Roach, Moses and Minerva, House

Twinsburg is situated in the northeast corner of the county. It was originally attached to Portage County, from which it was severed when Summit Count}- was formed. LjMng as it does at the side of North field, its soil partakes largely of the valuable character of the latter. There are several valuable stone quarries lying so near the surface that a heav}- blast of powder would, apparently-, throw out hundreds of perches of the gritty sandstone. As it is, large quantities are taken out, and are used not merely in the count}-, but in adjacent counties. The township is well watered, and also well drained. In times of drought, the wells are not so liable to fail as those located on the bluffs which bound the Cuyahoga

Passage source: History of Summit County, with an Outline Sketch of Ohio, published 1881.

In 1810-17, Lewis Ailing, of Connecticut, purchased 400 acres of land of Mills & Hoadley, l3'ing in the southeast part of Millsville Township (now Twinsburg). On the 3d of March, 1817, he sent his son Ethan, then a stripling aged sixteen years, to this land in the Reserve to commence an improvement. Three young men - Zeri Ailing, Rodolphus Wolcott and Lex Johnson - were hired and sent out at the same time to assist him. After a muddy journc}', except one day's travel on the ice from Buflialo to Dunkirk, this little part}' of four arrived at the cabin of Mr. Post, in Hudson, on the last day of March. The next da}' the party, accompanied, or rather guided, by Mr. Mills, started north to have a look at the land, upon which they were destined to undergo many hard da3's' labor. Following a line of marked trees, they at last reached a spot which Mr. Mills informed them was the center of the township. They all sat down and rested under a beech tree which stood just at the southeast corner of the square. The spot was muddy and uninviting, and the party followed up the creek until the}^ came to "the falls," where the}' found some sticks of hewed timber which had been drawn there by settlers of Hudson who designed building a saw-mill. The project, however, had been abandoned, although a small, partly finished log cabin had been erected, which was yet standing, an emblem of desertion and loneliness. After returning to Hudson and remaining there two weeks, clearing in the meantime a piece of land to be planted in corn, the boys selected a hill known now as the Hawkins farm, the land being a portion that had been purchased by Lewis Ailing, and began clearing oft' the timber. On the 15th of April, the}' "moved" to the half-finished log cabin already referred to, taking with them a barrel of stale pork that had been bought of Capt. Oviatt for $25, a barrel of flour that had cost $8, ten bushels of potatoes that had cost $5, and a gallon of whisky that had cost $1.50. The}" were supplied with a bake-kettle without a bail, two tin pans, one case knife, one iron spoon, and were compelled to use chips for plates and sharp sticks for forks. Ethan Ailing kept house, doing the cooking, etc., not onl}' for his part}- but for various visitors who were attracted to the spot, in order, perhaps, to get a " square meal." On the 7th of Jul}', Lewis Ailing and his family arrived, and moved into a log house that had been erected b}' the boys about the 1st of June. This building was the home, during the 3'ear, of the Ailing famil}-, and also of several others, numbering in all fourteen persons. The house was two-storied, having one room above and one below, and, although ever^'thing was in the most primitive fashion. 3-et all seemed to live well and enjoy themselves. Provisions were very costl}', though venison could be had without much trouble. Pork sold for about $8 per hundred, while the same quantity of venison could be bought for $\. Salt was $10 per barrel, cotton shirting 50 cents per yard, and calico 75 cents per 3ard.

Passage source: History of Summit County, with an Outline Sketch of Ohio, published 1881.

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 Twinsburg Township - 587,390 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.