Brownhelm Township (part 3 of 5)

My father taught the school the first two winters, and children from every part of the town attended. There was no public school fund in those times, and the teacher received his compensation in work in his "chopping" the next spring, day for day, the work being distributed among the families according to the number of children attending the school. For years afterwards the teacher received his pay in farm produce. Among the earlier teachers in that house were Abby Harris, Amelia Peck and Pamelia Curtis. Miss Pamelia herself was but a child, thirteen years of age; and, although she sustained her responsibilities with remarkable dignity, it is not difficult to recall, in a retrospect, some childish arrangements. One summer day she placed her chair on the table, removed a board from the floor aboye, lifted the children up one by one, and kept school up stairs - the excuse being that Colonel Brown's bull had been seen loose around the street that day, and he might be wild - an ample reason in the imagination of both teacher and children. Many pleasant memories gather about the old school house, in spite of the striped lizards that burroughed in its crevices to frighten nervous girls, and the yawning chasm below, in which heedless boys were often engulfed.

In 1824 the ''yellow school house" was built,a few feet west of the log one, and the boys had the exquisite pleasure of rolling the old house down the hill. This yellow school house was an elegant one in its day, painted throughout and piastered. It was no ordinary school house, but a genuine academy, furnished with unusual apparatus, globes, and wall maps, and pantograph, and tables for map-drawing and painting, all under the charge of accomplished teachers. This was the first attempt in the county, and indeed ina much wider region, at « school of anything more than a local character. The enterprise originated with, aud was carried forward almost wholly by Dr. Betts. It prospered for two or three years, attracting young ladies in the summer from all the older settlements, within a distance of twenty miles; from Milan, Norwalk, Florence, Elyria, Sheffield, ete. Mary Harris of Florence, afterward Mrs. Hopkins of Milan, taught the school the first two summers; after her, Mary Green, now Mrs. Miles of Elyria. The first winter Mortimer Strong, and the second and third Mr. Parkhurst, were the teachers. The first summer the house was without fire. In cool, wet weather the boys kept up an out-door fire; and between the damp plastering within, and the rain without, some of the children took the ague and shook the summer through, In the fall astove was bought, probably the first that was ever brought into town, a diminutive box stove, eighteen inches in length, but a wonder to the children of the woods, who had never seen a stove. Over that we shivered two or three winters, when it was succeeded by a larger stove cast in plates, but utterly destitute of clamping rods to hold it together. Ne man in the community knew that such a thing was necessary, and it was no rare occurrence for a long stick to thrust out the end plate, and occasionally the whole fabrie collapsed at once. But such annoyances were but trifles, and the Brownhelm school maintained a character above that of other schools in the country around. Among the earlier teachers, besides those mentioned, were J. A. Harris now of Cleveland; his sister, Miss Emeline Harris, now Mrs. Tenney; Miss Mary Whittlesey, and John Curtis. There was no other school in town the first dozen years or more. After three or four years it ceased to be anything but aloeal school. The old yellow school house went off in a blaze some years ago.

little east of Mr. Pease's. This was kept up two years, and attended by small number of pupils, a few of whom commenced Latin and Greek in preparation for college. This was the first classical school in the county, and gave place to the Elyria high school, established in 1832, of which Mr. and Mrs. Monteith were the first teachers. This school enjoyed two years of great prosperity, until the school at Oberlin was opened in 1834, which at once took the lead and has maintained it.

The report of the clerk of the board of education for the year ending August 31, 1878, gives the following statistics in regard to schools, viz:

Religious

The early settlers were in earnest in religious matters, as well asin education. They were not all members of the church, but they had all been trained in New England habits, and prominent men like Alva Curtis and Colonel Brown, who did not at first have was born] in Stockbridge, Berkshire Co., Mass., Aug. 25, 1812, and was the seventh child in a family of eight children of Enos and Anna (Ashley) Cooley, both of New England ancestry. During the fall of 1817, Enos Cooley and family started west with a span of horses and wagon, and arriving at Batavia, N. Y., stopped over until the month of February following. He was very poor in this world's goods, and had nothing with which to start except a good constitution and a desire to succeed for the benefit of his family. Young Chester had to work hard, fare poorly, and all the amusement he ever had in, youth was fishing and 'cooning. They arrived at Brownhelm towards the last of the year 1818, and purchased one hundred acres of land, upon which they erected a_ fine, hewed log house, the corners being squared by Mr. Cooley himself, he being a practical mechanic. This primitive residence stood about one mile south of the lake, and two miles north of the present residence of Chester A. Cooley. The superior quality of the log house, however, did not furnish food for the family, so that they traded one of their horses for a cow, which helped a little. The creature had to procure its own fodder in the woods, and sometimes the family were minus the diurnal supply of the lacteal fluid owing to the nonappearance of the bovine. Its absence sometimes extended over four or five days. Mr. Cooley, pére, went to Elyria and worked in Judge Ely's mills, somewhat detrimental to their clothing, so that one of the boys shouldered his knapsack and proceeded on foot to Massachusetts for a fresh supply of cloth, earning the same ina factory where he had previously worked. These and similar privations the pioneers had to bear, but little by little the country began to settle up, and many of the difficulties of their situation were removed. At the age of twenty-eight, and on the 4th of November, 1840, Chester married Catharine B., daughter of Grandison and Nancy (Harris) Fairchild, who settled in Brownhelm in the fall of 1818. By this union were born two sons, - James Francis, born Oct. 11, 1841; was married, in March, 1863, to Effie Darby, sister of William Sayles' first wife; died Aug. 12, 1863, ot diphtheria. He was a remarkably good son and brother, cheerful, careful, and conscientious. He watched over his younger brother with tender solicitude, and was faithful in every duty both at home and at school. While attending Oberlin College, and boarding with his uncle, Professor (now President) Fairchild, his mother once inquired whether he was a good boy. The professor said, "You know you need not ask. I never saw such a boy ; he is always in the right place at the right time." He taught school, and was also engaged at Sabbathschool teaching. Although not a professor of religion he -was a devout Christian, and his death, after a painful illness of only four days, was a sore bereavement alike to his parents and to his recently married wife.

