Portage County, Ohio - Chapter 30: Bootstown Township, 1885

ROOTSTOWN was originally the property of Ephraira Root and John Wyh's, Hoot being the principal proprietor, and owning, in addition to the land here, a f^reat deal of other property on the Westora Beserve. Ue was a nattve of Ooventry, Oonn., and a lawyer of some note. He was also agent for a number of other land owners, and paid at least one vitilt a year to this section after its settlement till nbont ISII, when the Indian troubles and the war of IS 12 had the effect of keeping him away. lie died in 1825.

In the .spring of 1800 Ifr. Root, in oompany with a yonng man named Haryey Davenport, paid his first vi.sit to the township. H<» employed Nathaniel Ooolc to survey his property, Town 2, Bange 8, into forfy-eigbt lots of vari- ous sizes, commencisg with Lot 1 in the eootheast corner, then running north, then sonih, and so on, ending with Iiot 48 in the eonthweet comer.

The first death of a white person in Bootstown was that of the young man spoken of above, Davenport He had over heated himself and lain down on the . damp ground, whereby he took a violent cold, that in a short time eaneed his death. He wae baried near where he died, on Lot 7.

In the spring of 1801 Mr. Boot returned, he having gone back to Conneoticut the fall previoDBly, and this time brought out his brother David. They commenced improvements on Lot 6, which Ephraim Boot reserved for himself, as it touched upon the portage between PittRHUgb and Cleveland. Here the Boots put up a two-stbry log-cabin near where Oainpbellspoi t now atanda. Nathan Muzzy, who came out about this time, was engaged to do the carpen- I tering. Muzzy was a graduate of Yale College, and had been a very able and I promising young minister in IfaaaadraaettB, bat meeting with dieiyipointment ' in a love affair, a screw became looae in his mental machinery and he wandered awa}' to the West. He always carved the name " Emma Hale " on all buildings and gat«B he constructed. He discovered the little lake in this township * which has ever ainoe borne hia name. The poor old man died many years ago, and was buried in Palmyra by some friends who tock pity on his lonely and decrepit old age, and removed him from the oonnty poM-house to their homes.

The first crop of wheat was put in during the fall of 1801 by the Boots, who then returned to their homes in the Eaat, bat David came out again in April of the following year and hpttled upon the place they had imptpvedf afterward removing to Lot 7, where he lived till his death.

In 1802 Henry^'Niell and Samuel McCoy, natives of Ireland, who had a lived in Pennsylvania awhile^ moved in and settled on Lot 3. O'Niell had . a family of children, mostly grown; McCoy had only a wife. Together they put up a cabin, but McCoy afterward moved to Lot 28, and put up a oabin by the well-known " McCoy Springs." He was a man of very little ' education, but could, in the language of uie old English tar, "play the fiddle like a hangel! " Mr. O'Niell was well educated, and in 1S(XJ was elected Justice of the Peace for Franklin, which at that time comprised what is now Franklin, Bavenna, Bootstown, Atwater, Bandolpb, SufiSeld and Brimfield. O'Niell erected the first distillery, a small affair, but enough to supply the | wants of himself and McCoy and their families, and a few friends in the neigh- ' borhood. He remained Justice for four or five years, but his magisterial career was cut very short just before he left in 1811. He had offended some person by one of his deeidona, when that person went to the Irish Justice and asked him to show his naturalization papers. Being unable to do so, he was informed that he was liaV)le to prosecution for illegally exercising the duties of a magistrate without being a citizen, and that if he did not immediately i *'git up and dost," he would be aireeted. He lefti and the township lost one j of its best residents.

Epraim Root gave notice that he would give to the first child born in the township fifty acree of laud, and John McCoy, son of Samuel McCoy, won the prize. This event happened in Aogoat, 1802, and was the first birth in the township. It is said there was considerable competition between the mother of this little land-winner and the wife of David Root, whose bod, Solomon, came in second-best; time, about twenty days behiud McCoy's \\. C. Johnnie.

In the fall of 1802 Michael Hartle'and Frederick Oaris eame in and settied the first on Lot 42, on the east side of Muddy Lake, and Caris on Lot 43, on the west of the lake. They were originally from Korthumberland County,

Penn., but had been livino; on the Ohio River about thirty miles below Vittsborgh. In January, IbO'd, John Caris, a son of Frederick, came in, and with him Artfanr Andenon, both of whom were engaged by Boot to eleer land. In April following John Can's, a brother of Frederick, with hie wifa> came end settled at Muddy Laka Anderson returned to PennsylTaniay married, and then lived in Kavenna awhile, but tinally came to Bootstown.

