Portage County, Ohio - Chapter 26, 1885

Chapter 26

The Vanguard - Pionkkr Danikls - Capt. Baldwin, Trum ax Gii.nKUT, Arte- MUS KuooLKS - The (iKE vi Trail - A Noted CnAUAcxER - I'ioneku Den- TisTUY - A Famous Trapper - An Irate F. F. \ . - "Moses .Iare" Gilbert, THE CoMTKACTOB - Numerous First Events - Pkeauier and Cbubohbb - Schools and Tbaohbbs - ORaAnizATioN - FalictbaCrmtbb^ Diamond - Goal Baotcs - Busdibbs, Socibtzbs asd SrATurioi.

PALBfTAA. is one of ths townsfaipe that reoeiTed ito firat teltler in Jnna, 1799, there being three otherSt Ravenna, Aurora and Atwator, with Deerfield following in Julj. It was known in the original surveys niraply as Town 2, Range 6, and in the general drawing of the shares of Uxe Connecticut Laud CSompany fell to the Tot of Elijah, Homer, and Ds^d B. Boardman, Elijah 'Wadsworth, Jonathan Giddinga, Zepbaniah Briggs, Stanley Griswold and Roderick Wolcott. The Board mans were brothers, Elijah being the principal owner of the tovmahip. Ue was one of the sorveTing parly that oame to the townahip in 1707 wfih Anun Atwater and Wareham Shephera.

David Daniels, the loader in the yanguard of the little band of soldiers of civilization who settled and helped make habitable this fine township of Falm^a, arrived on the scene of a<^ion Jane 4, 1799, and settling on Lot 21, one mile and - half sonth of the Center. This hardy pioneer was bom in Grattoo, Oonn., and as a reward for his daring and determination in ventaring i&to a country that had hardly felt the tread of a white man, and when everything was as wild as nature had originally formed it, w^ given 100 acres of land by the proprietors. Soon after he bad made a small clearing and thrown together a rude cabin, he put out an acre and a half of wheat, which he cut the following season, and carried one buRhel of the grain on his back to Poland, thirty miles distant, had it ground and brought it back. His wife was Lucinda Meigs, cousin of Gov.; Meigs, of Ohio. Daniels died July 13, 1813, highly reepected by all, and much honoared as the first Justice of the Peace of the township. He had also been a gallant soldier of the Revolutionary Army. His widow survived him till 1849, having lived to the advanced age of eighty-three years. They had six children: Electa, Frederick, Horace, Orville, Harvey W. and Ahnira. The first two were bonk in Ommeotioat, the third in Mahoning County, and the last three in Palmyra.

Shortly after Daniels made his clearing, in the fall of tbe same year, Ethelbert Baker came in and settled about half a mile south of the Center, on the west side of the road, but after a few years sold oat to John Tattle, who came in 1805. The next spring, 1800, William Bacon came in and settled one mile and a quarter south of the Center. In 1S02 Baker and Bacon brooght out their families, and at the same time came E. Cutler, who had manried a daughter of Nehemiah Bacon, and located two milee aonfli of the Center. In 1803 Baker cleared a piece of land on the southeaat oomer at the Center, which whs the first improvement in that locality.

Bistort Of Portaoe Oountt

hnnter, nnd it Beomed to be a hereditary ambition, as his mother, it ia said, even after she got too old to see them, used to hunt the " varmints " down on all occEisions. There was an immense den of yellow " rattlers" at the Ledge^** in the western part of the township, and much sport was had and a great deal of satisfaction afforded in getting rid of the dangerous reptiles.

In 1805 many immigrants from Connecticut arrived, among whom were several families who became prominent in after yeurs, and whose descendants are to-day the leading people of ih« township. David Waller, Silas Waller, Aiahel Waller nnd John Tuttle, Jr., came in. The Wallers begnn making improvements on the southeast corner at the Center, and put up a log- house there. The same year they cleared a piece of land half a mile north of the Center. David Waller brought a number of fmit trees from Deerfield on his back and set them out. which wfusthe starting of the olrl orchard that afterward afforded such fine fruit. He afterward cleared and lived on one or two other places, but finally lost all his property by having too much confidence in depraved human natnra He oonld nerar reftuse going upon the bond or note of friends, and »o lost all by their unpratefnlness or inability to pay. He died in 1840. Asahel Waller lived only si ven years after ho settled hpre, dying in the great epidemic that prevailed in 1812. This visitation was in the form of a very malignant fever, and was so virulent as to baffle the skill of the physicians in nearly every case, Silas TVallor died in Poland.