The other son of Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, William H., was born Sept. 27, 1843; was married, July 8, 1865, to Sarah Butler. They have two daughters and one son, viz. : Caroline Madora, born Nov. 19, 1870; Catharine Eloise, born Feb. 2, 1874; Wm. Butler, born June 15, 1878.

Chester A. Cooley first purchased fifty acres of land, for which he went in debt. He paid for it by working for Judge Brown and others, and making staves from the timber on his land. In 1846 he sold out and boughs one hundred acres where he now resides. He cast his first vote, in 194, for General Harrison. He afterwards became an a:tislavery man, and is now a Democrat. He is an honest, conscientious Christian, a first-class farmer, and a good citizen. William, his only son, is a merchant at Brownhelm, and also postmaster and town treasurer. He follows in his father's footsteps, and is generally esteemed a worthy member of society. He was for severai years superintendent of the a standing in the church, still maintained family prayer and aided in the Sabbath services. A meeting was held at Judge Brown's house by Deacon James, the Sabbath before July 4, 1817, and from that day to this public worship has been held on the Sabbath, unless for a single day the violence of a storm may have prevented the gathering. The first meetings were held at Judge Brown's, afterwards at Solomon Whittlesey's, and then at Mr. Barnum's, a little north of the stone quarry.

At this point the first meeting house was built in 1819, a neat and commodious structure for the new country, constructed of pealed logs, with a genuine shingle roof, and a stone chimney and fire place. The infirmity of this part of the arrangement was that the mantle was of wood, which often took fire on a

Brown, or Chauncey Peck, or Rodney Andrews, was obliged to bring water or snow to extinguish 1t, while the rest of the congregation were occupied with the calculation how long it would be before the chimney would come down upon them. The seats were like those of the log school house, slabs on pins. The men were ranged on one side the house and the woman on ths other, facing each other, with a broad aisle between, at one end of which stood the pulpit. As times improved and lumber became abundant, one man made a comfortable settee for his family; others followed his example, and in a few weeks the whole congregation were provided for. The only dedication of the house of which I ever heard, was by Deacon Beardsley, of Vermillion. Passing the building one day when it was nearly finished, he went in to see if the house would seem like the old log meeting house that he had known in Connecticut. The spirit of the Lord seemed to come upon him, and with a solemn prayer he consecrated the house, and received an assurance of great spiritual blessings to come soon upon the people. The promised blessing was not long delayed. In the great revival that followed, almost all the young people were gathered into the church.

The church was organized June 10, 1819, at the house of Solomon Whittiesey, and consisted of sixteen members, seven men and nine women. Four of the sixteen are now living: Levi Shepard and Grandison Fairchild, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Fairchild; and three are present to-day. The ministers that officiated in its organization were Messrs. Treat and Seward, missionaries of the Connecticut Missionary Society, and members of the Portage Presbytery. The church was congregational, under the care of Presbytery, after the ''plan of union." Stephen James was the first deacon, and afterward Levi Shepard was elected; Grandison Fairchild was clerk. Rev. A. H. Betts, known through the country as Dr. Betts, from the fact that he had studied medicine, was the first minister. He began preaching to the church in the fall of 1820, and was ordained and installed April 5, 1821. He continued pastor until, at his own request, he was dismissed in 1833.