May 2, 1808, Aahvr Ely, of Deerfield, wae married to lordia Lyman, who livi-d in the family of David Root, at whose hoase the ceremonies were performed by Squire Hudson, of Uadaon Township, he being the necurest offioial capable of tying the knot hk 1804 a large namber of pereonB oame in, among whom were Frederidc Caris, Sr., father of Frederick, Jr., and John, and in the fall of this year Thaddeus Andrewp, Nathan Chapman and his son Ephraim, Jacob, Charles and Abraham lieed, and Hannah Kussell, a sister of Mrs. Andrews, all from Conneeticoi Thoee Who eame in the fall remained at Boot's place Ull they erected cabins, which they did during the following winter, Anatews selected Lot 21, the northwest quarter at the Center, but did not move on to thp same till a year or two afterward, as he was engaged by Root to keep his tavern near the coraers of the four townshipn. The Chapmans settled on Lot 4, and pat op - cabin. Ephraim soon afterward moved to where he resided for many years, a highly respected citizen. He drove the first team from Bootstown to Bavenna. Jacob and Abraham Beed settled on the south weet corner of Ijot 15, bnt Abraham afterward moved to the soathweet oohmt of center Lot 22, where he kept a tavern for many years. Charles Beed lived with his brother till ho wnp married, whon he moved onto Lot 16. Thin year, 1804, Mr. Boot erected the lirMt frame bam in the township, which stood a little north of his hoosa David Wright, of Bavenna, hewed the timber, and Nathan Muzzy framed it. The lumber was obtained at the tittle MoWhorter Mill, in the southeast corner of Ravenna Township.

In the fall of 1805 Beeman Chapman, a brother of Ephraim, arrived with his wife and brother Nathan; the latter, after a year ptased at Boot's settle* ment, moved to tlu' south part of Lot 4. Stephen Colton and family also name in from Connecticut and nettled on Lot 21, but afterward moved to Lot I t. In May, 1806, Gersham liostwick moved in and settled on Lot 8, in a cabin he had bailt the fall previously. With his family came BSdmond Bostwidk and his wifoi the parents of Gersham. Edmund died in 1820, aged ninety-six years. When past eighty years he made a trip on horseback from Bootstown to Philadelphia, and thence to Vermont, and back again to Bootstown. Calvin Ellsworth, from Ellington, Conn., came in July, and settled on Lot 28. In November AlpheuK. n t\\ >n brother of Thaddeus Andrews, and their brother Samuel, with Martin Bissell. cnme in with their families. The Andrews settled on Lot 23, bat Samuel soon after moved to Lot 21. where he erected the first frame honse in tbe township. Thaddens having exchanged land with his brother Samnel, moved to Lot 14. Bissell located on the west side of the road, on the south part of Lot 2'i. Samuel Andrews afterward moved to Franklin Township, and Alpheus was one of the hrst settlers in Brimheld. With the Andrews brothers came a nieoe. Miss Mary Whitney, and a tsamster, Genham Norris. This year also came Mother ^Vnrd. but she did not bring her husband alon^ with her. She located on L )! IN. and the yx)nd at that point was named for her. She was a remarkable woman; could split rails, lay a.fQnce,_and plow as good as any man. She walked one day from Poland to Bootstown, a distance of forty miles. She was married twice, separating from her last hos* band when she came here. Benjamin Simoox, noted as being the first person to be tried by the County (/Ourt in I8U8, after organization, also came.

In Febnifiry. 1S()7, Hiram Roundy, his wife and their adopted son. G. H. B. Prindle, came in, and about the same time Hemaa Bost\rick, who, howeTW, did not stay kng. Titns Belding e«me in with Bostwiok, and in 1809 married Miss Lacy, a daoghter of G^rsham Bostwick, and settled on Lot 17. Robert McKnight also came this year, and settled on Lot 10. He had been uat the year before, purchased 300 acres of land and set out a nursery. His family oonsisted of his wife, his mother and an onlj son, Robert, Jr. Will* iam and James Alcorn, Irishmen and bachelors, came with McKnight.

The first school that was open to all children was taught by Samnel Andrews in the winter of 1807-OS, in a cabin at the Center, which was soon aftor bnmed down, and another bnilt, which for many yean was used aa a Hchoolhouse, meeting-house and town-house. Miss Folly Harmon, sister of the lute John Harmon, taarjht after AndrewH. Three or four years previous to this time Mrs. Ephraim Chapman had taught a few children at her house, bat it was not a school for the public^ A nnmber of the Bootstown children had attended the school kept by David Root, on the ruad from Ravenna to Oampbellsport, about 1805. The school statistics are: Revenue in $4,975; expenditures, $3,412; number of schoolhonses, 10, valued at $0,500; average pay of teachers, $35 and $20; enrolfanent, 198 boys and 187 girls.

