his daughter Huldah to Amzi Atwater, of Mantua, November 21, 1801. Sheldon nsod to sny, facetiously, that ho oft<?n tried, during the first few years of his official career, to kick up a fuss with his wife, in order to make bosineea, but that she always got the upper hand of him. Mrs. Sheldon was one ol those women that natare seems to provide for OMTtain emergencies and conditions. She was lar^o and healthy, and of great strength of character, besides being more than ordinarily handsome and intelliginit, and although dignified in appearance and manner, had a flow of spirits and a bnoyaney of disposition that seemed almost essential in the lonesome w^ilderness to keep up the conrago and 'dotermi nation of the sterner sex. She used to tell her husband during those three years when they were the only family in Aurora, and when anything would perplex him, that his wife was "the smart+>&t and best-lookinf^ woman in the township," and well she mi^ht have thuH boasted, for it was many a long day, even after the township became more thickly flettled, fbat the had an equal, mmdi less a saperior. After the death of her hiisbnnd, which occurred in August, 1829, she made her homo with her daughter Haldah, in Mantua, and died December 11, 1846, aged eightjr-six years.

eons and daughters, and settHncr on Lot 18, whero Gen. X^lson E^(2:Ic^ton now resides at the Center. His sons, Saiuuol. Olivor, Chauncy, Kousselaof and Dryden, were those who came with him, but another sou, Walter, remained in Pittaburgh* where he afterward became difltingniefaed in the law. He was t'ditor of tho first Democratic paper in Pittsburgh, the Tree (>f JJh,'rtii\ a mi>mbt'r of Congress in 1822, Socretary of the Treasury under Tyler, and Charge D'Afifaires to Denmark. The father died in IS21, aged sixty- nine years, having been a man of stem integrity, great strength of eharooter, generous and genial in ordinary life, and an upright Judt^o. he having boon honnrod by his fellow citizens with the position ol Associate Jadge. His widow died in 1832, aged eighty years.

In la04 eame James M. Henry, from Blandford, Mass., with his family, and settled on Lot 13. The wife of Honry was a lineal doscnndant of tho sister of Oliver Cromwell, and tho descomlants of the Henrys have in th«nr possession to this day (we believe now in Cleveland), a Bible presented by the great Proteelor to his sister Margaret Also in l^M came from Massaohu- \ setts John Cochran. Jr. and David Kennedy. Sr., and George Holrolh, from Connecticut, and thoir families; also David Kennedy, Jr., Eber Kennedy and Justin Kennedy, sous of Dav;d Kennedy, Sr., Samuel Ferguson and sevoral otheTB, all single men. Ebsr Kennedy was noted for his remarkable strength.

In 1805 came Solomon Cochran and family, from Blandford. !Mns9., together with the widow, Mary Cannon, mother of Eli and Stephen Cannon, and Horace Granger, a single man, from Saffield, Conn.

In 1800 arrived from Middlofield, Mass., Moses Eggleston, father of Gen. Nelson Egc^laston, who residtnl where ho settled till a few years before his death, which occurred in Aurora Center in 1860. His brother, Joseph Eggleston, Robert Bissell and family, and CapL Perkins and family, also from Middletield, Mass.; Samuel McConnaughy and family, from Blandford; Isaac Blair and Col. Ebenezer Harmon, son-in law of Squire Harmon, all came in this year and made settlements. John Cochran, Sr., in attempting to follow the fortunes of his son, who had come out two years previously, was taken sick at Buffalo, N. Y., and died, where he was buried, ho lx>ing the first white person interred there. The balance of the family continued their journey, and after many hardships arrived at Aurora. In the family w&s a crippled daugh- ; ter, Rhode, then twenty years of age, who was intrusted to the care of a little sister, Laura, only thirteen years of age, who walkod almost the entire distance beside the wagon in which iihoda was transported. This little girl, Laura, afterward Mrs. Stephen Cannon, used to take great interest in describ* \ ing how her feet were blistered and how tired she would get walking along the lonesome road. In this year, 180^. occurred'a total eclipse of the sun, and as'- the event was unknown to, or forgotten by, the most of the early settlers, con- . siderable consternation prevailed when the darkness began to obscure the sky.

During the spring of 1807 quite a*boom oooorred to the little settlement^ and matters were vecy stirring, as wagon after wagon arrived in different por- tions of thp township, and thv new comprs were looking up their lands and makiug clearings. Seventy-two persons came out, almost in one body, and among the heads bt families may be mentioned Benjamin Eggles* ton, Jt^remiah Boot, Samuel Taylor, Brainerd Spencer and Amos Sweet, all of whom are now dead bat three. AUo. in 1807, came John C. Singletary and Samuel and Caleb Baldwin and their families. October 12, lb07, the township was organized, and Samuel Forward was elected Jmliee of the Peaea The eettlement now boiran to assume somewhat the appearance of civilization, as roadp woro beginnin*? to !)o cut out, and an occasional waf^n eould be aeon winding its way through the woods from the distant mill.

