Portage County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 24 of those read), 1885

STREETSBORO. Town 4, Range 9, was originally owned by Titus Street, of Connecticut, one of the members of the Connecticat Land Company, who held back his property for many years after most of the townships in Portage County had been setUed up and ocgaaiBed, in order to get a higher price fat bis land; in fact, it was not surveyed, except as to boundaries, till 1S22, in which year Ralph Cowles Inid oflf into lots of 1(X) acres the 15,27i> acres comprised in the township, and Lemuel Punderson was appointed agent for the sale of them; $6 per aere was the prioe fixed upon, but as it was oonsiderably above the average prico of wild land on the R(»serre, very little was sold. Punderson died the following; year, 1S23, and shortly afterward Amzi Atwat<?r. of Mantua, was appointed agent for Street, and the price lowered to from ^2 to 15 an aere, in oonaeqnenoe of wbiiiih manj setttera oame in from that time forward.

Early in the fall of 1822 Stephen Myers, Jr., came into the township and settled on the southwest comer of Lot 82, he having, in conjunction with George Walker, pturohased sixty acres of that loi He made a clearing, pat out a small crop» and erected a cabin. The following summer he with his partnpf. Walker, erected a building for the purpose of distilling whisky, which busineee they conducted for about six years, when the still-house was oonverted into an ashery. In 1828 Samnel Walker, from Hudson, moved in and settled on a portion of Lot 82.

In 1824 and 1825 quite a number of persons came in. not only from Connecticut and Massachusetts, but several from other townships in the county. About the latter year, among those who are remembered by the oldest settlers were Solomon Carlton, Levi M. Cochran, ^Michael Stewwt, Bpfaraim Wood, Riley Miller and Daniel M. Jolmson. Wood built a house on the southeast corner of the Center, Lot 56, which he sold to Chauncy Case several years afterward. Benjamin Doolittle, from Connecticut, came in the fall of 1825, made a clearing and built a log-cabin on Lot 60, where he lived for many years, a prominent citizen and a ^ood and ns^nl man. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1827, at the organization.

The location of a turnpike from Cleveland to Wellsville being decided upon in this yesr, 1825, Street, who was a very entsrprising, and when the occasion arose, a very liberal man, offered to donate land sufficient for the road if iho managers would run said road through the township, which was agreed to, and he made the company a deed for 84(> acres, which was an exceedingly wise business traaaaction, as fliia liberal policy soon brought his land into demand, for at the completion of the road aettlers flocked in from all quarters to secure the fine f arma offered at the low price asked. The road was complotod in 1827, bnt before that time the township wa'? rapidly settlint^ up. In 1826, or thBroaboiits, came George Powers from Conuecticut, who took up bis quarters in a cabin erected by the workmen while building the road. It stood just a littlo WMt of the Oontor, aad gave place manj years a^o to bettor improvements. About this time came Chaanoy Oaaek Jr., Alvin Loomis, Aipheus Streator, Gideon H. Mills, Hemaa Thomas, Alon^o Root and others.

In 1820 OoL John C. Singletary built a log-house on Lot 45, the northwest oomer of the Genter, into whioh Riley Ooohran moved, and the following sooimer he boarded the hands while they were constructing the frame bnildtng into which Col. Singletary raovAd thp following spring of 1828. Ho opened there the hrst tavern in the township, and his was the ^rst frame house at the Center, and in whioh he lived tUl hia death in 1851. In the spring of 1827 Frederick Nighman bought a portion of Lot 80 and built a log cabiu upon it.

Streetsboro was the last township organized in the county, leaving Garrettsville out of the enumeration. It was, in 1800, made a portion of Hudson, now a township of Summit County, and so remained until 1806, when it beoiune a portion ol Anrora, uuder whose convoy it sailed till 1821, when Aurora cut loose from it, and Mantua took it under h^r wing and kept her safely there till 1827, whon the township thouglit liorsclf big enough to go alone, which she has done, and with credit to herself, too, standing Cor years Na 1 in the mannfaotoxe of dieese, and hi^ in other prodoots.

April 2, 1827, an election was held for officers. Levi M. Cochran, Chauncy Case, Jr., and Alvin Loomia were Judges of Election, and Ephraim Wood, Jr., and George Powers, Clerks. The following were selected: Trustees, Benjamin DooUttto, Daniel H. Johnson, Ephraim Wood, Jr.; Olerk. Alpheos Streator; Tressorer, Ohaancy Case, Jr. ; Overseers of the Poor, Alvin Loomis, Levi M. Cochran; Fence YiewerS) Biley Miller, Alonzo Boot; Constables, .Gideon H. Mills, Heman Thomas. ,

Benjamin I>oolittle was eleoted Joslioe of tiiePdaoe, and the first sait before him was George Powers vs. Alvin Loomis/ Loomis hired Powers to do a piece of work on the turnpike, but Powers not finishing it in a manner satisfactory to Loomis, the latter refused to pay for it, when he was sued for the amoimi. Hie Jnstioe f onnd for the defendant and Powen mpealing to the Court of Common Pleas was beaten there also. The e^kensesof the township in those early times did not exceed $20 annually.