The practice of the congregation was to meet for service at half past ten Sabbath mornings, to take a recess of an hour for rest, and for lunch, which they took with them to meeting; visiting the spring under the rocks for water, and returning for afternoon service. There were only two or three families that lived near enough to go home at noon. A sight of the old congregation would be refreshing to-day - the women in their Sunday's best, the men in their shirt sleeves, the boys and girls with bare feet. Mr. Peck, at the head of the high seat with his pitch pipe, Judge Brown next, and Dr. Betts in the pulpit. After the Sabbath school was introduced, this was held at noon. The first Sabbath school was opened June 1, 1828, Sabbath morning, in the yellow school house, with about a dozen children and two teachers - my father and Pamelia Curtis. It was afterwards transferred to the meeting house and held at noon. The chief feature of the school at that day was the learning and reciting of scripture, each scholar having the privilege of selecting his own passages and learning as many as possible. A single scholar would sometimes repeat more than a hundred at a lesson. One such in a class would nearly consume the hour. Before 1830, the Sabbath school was reorganized, under the superintendence of Frederic Brown, who had been living at the east, and returned all alive with interest in the Sabbath school work. The plan of limited lessons was adopted, and the Sabbath school became a religious power in the community of great efficiency.

It was the time of a great religious movement in the land, in connection with which protracted meetings were first extensively introduced, commonly known as ''four days' meetings." These meetings gathered not merely the communities where they were held, but people from neighboring towns attended in large numbers. They were not like the protracted meetings of the present day, occupying the evening with a single preaching service, preceeded by a prayermeeting, leaving the people free during a large part of the day for their usual avocations. At these four days' meetings, the people gathered in the morning, taking a luncheon for themselves and for visitors from abroad, and the entire day was devoted to preaching, prayer and inquiry meetings. Evening meetings followed in the different neighborhoods.

Such a meeting was held at Brownhelm, in the summer of 1831, under a bower, in the forest, just north of the stone quarry. The old meeting house was not large enough. 'The weather was propitious, and the meeting was fruitful of results. The religious interest which had been accumulating for many months, in connection with the Sabbath school work, Many were greatly quickened in their religious life, and many more were induced to enter upon such a life. It was a season to be remembered for a generation. Similar meetings were held at Elyria and at Vermillion earlier in the season, and the influence extended through the region.

lion, Mr. Judson, of Milan, and several others, were recognized as leaders in the work. Probably no other such general movement has been known in the history of northern Ohio.

The old log meeting house, about this time, became uncomfortable for winters and inadequate for summers, and the people moved towards a better house. It was soon found difficult to bring the interests of the lake shore and the ridge to harmonize upon a location. An old Stockbridge difficulty between the Plain and the North settlement, found an echo here in the woods, and, perhaps, predisposed to a reproduction of the quarrel. After sundry meetings and conferences, the question was referred to a committee of discreet men from abroad, whose decision was to be final. This committee consisted of Deacon Crocker, of Dover, Deacon Clark, of Vermillion, and Deacon Fuller, of Berlin. They drove the stake in my father's peach orchard, and there the church was.

The first attempt at a building was essentially a failure. Mr. Culver was the architect, a man of mechanical genius, but deficient in practical judgment; and the building, having no cross beams to support the roof, and relying solely on braced and trussed plates, commenced life with a broken back. After an inglorious career, it gave place to the present cheerful and graceful structure built by Alfred Betts. * * *

The church now - fall of 1878 - has a membership of eighty-five. Allen D. Blakeslee is pastor; John Goodrich, clerk; O. H. Perry, treasurer; J. C. Chapin, OC. L. Perry and George Wells, deacons. The Sabbath school, now under the superintendency of C. B. Bacon, has a membership of two hundred and ten scholars.

A Methodist Episcopal class was formed in West Brownhelm in about the year 1841, called the Brownhelm class. The records of the church have not been preserved, and we could obtain but little information concerning it. The erection of a church building was commenced not long after the organization of the class, but was not finished, for want of means, for several years after. It was dedicated by Elder Lyon, of Sandusky. There is no settled pastor, but regular preaching is had, the Rey. Mr. Smith, of Vermillion, officiating. No Sabbath school.

The Evangelical Association was organized by Rey. Lutz in the year 1847. 'The earlier meetings of the society were held in the school house in the southeast part of the town. A house of worship was erected on Middle ridge in 1865, at a cost of one thousand two hundred dollars. 'The church has now a membership of fifty. The pastor is Rey. Jacob Hunniker. A Sabbath school was organized subsequently, and now numbers nearly sixty scholars.

The German Reformed Church was organized in 1848. Services were held at first in the school house in district number one, and, subsequently, after the division of the district, the society purchased the school house and occupied it as a house of worship until 1870, when the building at the station was erected. The cost of this church was one thousand six hundred dollars. The first pastor was Rev. Meis. Rey. G. H. Kuhlen, of Vermillion, now officiates. There is a Sunday school of thirty scholars, of which Christopher Leimbach in superintendent.