In 1808 came Justus and Horace Bissell and families, and settled on Iiota 11 and 12; also Maj. Elijah Blackman, Elijah Blackman, Jr., Samnel Blackman and Abner Pea.se and their families, who settled on Lots 10, 20 and 27, Maj. Blackman served through the war of 1812-14, and died in 1822.

In 1809 Bohan Blair, Septimus Witter and James W. Herrick came, and in 1810 the widow Anne Kent and three sons; also Dr. Eaekiel Sqnirse, wha settled on Ijot 38. He was the first physician to settle in Aurora, and it can readily be imagined that he was welcome. From this year ( 1810) till 1820 many families settled in the township, all of whom were from the New England States. Doring this decade came the Sewards, Wheelers, Bileys, Pakecs, Plnms, Bosaelb, Crooks, Pacaons, Spencera, Iiaoeys, Hnrds, JadoMna and otliers.

lu 1802 the tirst sermon was preached at Ebeuuzer Sheldon's house; there were present tfr. Sheldon and his family. This was the first sermon in the

Previous to 1S(>9 the settlors hold reliijious services every Siil)ltat!j, but had no regular pastor, they conducting the servi9es themselves; but on December 80 of thia year a number uf persons assembled at the honse of John O. Sin. gletary, pursuant to a call made by Bev. Nathan B. Darrow, a missionary sent out by the Congregatioftal ilissionary Society of Connecticut, and formed themselves the next day, Sunday, into a church organization. The names of those forming thia society were BbeneMr and Lanra Sheldon, James M. and Sarah Henry, Septimna and Anna Witter, Mary Eggleaton, Thankful Lucretia Root, Mary Cannon, Jeremiah Ro<it and Brainard Spencer. Jeremiah Boot, at the iirst election, was eiecteti Elder. Brainard Spencer succeeded Deacon Boot. In 1811 Bev. John Seward became the pastor of the choroh and filled that posi tioD for over thirty years. The first church stood where the Presbyterian building now is.

The Congregational Church was reorganized and incorporated March 20, 1872, when Alanson Parker, J. L. Thompson, C. Eggleaton, Solomon Little and Frank Hui 1 were elected Trustees, and ('. H. Rout, Clerk.

The Discifdes Church was reorr^anized under State law May 11, 1855, with Victor M. Cannon, A. V. Jewell and J. Bartholomew, Trustees, and Ebenezer SheMon,f OlerL The name adopted was Diseiplea in Aurora.

'Die school was an institution here as early as the winter of 1803-04. Samuel Forward, Jr.. opened one in a little bnildiriL: on the Square at the Center, and he had as pupils Julia Forward, Ebenezer Sheldon, Jr., Gersham Shel* don, Qeorge Sheldon, Festns Sheldon, Cbanncy Forward, Rensselaer Forward and Diyden Forward. The next school was taught hy Oliver Forward, and the third bv Polly Cameron, in 1807. As nn illustration of the feeling of the times, and showing that politics ran fully as high as at present: "This old school-master. Oliver Forward, delivered a Fourth of July oration at the Cmtar in 1808, and all the Federalists went to Hudson to avoid it They didn't

-want to be in the same town while it was boinn; delivered. " The following J statiBtics show the condition of Bchools in August, 18S4: Bo^-s enrolled, 7G; girls, 71; revenue, $4,632.41; expMiditune^ 98,908b92| number of school boildingH. 7, valned at $5,500; avtrage pay of male teaohera, $54; of female, $33.

The first birth in the township occurred in the family of Oliver Forward, when a son was born to him April 6, 1804, whom he named Cromwell, after his distinguished ancient relative. The second birth was that o*f JHrnoH Henry, aon of James M- Henry, in ISOO; and the third, in the panie year. wa.s a son born to John Cochran, Jr., whom he uamed Loveritt W., and who in after years was an honored member of the Ohio Legislatmre, besidee holding other officps. The first defith was that of Rhoda Cochran, the crippled q^irl who came out with her mother in 1804. 8he was afflicted with inflammatory rheumatism, and died December 25, 1800, aged twenty-two years.