The Overseers of the Poor, who more properly should have been termed the \ % Booters-out of the Poor, were very efficient officers, and were determined j that Streeteboro should have no poor to oversee; so, accordingly, three days | after the election of those officials, they issued an order to Constable Thomas ; to notify James AN'alker and family to leave the township, to which they paid no attention, but a second order being served some time afterward on Walker, acoompaoieid by the information that if he did not wish himself and family to be put up for sale to tlin highest bidder, thoy quickly took themselvos off. In 1829 Erastus Smith and family, and in 1S30 Atlander Eddy and family, were ordered to vacate the sacred soil of Streetsboro. One old woman, Sally . Fleming, would not leaver so they put her np on the blodc and sold her for $12 for two months. This was March 1, 1831. In 1832, January 11, Justus Welen, was ordered to leave; on the 12th, Micah Richardson and family, and on the 17th Julius Granger and his daughter Almira were notihed. About the same time Mrs. Catharine Dester and family, and William Beeman, received their walking papers. Where the poor people CEune from, and what their condition JSifi. doth not 90W appear, bat no drones' were wanted in the Streetsboro hivOb ' of Tittis Street, the road from Clevpland to Wellsville was constructed through Streeteboro, he coutribuling largely iu land for that purpose. The road was the tirst exteusive thoroughfare through this section, and was the route over whieh tiie famoos old mail earrier and eontraotor, Jabea Gilbert^ of Palm jra, familiarly known as "Moees Jabe," and "Old Mose," passed over, an account of whom and his exploits may be found in the chapter on Palmyra. Street gave an acre of ground at each comer of the Center, exclusive of the roads for a poblie square, and a stone was placed in the oenter thereof, to deeignato the exact center of ihe township. He also donated two acres a short distance south of the Center for a burial ground, and gave $00 to have it and the public square cleared off.

Th^ first frame boose in the township was built by Da?id Johnson, at Johnsaa'sOomera, in the spring of 1 827. Street had offered to give $50 to the person who would put up the first frame house, and Johnson won the prize. The first house erected at the Center was by Levi M. Cochran, in the suia* mer of 1825. It was a log-house, and stood on the southeast center lot The first saw-mill was erected at Johnson's Corners, in the northwest oomer of the township, by David Johnson. The first stage ooach over the State road passed through in 1S2U, Jabez Gilbert driving.

In the fall of 1823 a child was born to Samuel Walker, which lived only a few hoars, that being the first birth and first death in the township. Th» first death of an adult was tho wifo of Solomon Carlton, shortly after the burial ground was laid off, and she was the tirst interred there.

The iirst wedding was that of Frederick Nighman and Parmolia Van, Ncfember, 9» 1820. The ceremony was performed by Squire Mills, of Had*

The first school was opened in June, 1826, by Clarinda Case, in the northwest comer of the township. She also cooked for her father and other men employed on tilie road. This sohoolhoose was ereoted by David Johnson, the owner of a saw-mill at Johnson's Comers, and attending it were five of his children, and three of Case's children. Three and one-half years later a district school was opened inSingletary's original Ic^-house, by Almira Taylor. The growth of educational intereets sinoe that time is shown by the following statistics: Revenue in 1884, $5,657; expenditures, 13,042; 0 schoolhouses valued at $3,800; pay of teachers, $34 and $31; enrollment, 103 boys, and 88 girls.

There is at the Center a Presbyterian Church with a good membership and a prosperous Sabbath-sohool. Rot. A. C. Barrows is pastor and Newton Sperry Superintendent of the Sunday sohooL

The Methodist Episcopal Society have a neat building and a fair membership, with a ^ood Sunday school. Bev. Mr. Jacobs is pastor and £. £. Oliu Superintendent of the bchool.

In addition to the burial-ground donated by Mr. Street, there is a very beantifnl spot devoted to the &ad - ^Evergreen Cemetery - ^which also is township property. Evergreen Cemetery Association, of Streetsboro, was organized May 10, 1804. W. S. Hill was Chairman, and Albert Doolittle, Clerk; Enos Payne, John Thompson, Elin Oliu, Osmund Thomas, Lewis Green and Albert Doolittle, Trustees.

At the Center there is a general store, by N. D. Feck, and a ^ocory by C. W. Stewart N. D. Feck is Postmaster. The Central Telephone Company hvfB 8 toll'Sttttion hera A fine brass band fomiBbes ezoellent mnsic oocasionally.

is tlio principal industry, averngino; over 000,000 pounds of cheese annnnlly. There is a singular indostry carried on about one mile southwest of the Center, tliare being very few factories of the kind anywhere: Charles £. Peek ia engaged in the mannfaotore of glass cutters' tools. N. S. Olin & Son oondnet a large stock farm two miles southeast of the Center, known as the Cuyahoga Stock Farm, and have a fino herd of short-horn cattle. The township furnished eighty-one soldiers for the defeube of the Union, and eleven were either killed or died in the service, and eight disabled.