In iSoS Ebenezer Bobtwick and his family came, and settled on Lot 17, where not long afterward he btarttd a pottery for the manufacture of earthenware. About this time Ephraim Root put up a saw-mill on the creek north of the Oenter. Also came Philip Willard and Valentine Ooosatd, the former settling on Lot 42, and the latter on Lot 41. In tbe snmmer of this year Ariel Case and John Wright cleared a piece of land on Lot 10, and sowed it to wheat

Aognst 81, 1809, Nathan Ghapman died at the age of fifty«one years, and was the first perstm interred in the lint burial gronml. The body was carried by hand to the grave, there being no road from Beeman Chapman's, where the father died. In this year came Israel Coe, who settled on Lot 5; also William and Ohanncy Newbury. William located on Lot 27, and Ghaonoy, who at the time was single, lived with his brother till his marriage, when he settled on Lot 28. In 1810 Merriam Richardson and David Parker arrived in the township with their families, Richardson settling on Lot 33, and Parker moving into the cabin bnilt by H cCoy. Also came Daniel and Benben Hall, and their sister Eliza, who married Geraham Norris, and moved to Canton. In 18 11 Samuel B. Spellman and Asa Seymour came from Massachusetts, and Asher Gurley, from Connecticut. Spellman settled on Lot 21, Gurlejr on Lot 9, and Seymour retomed to the East. In August, 1811, Robert J. Collins, Sr., and his three sons, Bobcrt J., Jr., David and Daniel, with their families* arrived, Daniel locating on Lot 28, and the othnrs on Lot 20, on the Center road. In 1819 James Wright settled in the township, and January 28, 1821, was appointed first Postmaster. William Hnffman, Thomas Hayden and others came in aboot 1819. Wright held his {to^^ition for twenty years. Mr. Wright mar> ried a daughter of Abraham Reed. He was succeeded in office by Otis Reed, his deputy. He, also, for nine successive years, was Justice of tiie Peace.

Until the year 180(9 the Indian title to the lands west of flie Cuyahoga A ^ River and Portage path had not been extinguished, and some uneasiness was ^ felt by the settlors on these lands for foar that their title might not be as perfect as they could wish. On March 5, 1805, Ephraim Root wrote to Elijah Wadsworth that messnres were pending for the extinguishment of these claims of the Indians, and stated that a treaty would shortly be made with them, and, accordingly, a Treaty Coonoil was held at Fort Indostry, and the titles of the lands obtained, bnt the measnre had yet to pass the Senate. It came before the Senate, that body ratified the proceedings of the Goanoili and the olaims of the aboriginies were forever silenced.

On the 16th day of August, 1810, the Bev. Giles H. Cowles, a missionary from the Connecticut Boai^ of Home Missions oil the Congregational Qhurch, Oi^anized the first church Fociety in Rootstown, Tt was composed of the following persons: Samuel Andrews and wife, Alphous Andrews and wife, ThaddeuB Andrews and wife, Israel CJoe and wife, Mason Richardson and wife, Michael Hartle and wife, Oliver Dickinson and wife, Mrs. Loi^ ( bapman, Mrs. Ephraim Chapman, "Mrs. Nathan Chapman. Jr., and Mrs. William Newbiirj'. Samuel Andrews was chosen Deacon, and his brother Thaddeos succeeded him. In 1820 the congregation built a very neat edifice for the times, which was 86x^ feet, and various pastor^ have filled the pulpit of the church. This society rcnrganized under State law March 27. ISOI, as the First Congregational Society of lloutstown, with Erju^tua Seymour, President, and A. H. Barlow, Clerk; J. Seymour, J. S. Austin and Gideon Seymour were elected Tmsteee.

In 1814 Rov. Henry Shrnvc^ll r-amp to Rootstown and settled on Lot 12. Shortly after coming Sheweil formed u cla.ss, and in 1H15 organized the first Methodist Episcopal Congregation in the township. Meetings, for a number of years, were held at the honse of the minister. The dkoreh belonged to the Warren District, and the circuit was 400 miles in extent. Bar. Ira Eddy was the first pastor of the Rootstown charge.

