Wayne, Ohio

This township is designated as the eighth of the second range of the original Connecticut Western Reserve. Much of the following history of this township is extracted from an address delivered by the Hon. J. R. Giddings, at the semicentennial anniversary of the settlement of the township, held on the 24th day of August, 1853. Mr. Giddings became a resident of the territory now called Wayne when but ten years of age, - this fact, with his retentive memory and very observing mind, eminently fitting him for the position of historian.

Passage source: History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, published 1878.

On the 21st of June of that year, Joshua Fobes and his wife, Dorothy, accompanied by Elias Fobes, a younger brother, of some nine or ten years of age, started from Connecticut with the intention of settling in this township. Their father attended them on their journey, with the intention of seeing them located in the wilderness to which they were emigrating. After one or two days' travel they were joined by David Fobes, a cousin, who shared with them the hardships and privations of that protracted journey. In forty-nine days they reached Gustavus, and for the time being found shelter in the cabin of Jesse Pelton, who had settled at the centre of the township. Soon after their arrival they proceeded to ascertain the situation of their lands. This done, the father returned to Connecticut. Joshua Fobes and David commenced chopping timber and preparing a cabin, but the exposure of the journey affected the health of Joshua so much that he could not remove on to his lands until the 8th of October. The family which moved into the township of Wayne on that day consisted of Joshua Fobes, his wife Dorothy, David Fobes, and Elias Fobes. These four farmers were emphatically the " first settlers of Wayne."

Passage source: History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, published 1878.

In May, 1804, Simon Fobes, Jr., came into the township, and took up his residence with his brothers, returning to Connecticut in the autumn, and our pioneer family were left to spend the second winter without other neighbors than those heretofore referred to. During the summer of 1804 a wagon-road was opened from their residence to Morgan. This road was occasionally traveled, and our pioneers were at times called on by the lonely traveler, who, in that day, was always delighted to find a cabin amid the dreary wilderness. Early the next season Simon Fobes, Jr., returned to Wayne. He came in a wagon drawn by two horses, which enabled him to bring with him many articles of clothing and other necessaries greatly needed by the family. With him came a cousin, Jabez Fobes, whose father had purchased land here, and the son came to rear a cabin for his father's family. During the winter of 1804 - 5, Titus Hayes and Elisha Giddings removed from Canandaigua, New York, with their families. They came on sleds drawn by oxen, reaching Hartford, in the county of Trumbull, in the month of March. Here they remained during the season, engaged in raising provisions for the next season. On the 8th of October these gentlemen removed with their families to Wayne, and took up their residence on lot 33. Mr. Fobes and family had resided in the township two years before the arrival of another family. Elisha Giddings settled on lot 34. In the autumn of 1805, George Wakeman, from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, purchased lot 85, and began improvements thereon. During the same period Joshua Giddings (father of the Hon. J. R. Giddings) purchased several lots of land in the township. Jabez Fobes erected a small cabin about this time on lot 88. Edward Inman, of Somers, Connecticut, purchased lands here in the same autumn. In the winter of 1805-6, Joshua Giddings, accompanied by his son, Anson P., came from Canandaigua, and commenced improvements near the centre, on lot 45, erecting a cabin and planting a small field of corn. In the month of May, George Wakeman and family, his soniu-law, Henry Moses, and family, settled on lot 85. In the same month the family of Joshua Giddings (consisting of wife, son Joseph, and J. R., the youngest of the family) left Canandaigua, in charge of Nathaniel Coleman, at that time recently married, reached Conneaut on the 16th day of June (the day of the total eclipse of the sun), coming down the old Salt road and across the Pymatuning into the township, and to the cabin on lot 45. Mr. Coleman began improvements on lot 65, where he subsequently settled. About the 1st of July, Edward Inman and family, his son Edward, Jr., and family, settled on lot 86. Soon after this Nathan Fobes took up his residence on lot 88. Soon after this Mr. Giddings inaugu- rated public Sabbath worship. The first meeting was at his cabin on, probably, the second Sabbath in July. In the memoirs of the Rev. Joseph Badger we find that, on the 2d of November, 1806, he spoke at the house of Joshua Fobes; and this sermon he calls the first Sabbath preaching in Wayne."

Passage source: History of Ashtabula County, Ohio, published 1878.

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 Wayne Township - it names this place 31 more 31 times.