The people of Brownhelm, in the early times, felt reasonable complacency in their social, literary and religious privileges, and in the good order and morality which distinguished the place. Crime was rare, and rowdyism almost unknown. If a boisterous company, now and then, passed along the streets, it was assumed that they were from Black River, a township which then embraced Amherst. If my recollection is not at fault, there was only one drunkard in town, even before the commencement of the temperance movement. But the temperance movement came none too soon, The habit of drinking at raisings and trainings, and of having liquors in the house for social occasions, and for private use, was universal; and the young were forming a taste for it. In 1827, some account reached us of the growing interest at the east on the subject, and on Thanksgiving day, Dr. Betts preached on temperance. The same evening, I think it was, several boys from the neighborhood were spending the evening at our house, the older people having gathered at a neighbor's house. The boys, after some conference on the subject, drew up a pledge, one or two of them haying learned to write, and all signed it, - a pledge to abstain from the use of all distilled spirits. This was the first temperance organization in the township, - the first, in fact, in the county. This pledge was circulated, and led to the formation of a vigorous temperance society. From that time the use of spirits declined, until it was no longer furnished on public Dayis' distillery went to ruin, and young men were saved who had been exposed to great danger.

. Until about this time, a few Indians had lingered about the region, some times passing by in considerable parties from the neighborhood of Upper Sandusky. They were harmless after the war, and the only annoyance from them was their persistent begging for whiskey. They would stand an hour at the door, begging for ''one little dram." One day a party stopped at our house, and passed the bottle among themselves, the bottle being carried by a white man, who belonged to the party. One young man, I remember, more gentle and amiable than the rest, said, when the bottle was offered to him, 'No, whiskey wrestle we down once, - never will again." Poor Jim! the only Indian with whom, when a child, I dared to be familiar, - whiskey wrestled him down once more, and his cabin burned down upon him.

From February, 1817, until October, 1818, the town was a part of Black River. At the latter date, on petition cf the inhabitants to the commissioners of

Leonard Bradley

Leonard Bradley was born in the town of Ellington, Tolland Co., Conn., Nov. 4, 1792. He immigrated to Brownhelm, Ohio, in the year 1817, located: lands, and remained two years, after which he returned to Connecticut and married Roxanna, daughter of William Thrall, of Tolland County, and immediately returned to Ohio, where he was identified as a pioneer farmer. By this union were born four children, viz.: Captain Alva Bradley, now a resident of Cleveland, and a large vessel owner ; William Bradley, a resident of Brownhelm ; Betsey (deceased) ; and Julia. Mrs. Leonard Bradley died Feb. 25, 1858.

Mr. Bradley married for his second wife Emily, widow of William Nye, of Onondaga Co., N. Y., and daughter of John Thompson, who was of Scotch birth and ancestry. Our subject was an ardent advocate of Republicanism during his latter days, being' formerly a member of the old Whig party ; served his township as trustee and other offices from time to time. When a young man he carried a lady (who wished to visit friends, not having seen any white ladies in several months) over the Vermillion River on an ox, he riding one and the lady the other ox, the oxen having to swim on account of the depth of the stream.

Mr. Bradley remained on the old homestead until the date of his death, which occurred May 3, 1875. His wife survives him, still remaining on the old homestead, surrounded by many friends and tenderly cared for in her declining years by her children.

together with the surplus lands adjoining west, and all lands lying west of Beaver creek in number seven, in the eighteenth range, - Black River, - was organized into a separate township, by the name of Brownhelm, a name selected by Colonel: Brown, as previously fully explained.

The first election for township officers was held at the house of George Bacon, in the spring of 1819. The vote was by ballot which resulted as follows: Anson Cooper, clerk; William Alverson, treasurer; Levi Shepard, Calvin Leonard, and Alvah Curtiss, trustees; Levi Shepard and Benjamin Bacon, justices of the peace. ;

That part of the present town of Black River lying west of Beaver creek was, in June, 1829, by order of the commissioners, detached from Brownhelm, and re-annexed to Black River. The township officers elected in 1878 are as follows: Henry B. Lindsley, clerk; J. M. Joslin, John H. Heyman, Gustavus Schroeder, trustees; Wm. H. Cooley, treasurer; Edwin Bacon and William Sales, justices of the peace.

The first justices of the peace in the township were Levi Shepard and Benjamin Bacon. The cases referred to their adjudication were few and simple. Sometimes it was found more convenient and economical to let an unusual rogue escape from the country, than to take him to the jail at Norwalk. It is related that a case of horse stealing once came before Squire Wells, of Vermillion. The culprit was a wandering preacher, but the evidence was strong against him. *Squire Wells invited "Squire Bacon to sit with him on the trial, to add weight to the court. The constables took the liberty of advising the prisoner to seek safety by flight, if during the progress of the trial a fair opportunity should appear. He seized the opportunity with great alacrity, and was followed with a shout, but not overtaken. The next day, 'Squire Bacon started for Cleveland, and spent the night at Dover. <A preacher had come into town, and the people were gathering to hear him. Mr. Bacon went with the rest, and was surprised to see at the desk his horse-stealing acquaintance of the day before. He gave as his text '' Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." After the sermon, opportunity was given to any who wished to offer a word of exhortation. Mr. Bacon improved the opportunity by relating the occurrence of the previous day. The poor preacher started suddenly on his travels again, and at last «counts had not stopped.

