Laporte, Ohio

William Webster, of West Hartford, Connecticut, married Abigail Johnson, of Berlin, same State, .January 4, 1800, and removed to Onondaga county. New York, in 1818, and to Carlisle in 1838; arriving there on May loth of that year, he settled and cleared up the farm cue mile north of Laporte, now owned by William Brush. In 1832, Mr. Webster removed to the southeast corner of the township, where he died October 27, 1844. Mrs. Webster died August 16, 1862. The children were as follows: Harriet, who married Joseph Weston; Amanda, who married Calvin Brooks; William, Jr., who married Catharine Phillips (a daug'.iter of this couple is now the wife of Dr. Kelsey, of Elyria); Abigail, who married Levi Lee; Bethuel, who married Roxa Andrews; Louisa, who married Abram V. D. Bergh; Nancy, who married Harris R. Shelden; and Henry, who married Sarah Johnson.

Passage source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879.

In the cemetery at Laporte we find a small sandstone slab erected to the memory of Lucretia M., daughter of Phinehas and Hannah Johnson, who died August 23, 1823; aged eighteen years. This is presumably the first death of a white person in the township.

Passage source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879.

The following sketch of the Methodist church is prepared from data furnished us by A. A. Chapman, a former member: Rev. H. 0. Sheldon, it is believed, was the first minister of this denomination to hold services in Carlisle township. This was in 1824 or 1825. A class was not formed, however, until 1830 or 1831, which consisted of the following persons: A. A. Chapman, Cornelius Vandebergh, Nancy, Jane and Catherine Vandebergh, J. B. Andrews and wife, (Andrews was local preacher,) Henry Spicer and wife, Stephen Winchell and wife, Enoch Fossfiuder, Paul Taylor, Harriet Taylor and James V. Baker and wife. Cornelius Vandebergh was first leader of this class, and it was formed in the western portion of the township. A second class was organized in the eastern part of the township, now called Laporte, in about 1833. Among its members were 0. J. Humphrey, leader, wife and two daughters, and Mrs. Abigail Webster and a daughter. The church edifice at this point was erected some thirty years since aud cost one thousand dollars. Thei'e is a present membership of sixty. The pastor is Chester L. Foote; class leader, William Brush; stewards, Thomas Pound aud Gilbert Fields; superintendent of Sabbath school, Gilbert Fields. The attendance is sixty. The following are some of the early ministers: Elnathan C. Gavit, George Elliott, William Runnells. He that is now Bishop Harris was on this circuit in 1835 and 1830. Thomas Barkdull, D. M. Conant, M. L. Starr, W. M. Safford, Wm. C. Pierce, Spafford

Passage source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Carlisle Township.