Portage County, Ohio - Chapter 31: Shalebsville Township, 1885

OHALERSVILLE at the drawing of the Connocticut Land Company fell to O the lot of Gen. Nathaniel Shaler, of Middletown, Conn., and from this fact the township at one time was called Middletown. He wae tiie father of Gharles Shaler, of Pitt.pburgb, and William D. Shaler, at onp time a merchant of Ravenna. One of his daugliters was the wife of Commodore McDonougb, and it is said that after the victory of that naval hero on Lake Cham* pl&i, when the people of Middletown illuminated, Shaler refneed to do so, he being a violent Federalist, until the enraged popnlace threatened to tear his houBo down, when the old Tor j came to terms. The. township is Town 4) Bange 8.

Tolland County, Conn., in a wagon, and after a long and tireeome journey arrived on the spot where now is the center of Shalersville. The country at that time was an unbroken wilderness, and not the least sign of a clearii^ appeared, so when Baker got ont of his wagon and looked aroond, it moii have been upon a scene calculated to daunt any but the most determined nat> nre. He, however, went to work with a will and, fortunately, had a wife who was, indeed, a helpmeet to him, for when he dug a well, which was almost flie first thing he did, his wife handled the windlass while he delved down in the depths. For the first few nights after his arrival the whole family slept in a largo hollow log;, but soon he reared a small cabin and made a clearing around it on Lot -^G, 100 acres having been given him by Shaler to settle upon it. This eabin was located nearly opposite where the hotel now stands, and the well, we learn, is in good condition yet. Baker, sometime previous to coming to the Reserve, had purchased Lot 33, and after spending two years at his first settlement, moved to this lot, where he opened up a farm» erected good bnildings, and died in 1840. Those two first years were terribly lonesome ones to the sturdy pioneer andhis wife,as no settler came in during that time. He had to go long distances for provisions, and the townships of Free- dom and Streetsboro were still as natnro had formefl them, they not luring settled up for several years afterward. Mantua was beginning to till np, however, and he had some neighbors there, within two or three miles. Mrs. Baker is Wd to have been an extraordinavy woman in points of endnrance and resooroea, and with a patience that never wearied; just the bravo wife for one of thoa» grand old " builders without wage," who laid their foundations deep and strongs and made possible this marvellous occidental civilization.

In the year 1801 Simeon Cnrne, with bis family, eama to CanfieM, Tmrabull County, with an ox-team, a horse and a cow, making the journoy in forty days. There he resided till 1808, when h«\ in company with two brothers, Belden and Calvin, came to Shalersville. Simeon was born in Saybrook, CScmn., bnt the family were of Welsh extraetion, an ancestor having inuni> - gnted to America at an early day, whence sprung the entire Crane family, se numerous throughout the country. The three brothers built two log- houses during this year, then returned to Cantield, and in the spring of 1809 moved in for permukent settlement, and where their deeeendante live to this day, B. IC Crane being the leading representative of the family, and having the honor or (rood fortune to have been the first white male child born in the township, bimeon died September 14, 1S46, and their first son, Squire Manly Crane^ as be is better known, is a worthy soion of the original stock.

In 1808 came Hezekiah Hine, a young man, from old Milford, Conn., whe afterward married and becamo a leading citizen. Ho sottlod at tho Center, In 1809 Daniel Keyes, from Connecticut, came and settled also at the Centec The family did not remain long, however. Daniel was the father of Asa D. Keyes, a lawyer, and agent for Gen. Shaler, and at the organisation of the oonnty was oloctod tho first Prosocuting Attorney. Asa was a man of considerable natural tulent and cultiire, but let the demon of intemperance prpt the better of him at times. Elisha Burroughs, who came in 18(.)8, was in Stark's command and heard Stark's celebrated order.

In 1810 William Coolman and family came from Middletown, Conn. He became one of the Trustees at the organization of tho township in 1SI2, and his son, William, Jr., was Sheriff in 1820-23, Kepresentative in the Legislature, Justice of the Peace, and for many years an editor. In this year there came Daniel Burroughs, with his family, and sons Asa K. and 0reenhood, with their families, from Vermont, Joel Walter from Connooticat, andBenja* min Bradley. Moses Carpenter also came from Connecticut.

In 1811 Horace Bmrroughs with wife and family came from Vermont; Ephraim Brown, a son in-law of Daniel Burroughs, and Daniel Hine and family from old Milford, Conn. Vine Welch also came in this year, and settled south of the Center.