In this year, 1805, also came Capt, John T. Baldwin from Warren, Litchfield Co., Conn., bringing his wife and three sons, Alva, John and Tibbals. They arrived July 7, and their wagon wan the seoond that eame through by the '* Old Palmyra Road." there being at the time not a sinr^le house between Cantiold and Campbellsporl They camped at what is now the Square at the Center, along side of a post that had been erectml to designate where the Center waa TItey then moved into a small log-honse that h^ been bnilt by Baker, where they lived two months, when they moved to the farm where hi a pon. Squire Alva Baldwin, now lives. Two years afterward the Captain opened a tavern, and in lS2o moved to Toledo, where he died. He and David Waller brought the first load of salt from Cleveland, the trip ooeopying five days, bni the salt was worth ?20 per barrel, which paid th{>m a handisorae profit, havinr^ coBt them about $12. The old gentleman was a kind and generous man, and had a fund of wit and humor that always made his tavern a ^reat place of reeorL Many stories are told of his playf al johes, one of whioh is how he shaved a vain younp; fellow who had-no beard, with the back of a razor, having lathered him carefully, and the primitive "dude" never knew any better. His son Alva still occupies the old homestead, and is as hearty and genial an old gentleman, apparently, as his ftitiier. , He is now eighty-nine years of age, having been born in 1795. He was in the war of 1812-14, althour^^h only seventeen or ei^'hteen years of age. His father, the Captain, served with Gen. Harrison in the position of Commissary, which gave him his title. There is a rose bosh in the front yard of Sqnire Alva Baldwin's residenee that was planted by his mother in 1805, and it still blnnm^ Cn|it, P>aldwin was one of the first Connnissiouers of the county. John Baldwin was for many years a steamboat Captain un the lakes. John McArthur, a brother of the wife of Capt. Baldwin, oame in at the time the Baldwins did, md settled on a pieoe of land in the southwest portion of the township. He was a Jnstioe of the Peaoe, and died in 1818.

In 180G there arrived from Litchfield, Conn., Truman Gilbert, Sr., his wife, seven sons and one daughter: Charles, Tmman, Jr., Lymani Marvin, Dr. Bsra, Walter, CSiampion and Bebeooa, the latter being now the widow of Ebenezer BnoUey, and is eighty-five years of age, remarkably weU pretwed In mind and health, and as giaxftU sooial, kind-hearted and even jolly, as, possibly, she was half a century ago. Her husband was in the war of 1812, and the old lady, some years ago, had a pension almost forced upon her. She retains a Tiyid recollection of the past, and can tell as good a snake tloiy tm any of her neighbors, for she lives not far from the "Ledge," and has seen many of the old-time yellow reptiles. Charles Gilbort, the eldest son, had a family of nine, and forty-tire years elapsed before a single death occnrred among them, a remarkable instance, and a fact tolerably disooaraging to any undertaker to settle amcjiig Buch undying families. There is an apple tree on the place of Warner Gilbert that was planted in 1806. When Tmman'; Gilbert was raising his bouse in 1806, and was being assisted by the neighbors, as osnal, and some Indians, an eclipse of the sun occurred, which badly' frightened the latter. Tbsj left the work, got out their bows and arrows and | began firing their arrows up into the heavene in the direoti<Hi of the bIowIjI darkening sun, to scare o£f the evil spirit

In this year, 1806, also came Noah Smith, from Connecticut, who brought with him a colored girl, but the following year the Legislature of the State passed a law making it a penal offence to bring a negro into the State, whereupon the vigilant Trustees of the township had the audacious Smith arrested, and after due trial, fined; but Smith appealed his case to the Common Pleas Court, whioh reversed the decision of the eminent Judges of the lower tribunal, the court holding that laws in general, and this law in partioolar, under the circumstances, were not retroacting.