The first election held in Rootstown as an organized township was September 10, 1810, when Gersbam Boetwidc was chosen Chairman and Samnel Andrews and Jacob Reed Judges of the Election. The following are the only names that are now remembered as appearing amocf^ the otllci rs elected at that time: Trustees, Gersham Bostwick, Frederick Caiis, Jr., Tbuddeus Andrews; Clerk, Alpbeoe Andrews; Samnel Andrews, Justice of the Peace. The oldest records of the township, of date March 7, 1812, give the following oflBcers: Tmsteef, Stephen Colton, Tbaddeiis Andrews, Frederick Cnris, Jr. : Clerk, Alpheus Andrews; Supervisors, Israel Coe, Ephraim Chapman, i^hilip Willard, Stephen Colion.

In the verv enrlv davs a man named Robert Wright, a member of a familv which bore a bad reputation, was found on the banks of Silver Creek with his throat cut from ear to ear. Family trouble is supposed to have been the cause.

In 1815 Bobert McKnight and bis son Bobert, Jr., and a boy cat a bee tree, which in falling struck all three of them, injuring the elder McKnight and the boy, and killing Robert McKnight, Jr., instantly. He left a wife and f onr children.

ground and his two daughters, Louisa and Henrietta, were consumed in the building before they could b& rescued. It was one of the saddest occurrences that has ever visited the county. A building that occupied the same spot in 1868 was also destroyed by fire.

In 1845 an epidemic called the black erysipelas prevailed to an alarming extent, and seemed to bfiffle the skill of the best physiciani*. About onetwentieth of the inhabitants of the entire township fell before the almost irresistible plagne, for it was so vimlent as to deserve that title.

One of tin m ost singular cases in the annals of surgery and disease OCCnrred about ten years ago. l^frs. Mary 0. Burnham had been afflicted for about twenty years with throat affections, which gave her great annoyance, and in 1874 whilst eating dinner was talcen with what iqf>peflred to be a choking spell, and in her eflforts to dislodge what she sup]X)^ed was a piece of meat, ' threw her tongue out of her mouth. She ]ive«l till 1876, when death ended her Bufferings. Various theories were advanced by physicians, some attribut- < ing the dismse to eanccor, otiien to ostacrb, othecs to something else. For some time before it fell oot her tongue was paralyaed, but she learned to talk intelligibly with her lips.

Mrs. Gurley, who settled here with her husband in 1819, had a singular I adventare with a bear. Her husband broofi^t two young pigs to the town- | ship in 1823-24, \^hich were plaoed within strong pickets. One night in 1824 she heard the squeals of the pigs, and rushing out snw what appeared to be a large 6og within the pen. On the ^proach of the woman this supposed large dog tamed toward her^ and as he looked over the lenoe^ Mrs. Chirley struck him in the head with an ax. By this time she realized that her battle was with a bear rathor tbnn h do(f, and ran toward the house. Some friends there at the time ran forth to continue the battle, when* to their surprise, they found the bear dead.

Rootstown Protective As&ooisHon was organized three years ago. In Jannary. 1885. tho followin<^ officers were elected: G. \V. Bow, President; H. M. Deming, Vice-President; H. O. Beed, Secretary; C. H. Bradshaw, Treasurer; David Bogue, Homer Ohapman and Blam Underwood were eleofeed Direotors.

The affairs of the association are in a very satisfaotorj shape. The amoTintof risks in force at the end of last year was 1480,963, an increase during the year of nearly $60,000. The losses during the past year have been $16.76 or aboot 8f cents upon each |1,000 inanred. The association has been in operation nearly three years. The average annual cost of insnranoe has been about 70 cents per $1,000.

The school building at Bootstown was erected in 1884 at a cost of about $8,400* This is a two-stwy stractnre, slated; oloee to it is the Congregational Ohorch. The old Methodist Church here was restored about ten years ago. The only mercantile hon^e at the Center is that of G. W. Bow. At New Milford a general store is conducted by L. F. Pike. At New Milford or Kootstown Station, a grist and flonring-mill was founded years ago. It is now operated by F. P. Hoot. The capacity is about seventy-five barrels.

Kootstown is one of tbo boet townships in the coonty, and is populated by a thrifty, industrious class of citizens. The soil is very productive, and in addition to the usual farm crops considerable dairying is done, and its cbe(>s(> interests are gradually growing in importanceu Tne coQatry is well wateri^d, having besides the numerous small streams, several lakes, or large ponds. Two of the larger, Snndy and Muddy Lakes are favorite resorts during the summer season. Muzzy and Ward's ponds are the other two. The township .is well supplied with schools, and the standard of education of the citissens is much above the average. The Center is a very thriving little village, and considerable business is transacted there, but it lies about one mile and a half west of New Milford, the station of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh branch of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, a portion of the great Pennsylvania system of railroads. During the straggle for the main* tenance of the Union, Rootstown sent to the front fifty- seven of her bsst sons, eleven of whom were cither killed or died in the service. ^