The first human habitation erected in the township was a log-cabin put up about two miles east of the Center, by Ebenezer Sheldon, and Samuel Forward * built the next at the Center. They were, of conrwe, of the most primitive pattern; consisting of round logs, puncheon floors, cot and clay chimneys, etc., etc The first mill, it being a combination saw and gviat, was located near the Station, and was run by Septimus Witter. It was a great convenienoe to the settlers when first erected, as they had, up to that time, to go many miles to get their grinding done. The first distillery, a small one - and the only one, by the way - was erected at an early day, but it did not thrive as well as they do in some other localities, and it was abandoned many years ago. The first tavern was built about 1812, and is the pn^seut re.sideuce of Gen. Eggleston, the building having been remodeled. It was kept by Judge Samuel Forward. A large ashery was run for many jrears by Hdpsou Hurd, who also had a pearl ash oven, and 8hip[>ed lar^e quantities to Pittsburgh. Hopson Hurd ^ also brought the first stock of goods, and sold them for a good round price, at least his wet goods, getting 50 cents and 75 cents per drink for brandy. Mr. Hurd was also the first Postmaster at the Center. In the fall of 1809 $200 was raised hy Rubqrriiitiou for the purpose of erecting a Town House, but as money was extremely hard to get, and the cash not being forthcoming, a vote was taken on the second Tuesday of January, 1810, which resulted in the affirmative, that the ai^ticles of sugar and lumber which were subscribed should be "delivered by the Ist of May, and the <^aiu by the first of November, next." The building was finished in the early |)art of 1811, and on the following Fourth of July a ball was held within its sacred walls, but it was saored nevermore, for the church people, who had, ever since its erectiont been using it as a place of worship, would never enter it again for religious orposes. Joseph Skinner, the versatile JoEoph, of Mantua, of whom more ereafter, famished the catgut," as an old settler remarked to the writer. Some of the most noted hunters were Benjamin Williams, Maroos Taylor* Jarvis McConnaughy and William Crojks and his son (renrf^o. Game was, of oomrse, plenty, and bear, deer and turkey meat were hud almost for the asking. There was a famous hunt participated in by the Nimrods of Aurora, which took place in Streetsboro, bat further mention of that will be made elsewhere. One of the lar^rest bears ever killed in the conntv wa.s brouirht down from the limb of a tree on Squire Forward's place, and he was so large and fat that the gambrel upon whioh he was hung up is preserved to this day with date, weight etc.. marked upon it. About ten or a do/en wolves were caoghtin a SWamp in 1827, and the l3oys, armed mostly with eliibq. (bispntched every one of them. A ' den of yellow rattlesnakes was unearthed in the southern part of the township, '

, EggleBton, taught aduwl in Springfield^ nowSnmmit County, and during one I of her trips across tho oonntry, lost her way and had to stay in the forest all I night. Not long after she had tied her horse and laid down, a pack of wolves ' oame howling aroond, whidh, eeariog her hone, eansed him to break looae. I She then thought it waa all over with her, when, to her delight, the horse came up and stood over her, evidently seeking protortion from her whom he waa beet protecting by bis poeition. She held him by the bri<Ue all night, and the 1 rays of the morning sun, glinting through the treee, were the most weltome i she had ever Been.

Capt Harmon, during the war of 1812, at the time of Hull's surrender, formed a company for service, but they were not needed, although they marched aa far as Hnron nsd remained in the servloe several weeks. Worthy Taylor, who is now about ninety jeara of age and the oldest man in the township, was a gallant soldier in the war of isrj. Owen Brown, father of "old -John Brown " whose soul went marching on so peacefully a couple of decades ago, married one of his wives, Sallie Boot, in this township. She was not the mother, however, of the immortal Jc^m. Some years ago Truman Howard and sons operated a hand rake factory noar thp dppot and sold warron loads of their product' but the horse rake 8[>oiled their business. Cheese making was one of the earliest industries, and the handicraft of the thrifty New Englanders in thi^ line has not passed away from them to this day, as they yet make the finest cheese in the northwestern section of the county. November 8, 1859, Alanson Baldwin was murdprp 1 by his nephew, Lemuel W. Price, who ' was tried and scntuncod to the penitentiary for life. A somewhat noted , alander suit oecoired in Aurora in the early days. Bairiet Perfciiw said some- ! thing derogatory to the character of Thankful Bissell, for which she was tried ' and a jndrrm<^nt rendered against her of a gallon of whisky. Old Squire Fort ward was the referee.

Kovembear 26, Qw. Nelson Eggleeton isaaed a notice for a preliminary meeting to be held at the Eggleston Tavern for the purpose of arranging for a larger meeting to be held, to take into consideration the feasibility of oonstructiog a railroad. The meeting was held, being attended by Alanson Baldwin, Ohairraan; Nelson Eggleeton, Se«etai7» and Moaea Eggleston, A. W. Stocking and two others. The result of this meeting was the boilding of two important lines of railway through Portage County.

Aurora Iron Company was organized February 1, 160(3, for the purpose of manofactnring wrooght iron from Iron ova. The capital was $60,000. The members wece Evan Mbaes, William Davis, T. Q. Bees, T. J. Bees and U. N. Gardner.

The history of apple stealing from P. P. Mcintosh in 1819, points out the arrest and trial of a few of the boys. ^It appears that Boyal Taylor and Harrej Baldwin, of Aurora, went sooth to avoid arrest in re the apples, and took with thorn a small stock of cheese. This resultetl in the Southern cheese trade, which became the leading industry of northern Portage County. Mcintosh, the proseentor of the boys, died March 9, 1682.

There ia a veary fine Presbyterian Church at the Center, Bev. George C. Lyon, pastor; also a Christian Church with no regular pastor; both have good Sonday-schools. General stores, C. B. Harmon, Hard & Bro.} Postmaster, O. R Harmon; John Gould, Editw.

At the Station, general store, Charles Russell; grocery, Burroughs; Postmaster, C. Russell. There is a grist-mill owned by Herbert Carleton and - saw-mill by C. R. Howard; two che^e factories and creameries.