- The great Indian frail from Fort l£sIntosh on the Ohio to Sandusky passed through this township, and it was along thu trail, just north of the Center, that the Indians and their purflnor^ went after the shooting of Diver, in Deerfield. Brady, of '^Leap" notoriety, also took this trail in his excursions against the savages. Niokshaw's eabin was on this trail, in this township, not ^ tar fran Baldwin*s and near a epring. v^>^ I The year 1807 brought in quite a number of Bettlera to different parts of the township, but there was one man who was, possibly, more of an acquisition in a utilitarian sense, than any who had preceded him. This was Bmegles. a native of Connecticut, and a large-hearted, sturdy, honest, courageous and ready-witted man, whose services in a new country were just exactly what were needed and desired. He was a blacksmith by trade, and as the say- ! ing goes, oonld make almost anything out of iron, besides being handy in many other watye. He made all the traps for all this section of country, inolud* ing two or three townships, and literally every "bull plow" that the settlers used for years. In addition to his many other useful qualities, he combined i that of dentistry in a primitive way. Mr. Alva Baldwin says it seemed to do ' Ruggles good to get an opportunity to extract a tooth. He would take hold of a fine large molar with his "turnikey," as he called it, give the instrument a ^*yank," and sit down and laugh at the suffering patient, holding up at the same time the captured tooth. He was a noted trapper, and he and his sons caught numbers of wolves, bears and small game. Being a atioiig, compact and active man, with the ondarance of an Indian, very few could throw, or "out-do" him, and very few ventured to try it. He died in 1854.^ This same year, 1807, came in David Gano, a Virginian, from Hampshire Coonty, and settled two and a half miles north of the Center. He was in character somewhat like Ruggles, sturdy and honest and as hardy as he was brave. He was anything but a quarrelsome man, and his motto was, "Never give an insult nor take one." He was a great wolf killer and bear hunter, and held hie, native State in profound reverence. To sooh extent was be sensitive on this latter point that he whipped half n dozen men from " Jarscy " who had dared to speak lightlj of the Old Doiaiuion. He lived to a ripe old age, highly reepeoted for us many good qualities.

The first improvemsnts on the southwest corner of the Center were made by James Briggs, who came in 1807. In 1808 Jam^s Boles, from Beaver County, Peun., came in and made a settlement where he lived till IS13, when he moved to Tmmlnill Comity. His danghter Kate is said to have killed a bear in a fair and square fight with an ax, thewivea of Ben and Gib McDaniela acting as umpires. In 1814 Dr. Ezrn Chaffee settled in the township, and kept a tavern at the Center, where he lived till 1830, then moved to Paris. ^ I In 1811 oame Jemima Palmer, and her two sons^ Jeese and SamneL One of I the danghten of Samuel died of frighti As she and her father and others ' were going to cLurcli, some yonng cattle jumped suddenly out from the I bushes, when the girl fell to the ground, dead. Zuhariao Fisher came also in this year from Pennajhrmia. He was a large, mneeolar man, of great Bb*ength of character. He died in 1884, leaving a large family.

Jabez Gilbert, a man who was not^ not only for his iron will and unflinching determination, but for his seemingly unlimited reuourceB in aooomplishing anything he nndertook, came in 1811. He was a bridge bnilder as well as mail contractor and general teamster. Ho built nearly all the early bridges of the township, and hauled all the steam boilers and machinery for steamboats from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. No one else could be obtained who had the courage to nndertoke jobs of the oharaeter that Jabes considered only ordinary hauling. It must be remembered that in that early time roads were in terribly j>oor condition, where they existed at all, and to undertake to haul by ox-team one of those immense boilers was no child's