In 1814 Silas Crocker, then a lad of fifteen years, having been bom al Ghelaea, "VL, in 1799, came in with the Thompsons - Job Thompson, Sr., and Benoni Thompson, and tlu'ir families - with whom ho had lived from his ninth year. The mother of young Crocker died when he was nine years old, and he being, of poor parents was put ont at that tender age to carve bis fortune for himMlf, and wdl he has done It He has held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years, and ia now comparatively hale and hearty at the age of eighty-five.

Gen. David Mcintosh, a half brother of Paschal P. Mcintosh, of Mantua, started in life a poor boy, bnt fell into good hands on obtaining work with

Tudrjo Atwntor, who pont him to school. His death occurred April 17. 1883; no man was nioro lionorod in his county than Gen. Mcintosh. Ho loft h siim of money to be applied to furnishing Hags forever to tho county, as hi.s patriotisia

Sylvester Bfoeber, also a poor boy, came from Connecticut at an early day, and worked for many years as a hired hand, chopping and clearing land. He beeame very enterpiiaing, nmning a large aahery, and menshandiaing. Also ov\ned considerable land, and was a stockholder in the bank at Ravenna. He wan in the war ol 1812» and was at the battle of the Biver Baisin. He died in lb55.

The township was organised and an election held April 6, 1812, when the following officers were chosen: Trusloos. William Coolman, Joel "Walter, Simeon Crane; Clerk, Horace Burroughs; Overseers of the Poor, Daniel Burronghs, Daniel Keys; Fence Viewers, Samuel Munson, Benjamin Bradley; Snpervisors, Daniel Bmroughs, Abel Hine; Lister, Asa K. Bnrroughs; Treasurer, Belden Crane; Constable, Richard E. Gay. A.t an election held the following September Daniel Burroughs and Belden Crane were elected Justices of the Feace, but for the hrst two years there was scarcely any bosinees, only one snit being entered, Greenhood Bonongha tMr. Biohard Gay, the Constable, and that official had to serve the notice Upon himself. It is said that he took himself aside and gravely read tho summons to appear Viefore the magistrate. The suit was to recover the value of a cow- bell that had been loaned and lost. The plaintiff did not recover. At the second Jasticos' election in 1815, Job Thompson and George Barnes were chosen. Banies was not thonght of in connection with the office when the candidates were noTninate<l, ho being an erratic sort of n fellow, living down in the pouthwest cornel- of the township, without a road loading to his place. But the voterb, not liking one of the regular oandidatea, threw their votes away, as they supposed, voting for Barnes, when lo! at the counting of the ballots, Barnes was found to be elected. Everybody was surprised, but Barnes, pocketing the joke, qualitied and made a good Justice. Three cases were appealed from his decisiouA, but in every instance he waa anatsined by the higher ooori

, After the organization in 1814-15, soin(> Rettlors came into the township, amontr whom were many prominent faniilio.s: Jamee Goodell and family, from \V arwick, Mass. ; Isaac Kneeland from Colebrook, Conn.| and John Hoskins, with a large family, from Colchester, Conn.

The first child born in the township was a daughter, Lucinda, in ISOS, to Joel Baker, the first settler. She died in her seventeenth year. The first male child and the second birth was that of a sou, E. M. Crane, to Simeon Crane, June 14, 1810. Squire Crane, as stated elsewhere, ia not only yet in the land of the living but good for many a year hence. He is a hale and hearty, active and vigorous gentleman of apparently sixty years, but he has the weight of seventy -four winters upon his hroad uhouldei-s. The first death was that of Edward Crane, aged seven, a son of Simeon Crane, September 23, 1800. The next death, and the first of an adult, was in 1812, a Ifr. Deming, from Vermont, father-in-law of Asa K. Burroncfhs.

In 1810 an event occurred, and in the higher circles, so to speak, if there teas any difference where all were upon the same footing. It was a wedding, and the high contracting parties were Mr. Heeakiah ffine and Miss Ifary Atwator, of ^lantua, a Bister of the noted surveyor, large land owner, and afterward Judge of the Court of C<'mni(ui Pleas, Amzi Atwater. The occ.vsion drew out all the beauty and fashion of those primitive times, and the knot was tied by Squire Elias Harmon, ministers in those days seeming not to have been employed for the interesting ceremony.