The first physician in town was Dr. Weed, who died in the earliest years. Then Dr. Betts, as having some knowledge of medicine, visited the sick when no other physician could be had. Next, Dr. Forbes took up his residence here for a short time, occupying the place now belonging to Samuel Bacon's family. When we had no resident physician, Dr. Baker, of Florence, now of Norwalk, was chiefly relied on, and sometimes Dr. Wolcott, of Elyria. ~Dr. Samuel

In general, the early families brought their medicine bags into the new country, and administered to afflicted children glauber salts, calomel and jalap, rhubarb and senna, with entire confidence, not to speak of wormwood, thoroughwort, and other more odious herbs and compounds. 'Thus the children were taken through chicken-pox, measles, and whooping cough, in comparative safety. 'Fhe ague was sometimes '' broken" with Peruvian bark, but the more popular treatment was to wear it out.

The disease most dreaded in the new country was the milk sickness, or, as it was generally called, the sick stomach, commonly supposed to originate in some poisonous herb eaten by the cattle, and to be communicated by the use of the milk. The disease was exceedingly distressing and malignant, and as I remember now, oftener fatal than otherwise. No part of the town was entirely exempt, but the disease was developed especially in certain localities. The Barnum place, near the old meeting house, was remarkably afflicted with it; and three stones, side by side in the burying ground, mark the graves of three Mrs. Barnums, all of whom, if I recollect right, died of the disease. One autumn, four members of their families died within a week. The place was at length deserted, and the precise locality has never since been occupied by a family. Those sickly seasons were sad periods in the early history of the place. The little community was sometimes gathered to a double funeral, as once at Judge Brown's, when Sidney Brown and Oliver Cooley died, and afterwards at Mr. Barnum's. The latest calamity of the kind was in 1838, when the entire Campbell family, of five persons, died in the space of amonth. But in spite of this scourge, the.early settlers probably suffered less from sickness than is common in a new country, and the boon of health was gratefully included in the enumeration of blessings on thanksgiving day. The first burial in town was that of a daughter of Alva Curtis, Calista, who died at Mr. Onstine's, in Black River, before the family reached the Brownhelm line. She was buried first on Solomon Whittlesey's place, afterwards in the burying. ground near Mr. Bacon's. The small brown stone that marks the grave -was the only one in the ground for many years. The weeping willow has long since disappeared.

The first birth was in the Holcomb family, on the south ridge - a son, Henry Brown Holcomb. Next, Lucy Cooper, and a month later, Enos Peck. George Cooper was born in Euclid fifty years ago to-day, arid may very properly be considered the oldest Brownhelm boy.

The first wedding was probably that of Joseph Swift and Eliza Root, who were married on the South Soon after my father's arrival, in 1818, one of the Onstine young men came to borrow five dollars, and satinet enough for a pair of pants, giving as a reason that he was going to have a little frolic over in Vermillion. His frolic was his wedding. Among the earliest marriages was that of Ezekiel Goodrich and Charlotte Brown, on the lake shore. Some of the young men had arrangements east that they returned to consummate after they had "stuck their stakes." These were the earliest visits to theeast. Atalater day, the married people singly, not in pairs, went back to visit their old home, going by steamer to Buffalo, and by canal to Albany, astonished to traverse in ten days the road that it had taken seven weeks to pass over in coming into the wilderness, This going back to Stockbridge was a great event - the hope of the older, and the dream of the children. The young man, putting on his freedom suit, must go to Stockbridge to give it an airing! and to attain the consequence essential to sustain his manhood. When he returned, his young companions gathered around him as a distinguished traveler, to hear all he conld tell of the wonderful land. In this respect, the experience of children brought up in the simplicity of the new country can scarcely be repeated at the present day. 'The advantages of cultivated society, talked of by parents, but never seen by the children, made a powerful impression. The steepled church, back in the eastern home, wrought upon the imagination of the child, as it could not if an object of daily sight. The thought of the college, to one who had only seen the log school house, was material for castle building by day, and for dreams by night. From mountain summit, and towering monument, and capital dome, in later years, my eyes have rested on many a goodly scene of nature and of art, but the thrill of surprise and satisfaction which I experienced upon my first view of the village of Elyria, from my father's wagon, has never been equaled. The village at that time consisted of perhaps twenty buildings, gathered about the Ely and Beebe mansions, at the east end of Main street. No such surprise awaits the children of the present day.

One of the features of early life here was familiarity with the wild animals that had .possession of the country. The howl of the wolf at night, was as familiar as the whip-poor-will's song - not the small prairie wolf so well known at the west, but the powerful wolf of the forest, the black and the gray. They passed in droves by our dwellings at night, sometimes when the new comers had only a blanket suspended in the opening for the decor; sometimes they crowded upon the footsteps of a belated settler, passing from one part of the settlement to another, The boy crossing the pasture on a winter morning would often see the blind track of a wolf that had loped across the night before. If he had forgotten to bring in his sheep at evening, he might find them scattered and torn in the morning. A dog that ventured from the house at night, sometimes came in with wounds more honorable than comfortable. The wolf was a shy animal, seldom showing itself by daylight. Probably not one in a dozen of the early inhabitants ever saw a wolf in the forest; yet these animals roamed the woods around us for years. Mr. Solomon Whittlesey once snatched his calf from the jaws of a wolf, at night, with many pairs of hungry eyes gleaming upon him through the darkness.