£lay. He was also engaged to carry the m&il once a week in a two-horse eoaeh om Pittsburgh to Cleveland. The oontraot was afterward raised to twice a week in a four-horse coach, then to three times a week, and finally a daily line. He was known as "Moses Jabe," from the fact that he swore "by Moses,' ' and there being two other Jabes among the Gilberts. No obstacles ooold stop this old sontraotor from delivering his mail according to specifications, and when streams were swollen he would take the mail on his back, with an ax in hand, and go through "or die in the attempt," as he would say. His \\ contract was finally transferred to the hands of others, and he left the townshipi The first white child bom in the township wss Emeline, a daughter to E. Cutler, born in 1802, The first marriage took place in 1S05, and Benjamin McDaniels and Betsey Stevens joined their fortunes with the assistance of j Squire Lewis Day, of Deerfield. In th^H year occurred the drst two deaths. A j son of Johu Tattle^ Sr., went down into a well to reeover a enp that had fallen in, when ho was overpowered by carbonic acid gas, and died before he could be brought to the surfaca David Waller lost a child in August. E. Cutler was the first blacksmith, and opened shop in 1802 two miles south of the Center. The first firame house was bniltin IvOl by David Daniels; in the same year tbs first tavern was opened by Capi Baldwin at the Center, and the first postoffice established, with David Waller as Postmaster. The first distillery was started in 1808 by John Tuttle, and William McKibbey, a brother of James, officiated SB distiller, and here they inmed oat a fine brand of primitive "tanglebfook!* The first tannery was established in l8lO by Parrott Hadley, a short distnnw south of the Center. The first physician. Dr. Ezra Chaffee, came in IblO. The first stock of goods opened in the township was brought by Walker Caofield and David Waller, who ooenpied a building on the aonttieaat oomer of the Center, in 1813. Joeeph Tattle, in 1820, bnilt the first house on the «oathw«rt corner, and in 1824 the lirst frame bailding was put up at the Center, bj a man with the honored name of William Shakespeare. The first eaw mill was built in this same year by Parker Calvin, nnd n ^rist-mill was afterward added to it, in 1828, by Henry Kibler, who was then owner. An ashery was operated at an early day by Jabez and Ezra Gilbert near the Center, and anotheir in the northw«ateni part ol the township by Horaoe Hollister. I

One of the first preachers to expound the Word of God to the settlers in Palmyra was Rev. Shewell, a Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, who, altiioagfa a man of no extraordinary culture, yet had thoae qaalitiea that amply make up for any lack of scholastic attainments. He was a man of exemplary piety, honeet and earnest in all his works, and who left an impress for good wherever he went. He was very zealous, sometimes terribly emphatic in his geetieolatibn, bringing his flat down upon the Bible at every word with a force that wduld makn everything around rattle. It is said that on one occasion he told the pcKjplo who were listening to him that if they did not repent they "could go to holl and be damned! Several other early ministers preached oeOBsionally, bnt it waa not Ull October 10, 1818, that a ehvreh was organized At that date Rev. Nathan Darrow, a Presbyterian minister, formed into a conf^rogQtiou Noah and Hannali Smith. Jemima, Jesse and Samuel Palmer. Xu 1516 another church was orgaui^od by Hov. Andrew Clarke, a Baptist miniater of PenneylTaoiay and the memberB wera William Bcown and wile» Ben* jamin MoDaniels and wife, Georn;e Pownell and wife, and Abigail Tuttle.

The Welsh Regular Baptist Church at Palmyra was reorganized May 23, 18G2, when W. W. Davis, Morgan Reese and James Davis were elected Trust- «ea; Shadraeh Jamee was eleeted Olerk The location <^ tiie ebureh waa imown as Soar, but commonly called Stone Chapel.

The members of the IMethodist Episcopal society met at D<*erfield June 7, 1879, when Daniel Collins, Hiram G. Spoouer, T. W. Edwards, Otis Davis and Enoch Morgan wwa elected !bnetees.

The first school Raid to have been taught by Miss Botsoy Diver, a daughter of Daniel Diver, and the first schoolhouso was located in the south part of the township. Another very early teacher was Sophia Hubbard. Another was John Barr. who taught the first eohool at the Center. Nathan Boioe, or Boye, Mattie Rugglee and Lewis Ely were also teaobeiB. The statistioa of the schools of this township are given as follows:

Palmyra Township Schools. - Revenue in 1884, §3,707; expenditures, 92,916; 7 aehoolhonaee valaed at $7,U00; average pay of teadiera, 182 and 926; enrollment, 132 boys and 151 girls.