ship, haviag been employed by Siephea Mason to look up a site for a saw- 1 mill, whieh he found on the Goyaho^ near the western line of the township. 1 Muzzy wn^^ a man who had been highly educated, graduating at Yale Collor^o, and afterward studied for the ministry, but was either a little " ofif " of his ' i mental balance, or had a c^ueer streak of drollery running through him accompanied by a penohant lor aMhine poetry, whieh he would get off on aU occasions. After ho had framed his mill and got ready for operations in the fall, a freshet came and destroyed the dfira, and his neighbors went over to see bow the dam stood the rushing waters. They found Muzzy silently oontem* | plating the devastaftioii, and as they approached him he ezelaimed, ** Qod ' be praised, the ]>eTil*s nubed, the world rolls round in water.**

The damage being repaired, the mill was largely patronized, for timber could be had for the asking, and Mr. Mason, who was elected Sheriff in 1814, added a grist-mill to the property. After study iog for the ministry Muzzy became pantor of a church in Worcester, Mass., but, true to his impulsive nature, fell in love with a girl he could not get, and Hfd for consolation to the wilds of the West, totally disappearing from bis former connections for twenty -five years, when he turned up as a carpenter in Edinbnrg Township. Noah and Noble Bofjers moved into Shalersville from Mantua in 1829, and established a tannery near the north line of the township^ This eeased existence over forty years ago.

In IS 10 Moses Carpenter came in from Connecticut and started a tannery half a mile west of the Center, where he had more bnsiness than he could da It is said that bo made an excellent quality of h^nther, having loarnod the trade thoroughly before he loft the East. He was a singular, roticont man, and thoroughly honest in all his dealings. He lived entirely alone, and wver talked of hia former home. It was said that some infelicity, or wrong, in his household, had soured a naturally good and confiding husband; at any .rate, be never returned to his family, which he had left in Conneotiont» and died under the care of Trustee in l<i2Q.

Tine Welch was the first blacksmith. He came in 1811 and settled sooth ( of the Center. He lived to an exceedingly advanced age, dying some time during the late war at the house of his son in Euclid, nearly tonohing his one hnndradth year.

The first stock of soods was brought in and the first store was opened by Sylvester Beecher in lolO. Mr. Beecher also had a factory for the manufaot* ure of pot and pearl ashes. In 1S17 David Mcintosh cut a roail thi ' n^h from Shalersville to Freedom, the country at that time being an unbroken foreet.

In 1810 the population having grown tu proportions sufiScient to demand a adkool. Miss Witter, of Aurora, opened one at the Center, about where the bam of Dr. Proctor now stands. It was a log hnilding of small dimensions, but scholars were not numerous. It was built of unhewn logs, "with puncheon floor, slab seats, greased paper windows, etc.," in short, having all the conveniences mmally to be found in schoolhouses of that period, yet, primitive as it was, the sons and daughters of siT^h familit < as the Bakers, Cranes, Barrou 'hs and Coohnaus received the foundations of their education. Another teacher that came afterward was Miss Sophia Coe. The condition of the schools at {NTseent ia told in the following statistics: Bevenne in 1884, $4,599; expenditures, $2,144; S schoolhouses valued at $5,110; average pay of teachers, $21; enrollment. ^3 boys and (H girls.

Shalersville iiibrary Association was organized February 15, 1847, with Silas Cracker, President; E. M. Crane, Seeretary; Samnel Ledyard, P. C. Bennett and A. Y. Horr, Trostses, and John D. Bamsey, Treasmrer.

Daring the early settlement there came occasioniilly (inf (if those over restless, never-tiriug circuit riders of the Methodist Church, uud among the number were R. R. Roberts, afterward Biriiop, John Waterman, Martin Retter and Jamos McMahon. The Presbyterians, or Cnn^^roffationalists, also had some early missionaries in this tield, and liev. John Seward. Rev. Timothy Hopkiuij and Rev. Mr. Hauford preached here. The First Congregation^ Obnioh was organized in ISlS^ with eight memberai the male portioak being Enoch Searle, Rosweli Waldo and Isaao Kneeland, but they never had a settled pastor.

Disciples Church was organized under State law, September 20, 1850, with Silaa H. Eldridge, Crros Haskina, Tmstoee, and Jnstin Hayes, Oierk.