In 1827, the county commissioners offered a bounty for wolf scalps - three dollars for a full-grown wolf, and half the sum for a whelp of three months. Whether any drafts were ever made upon the treasury does not appear. As late as 1832, my brother and myself, returning on foot to the high school at Elyria, after a visit home, were stopped on the way at evening by the howling of wolves in the road before us, and constrained to wait until morning. Now and then a wolf was taken in a trap or shot by a hunter. Probably less than a half-dozen were ever killed in the township. About the winter of 1827-28, wolf hunts were organized in the region on a grand scale, conducted by surrounding a tract of country several miles in extent, with a line of men within sight of each other at the start, and approaching each other as they moved toward the center. The first of these hunts centered in Henrietta, and resulted in bagging large quantities of game, but never a wolf. A single wolf made his appearance at the center, and was snapped at and shot at by many a rifle, but my recollection is that he got off with a wholeskin. The sport involved danger from the cross-shooting as the line drew near the center, and Park Harris, of Amherst, mounted on a horse, received a shot in the ankle. To avoid this danger, the next hunt centered on the river hollow, about the mill in Brownhelm, but the scale on which it was arranged was too grand to be carried out. The lines were too extended and broke in many places, resulting in gathering upon the flat a small herd of deer and a solitary fox, barely furnishing an occasion for the hundreds of huntsmen above to discharge their pieces, as the frightened animals escaped into the woods up the river. It was an utterly fruitless chase. A more exciting chase was the slave-hunt of a later day, in which the people bewildered and foiled the kidnappers.

Bears were less numerous than wolves, but they were perhaps more often seen. One was shot by Solomon Whittlesey, from the ridge, a little east of the burying ground. One of the trials of my childish courage, was to pass the tree against which tradition said that he rested his rifle in the shot. Another dangerous tree was the large basswood that leaned over the brook, a little to the south-east of Harvey Perry's orchard. My mother going over the ridge to bring a pail of water from the spring, once drove a large black animal before her, which she thought a dog, until be scrambled up that tree, when she returned home without the water. 'The tree stood close by the track that led to Mr. Peck's, and it was a test of pluck for a child to pass that tree, as I was often obliged to, just as the evening began to darken. One day, one of the half dozen sheep that I was expected to drive into pen at night, was missing. They were pastured in the tield where the orchard now is. In looking for the lost animal, I found a place where it seemed to have been dragged over the fence, and following the trail a few rods, I came upon a spot, not many feet from where we are now gathered, where a bear had made his feast, leaving the wool scattered about, and a few large bones. The tracks were still fresh in the mud. Such occurrences gave a smack of adventure to child life in the new country, and it was a matter of every day consultation among the boys, what were the habits of the various animals supposed to be dangerous, such as the wolf, the bear, the wildcat, and the panther, and by what tactics it was safest to meet them. Similar discussions were had in reference to the Indians, who had required a bad reputation during the war, then recent, with England. The prevailing opinion was, that any fear exhibited towards an Indian, or a wild beast, put one at a great disadvantage.

Deer were far more plenty than cattle, and the sight of them was an everyday occurrence. A good marksman would sometimes shoot one from his door. The same was true of wild turkeys. Raccoons worked mischief in the unripe corn, and a favorite sport of the boys was ''coon hunting" at night, the time when the creature visited the corn. A dog traversed the cornfield to start the game, and the boys ran at the first bark of the dog, to be in at the death. When the animal took to a tree, it was cut down, ora fire was built and a guard set to keep him until morning, when he was brought down by ashot. The motive for the hunt was three-fold, - the sport, the protection of the corn, and the value of the skin, the raccoon being a furred animal. The greatest speculation in this line of which the town can boast, was made by Job Smith, whom many will remember, and who is mentioned in the county records, in the description of a road, as ''a man of some note." He issaid to have bought a quantity of goods of a New York dealer, promising to pay ''five hundred coon skins taken as they run," naturally meaning an average lot. The dealer, after waiting a reasonable time for his fur, came on to investigate, and inquired of his debtor when the skins would be delivered. ''Why," said Mr. Smith, "'you were to take them as they run; the woods are full of them; take them when you please." The moral of the story would not be complete without stating that the same Job Smith was afterwards arrested as a manufacturer of counterfeit coin.