Palmyra SptM^ial District - Revenue in 1884, $1,454; expenditures, $851; 1 school- building valued at $3,000; average pay of teachers, $27 and $45; enrollment, 55 haja and 55 girls.

March 6, 1810, the County Commissioners issued an order setting off from Deerfield Township, Towns 2 and 3, with the name of Palmyra, and on April 2, 1810, the iirst election was held, resulting in the selection of the following offloevB, in part: Amos Thnrber, William Baoon, David Oalvin, Trustees; David Waller, Clerk; David Daniels, Treasurer; Silas Waller, Appraiser; Jabez Gilbert, John McArthur. Overseers; Charles Gilbert, Constable; James McKelvey, Lister; Truman Gilbert, J. T. Baldwin, Fence Viewers; John Stevena, Zebnl<m Walker, Artemns Boggles, Gibson MoDaniels, Sopenison. Maj 21, 1810^ DaTi^ Daniels and Jos^ Fisher were eleeted Justices of the Peaoe.

Diamond. - General store, O. B. Mason; hardware. Johnson & Shively; drag and grocery, Boee & Carson; shoe store, Ralph Stevens; lumber yard, O. B. Mason; hotel, Henrie Hoobo; Poetnieeter, O. B. Mascm; phyddan, Dr. William Jenkins; Palmyra Coal Company, W. B. Wilson, manafrer, ouB Bhnft opon; Black Diamond Coal Company, proprietor, Samuel Kimbt^rly, ouo shaft open; Scott Coal Company, proprietor, Enoch Filer, one shaft open; Hntaoa Goal Oompeny, proprietor, H. D. Hntson, one shaft open. Com. bined output of the four shafts about 550 tonn per day. It raaka with the well-known Briar Hill coal and was tirat opBrated in 1805.

At the Ceutur there is a Methodist Episcopal Church, Pastor, Hev. Joseph Oledhill; Congregational CHrareAi (Weldi), Bev. John J. Jetddnat Baptist Church (Welsh), Pastor, Rev. Edward Jenkins; Welsh Methodist Church, Pastor, K»n'. David Evans. Also, a Disciples Church, one and a half miles northwest of the Center, Pastor, Kev. Linas Rogers. At the Center there is a fine graded school with good attendanoe, and seven other eehools in the town* ship.

A. F. & A. M. - Charity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 530, was chartered in 1883. Acting W. M., Del Ray Thomas; S. VV., Del Bay Thomas; J. W.. Oharlea Merwin; Seeratary, W' D. Edwwds; Treasnrer, D. D. Carson; membership, thirty.

For over lifty years there has been held aimaally what is termed the Welsh Horse Fair, at whi4sh are exhibited on the first Monday in May fine homes of all kinds. It is as much for the parpose of afTording an opportunity to buyers and sollorR, as for show. Tliere are nsnally fiftsen or twenty of the finest stallions on exhibition.

Palmyra Agricnltaral Fair is held for two days in the fall. The preaent officers are: PresidMoti Isaac Tuttle; Yice-Firasidentt D. D. 0«rs(m; Secretaiy» S. A- Chnreh; Treasurer, Jaoob Scott.

A good deal of iine stock is raised in the township, and the land is highly prodnctive, though hilly in some portions. The Welsh, who form a large proportion of the population, are generally a frugal and industrious class of citizens. Palmyra furnished thirty-seven soldiers for the Union in the late war, eleven of whom fell in the aervioe. The Cleveland, Youngstown Pittsburgh Bailroad touches at Diamond.

The general statistics of this division of the oonnty for 1884 are: Acres of wheat, S.*)?. bushels 10. 4-Sl; no ryo; of oats 375 acres, 16, 17*^ bushels; 8 bushels of barley; IbO acres of corn produced 1,857 bushels; 2,40-l acies of meadow gave 2,942 tons of hay; 45 aorss of elover yielded 67 tons of hay and 8 boshefs of seed; 4 acres of flax gaTe 82 bnshels of seed; 15 acres of potatoes produced 2,221 busbols; homp-made butter. 24.118 pounds; 9,33r) maple trees yieldeil 1,521 pounds of sugar and 2,4US gallons of syrup; 26 hives produced 440