In the war of lol2 the townahip filled ito quota promptly. The ablebodied men had been so reduced by voluntary enlistments that when the draft was made in that portion of the town where a compaDj had been raised, there waa only one man liable to dnty. Joel Baker waa drawn and he hired a aabatitote; Asa E. Burroughs was a Captain Ajncmgat those who went into the service were William Coolman, Jr., Job Thompson, Jr., George Barnes, Hezekiah Mine, Lyman Hine, Daniel Burroughs, Jr., and Joel Baker, the last by proxy. Capt. CampbelPs company, to which they belonged, was included in the surrender of Hall, and they were sent to Maiden and paroled.

At the breaking-out of the Rebelliou .Shalersville ru^^lied to the n sr^ne of the Nation with a promptitude and zeal that placed her amotig the frorit ranks. During the war she sent 108 soldiers to the held, and thirteen of thorn laid down their lives in the oonteat for the right, while six others were diaabled.

About 1815 Abb BurroughB went in search of his cows which, according to the custom, or necessities, of the times, had l>eeii turned loose in the woods. He went in the direction of Freedom, but somehow got turned around in his mind ao effeetnally, that^ although he had a pocket compass with him, he believed the instrument pointed just the opposite of what it ought to, and fol- Ljwing this guide, raistaking the east for the west wandered along far into the night and the next morning he found himself at Qarrettsville.

In 1812 Hbraoe Burroughs was going homethronghthewoodaat abontaon* iat| half a mile east of the Center, when out walked, in front of him, an immense bear, which seemed bent on disputing the path with Burroughs. The latter, however, swiing a shovel be had in hand, but the bear still advanced, when Horace, thinking it a good *'time for disappearing,'* booked ont^ keeping his eyes on Bruin, who did not follow. Getting arms and aaaiatauce Burronglu returned, bat the bear, evidently anapeoting foal play, acampered off into the forest

Rattlesnakes were common, and numerous adventoree and narrow escapes ware related. Mrs. Goodell, the mother of the wife of Squire Crocker, was one day spinning at her wheel, when she heai'd an acccmjianiment to the buzzin<; noise of the machine, and listening close to the lloor heard that ]>eculiar 2 - ing, which, when once hoard close to one's person in held or woods is never forgotten. Hia anakeehip was roated ont and killed; he meaanred aix feet, two inches.

About 1825 Squire Crocker, while surveying in the southwest portion of the township, came across a pile of stones hve or six feet high and about eight feet in diameter. Thej were placed in order, and evidently bronght some Satance from where they were. What the purpose of them was and when they were placed there, is only a matter of conjectnre. They may have b«>en the work of Mound -Builders, but there are no other indications of that mysterious race having located in tbia connty; yet, it is posaible that in paaaing al<»ig - having lived both east and west of this point - they may have erected this pile as a temporary altar. The Indians never were guilty of doing as maoh work as the fdadsg of fluwe stones veqnired, bo we eamiol blame fhrai for this pieee of

On the return of Jonas Goodell, who came to ShalerHville from Vermont to locate lands, he reported ' that he was homesick on account of it being so wet | «id muddj; Imt he found a small piece a leetel foUin." This piece is now \ known as Ooodell Hill, certainly one of thp largpst bills in the county.

There is a huge boulder lying in a held nearly op])osit« Squire Crane's place, that was originally about 20x30 feet and eight or ten feet in height. ; It lies perfectly isolated firam any rock of its kin£ and is oneof thosemaases, i or a portion of one, that were transported to this section in the glacial period, when this whole country, from the Atlantic Ocean far westward, was covered with slowly moTing ice. This rock was first broken from its original bed in an nphea^ by Toknuuo force, and then when the ice which had formed around it began to mora southward it was carried onward, rolling slowly over . and over until it became rounded and smooth; then when the thaw began, it alowly sank through the ice and remained where we now hud it

The towoddp ia wall watered, ttie Cnyahoga Biver and its tribntariea afGoxding a plentifnl snpply in the northern and northwestern sections, while smaller streams traverse the township in various directions. The land is highly productive, the soil being peculiarly adapted to the potato, and many thousands of bushels of the finest in the world are product annually. In the season of 1884 one field north of ShaleiBville Center contained forty acMS of the best varietie of this essential article of food. Cheese, also, forms one of the staple products, and the township stands No. 3 in the quantity manufactured. Considerable grazing and raising of stock is done, while the usual ftacm orops are prodnced, acme of the finest fturma in the oonnty being hem ^Hie County Infirmary is located in the southwest part of the to^vn.

In the Center there are one general store, the postoflice, and two hotels, two physicians, a saw-mill, and one church building, used by both the Christian and Methodist denominations, aeitte of whom have any settled paator. There ave a number of good schools scattered throughout the township.