Thrifty men pursued the basiness of hunting as a pastime. The only man in town, perhaps, to whom it afforded profitable business, in any sense, was Solomon Whittlesey. Other professional hunters were shiftless men, to whom hunting was a mere passion, having something of the attractions of gambling. Mr. Whittlesey did not neglect his farm, but he knew every haunt and path of the deer and the turkey, and was often on their track by day and by night. He is with us to-day, and reports the killing of one bear, two wolves, twenty wild cats, about one hundred and fifty deer, and smaller game too numerous to specify. One branch of his business was bee hunting, a pursuit which required a keen eye, good judgment and practice. The method of the hunt was to raise an odor in the forest, by placing honey comb on a hot stone, and in the vicinity another piece of comb charged with honey. The bees were attracted by the smell, and having gorged themselves with the honey, they took a bee-line for their tree. This line the hunter observed and marked by two or more trees in range. He then took another station, not on this line, and went through the same operation. Those two lines, if fortunately selected, would converge upon the bee tree, and could be followed ont by a pocket compass. The tree, when found, was marked by the hunter with his initials, and could be cut down at the proper time.

Another form of the sport of hunting was even more' classic, the hunting of the wild boar. For many years there was an unbroken forest, two miles in breidth, running through the township, between the North ridge and the lake shore farms. This forest became the haunt of fugitive hogs, that fed on the abundant mast, or, in Yankee phrase, ''shack," which the forest yielded. These animals were bred in the forest, and in the third generation became as fierce as the wild boar of the European forest. 'The animal in this condition was about as worthless, for domestic purposes, as a wolf, as gaunt and as savage. Still it was customary, in the fall and early winter, to organize hunts for reclaiming some valuable animal that had become thus degenerate. The hunt was exciting and dangerous. The gennine wild boar, exasperated by dogs, was the most terrible creature in our forest. His onset was too sudden and headlong to be avoided or turned aside, and the snap of his tusks, as he sharpened them in his fury, was somewhat terrible. Two at least of our young men, Walter Crocker and Truman Tryon, were thrown down and badly rent in such encounters, and others had narrow escapes.

The principal fishing ground of the early years was the <''flood wood" of the Vermillion. The lake fishing is a modern discovery. It was not known that the lake contained fish that were accessible. Other sports and recreations were few and simple, most of them presenting the utilitarian element. There were logging bees to help a man who had been sick or unfortunate, raisings to put up a log cabin or barn, and militia trainings, which were entered into earnestly by men who had smelt powder in the recent war. Then there was an occasional patriot among us of the Revolution days who fired the youthful heart by tales of the times that tried men's souls. Chief among these was George Bacon, Sr., reported to have been one of the Boston tea party, who brought honorable wounds from the battle field and drew his pension from the government. Then there was Stephen James, with a bar sinister in his escutcheon, because he chanced to be of tory stock, still a true patriot, and a brave and stately man. It is not strange that

The Fourth of July was observed with such humble appointments as were at hand. An old musket that had been through the wars was the loudest piece that could be found, and this was brought into requisition. One Independence day, John Curtis, an ambitious youth, brought out a cannon, which he had manufactured by boring a cylinder of oak and strapping it with iron bands from a wagon hub. | The piece was well charged and placed on the bank of the river, near his father's, in the midst of a crowd of boys, and fired with a slow match. The report was satisfactory, but the splinters flew in all directions and the iron bands were a total loss - they were never found. What was more important, no one was hurt. As the community gained new ideas and advanced in civilization, these Fourth of July celebrations took on a philanthropic character, and represented the interests of the Sabbath school and the temperance cause. For such a gathering, held thirty-five years ago to-day, the work on the first frame church was hastened forward to furnish a place for the meeting. One feature of the exercises brought out the Sabbath school. Each scholar and each teacher was provided with a passage of scripture, selected for the occasion, to be recited in order. It was in the days of President Jackson, who was especially obnoxious to true New Englanders. When Alva Curtis was called on, he startled us with the petition, '' Let his days be few, and let another take his office." Probably the whole congregation could say amen, for, as I remember, only three Jackson votes were cast in the township.

If any one should infer that early life here was more unsatisfactory or less desirable than life.at the present time, it would be a misapprehension. 'There were difficulties to be encountered, but they had their compensatious. There was poverty to endure, but it was equally distributed, and was cheered with the hope of a good time coming, a poverty that stimulated to activity, and brought no degradation. There was want of many advantages which tend to the elevation and refinement of character; but such advantages had been enjoyed by the early settlers in their New England homes, and the results would not be wholly lost before they gathered about themselves those desirable things. There was hard work to do, but it was well done; and such work with encouragement to dg it, is the best opportunity. Few of those who bore the burden and heat of the day, ever regretted their calling; and most of them have lived to reap a good harvest. Few cf the original families have reached this anniversary (July 4, 1867,) without sad breaches in their circle. This is incidental to our mortal life.

Another fifty years and not one will remain of all that gathered among these forests. Some of the families, prominent in the early times, have now no living representative in the population of the placé. Among these are the families of Judge Brown, Alva Curtis, William Alverson and the Peases. Most of the others have still a posterity und a name among us. 'The town has sent out many worthy children to help build up other communities, some to repeat, in a degree, the achievments of their parents, as pioneers at the west. The life encouraged here has been of a quiet, unambitious type, and the results in general correspond. We have no public men to speak of; no politician seems to have sprung up among us; few to look for public position or office. But these are not the characters the world most needs. We can gather a few ministers of the gospel, a few teachers, and many worthy and useful people, and this is well.

There is a little shadow upon our prospect as we look forward to fifty years to come. It is pleasant to believe that the places that are sacred to us with all pleasant memories, will be held by our children to an indefinite future. That another people shall come in to whom these farms, and streets, and dwellings are simply so much territory to be appropriated, the life that has passed here all unknown to them, is not an inviting prospect. Yet such is the prospect that opens to us to-day. Stranger eyes have looked upon these pleasant farms and will claim them for themselves, in all honesty and honor, with such a claim as an American citizen can never dispute, paying a fair price, and occupying them with a thrifty and sueccessful culture. It is thirty years or more since the first German family obtained a footing here. Now the splendid old farms along the lake and all the northern part of the town, are in their possession. A similar change is taking place in the south, and the movement is towards the center. An entire change in the population of the town seems probable, and almost inevita- - ble; a result which we object to, not in our reason, butin our feeling. Humanity loses nothing, nor even the country at large; but the sentiment of local interest which gathers us to-day, is less satisfied with the outlook. Fifty years hence, the faces, and the voices, and the names of strangers will be seen and heard at holiday gatherings and along these streets. The familiar names that seem to us identified with the very face of nature, wilt be heard here no more forever.

God grant that these names be written in His ''book of reniembrance," securing a title to "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens." was born in the City of Hartford, Connecticut, September 18, 1797, and is the second son of Ashbel Wells and Mary Hopkins, the former a son of Ashbel Wells, the latter a daughter of Thomas Hopkins, a prominent sea captain of his day; all of English ancestry. 'The father of Deacon George Wells was a

Washington's army, during the Revolutionary war, and subsequently a well known and extensive: merchant at Hartford. He died September 4, 1819, aged sixty-one years. He was very generally respected, and his death looked upon as a public calamity, in the community in which he had been long engaged in business.

When seventeen years of age, George Wells left his native city, and came as far west as Albany, New York, obtaining employment there, at Little Falls, and at Utica, and finally located at Canandaigua, working at his trade, which was that of a shoemaker. He remained there about one and a half years, and subsequently, on Jun: 18, 1818, arrived at Brownhelm, Ohio, coming by way of the lake from Buffalo. He took up some fifty acres of land, on the lake shore, which he afterward increased to one hundred acres. His time was occupied partly at farming, and partly at his trade. He built a log cabin, in which he lived nineteen years.

In 1837, he sold out, intending to move farther west, -but finally purchased the place upon which he now resides, containing one hundred and twenty-five acres. He cleared and improved both farms.

Mr. Wells was married to Maria, daughter of Jonathan Butler, of Hartford, March 22, 1825. They had seven children, - four sons and three daughters. All the sons have departed this life. The youngest was killed at the battle of South Mountain, during the war of the rebellion. They all attained to manhood. On the 28th of June, 1866, Mrs. Wells died, aged sixty-three years. 'The daughters all survive. Elizabeth G. married Joseph Sisson, of Hartford, who lost his life by a mowing machine accident; Mary M. married Benjamin F. Nye, who was killed at the battle of the Wilderness; Abigail 8. married Frederick H. Bacon, and resides a short distance from her father's old home. Mr. Wells married again, December 23, 1866, Mrs. Catherine M. Gardner. She has one daughter, Marie Antoinette, wife of Lyman Yerkes, of Detroit, Michigan.

For more than half a century, Deacon Wells has been a member of the Congregational church, of Brownhelm. His wife is also a member of the same church, In politics he is a republican, and has been for many years. Though now in his eighty-second year, his health, up to within the past three months, has been remarkably good. He was always an active man, and last October, (1878,) he rode twice to Elyria and back, a distance of thirty miles. He is one of the very oldest pioneers of this township, as well as one of its most worthy citizens. (See illustration on another page).

Solomon Whittlesey

One of the earliest and most prominent settlers of Brownhelm, was Solomon Whittlesey. We find him frequently mentioned in J. H. Fairchild's '' History of Brownhelm." The exact date of his arrival is not given, but his name appears in connection with early religious matters in the year 1819. It is stated in the work above referred to that ''The church was organized June 10, 1819, at the house of Solomon Whittlesey, and consisted of sixteen members, seven men and nine women." Again referring to Mr. Whittlesey, President Fairchild says: '''Thrifty men pursued the business of hunting as a pastime. 'The only man in town, perhaps, to whom it afforded profitable business in any sense, was Solomon Whittlesey. Other professional hunters were shiftless men, to whom hunting was a mere. passion, having something of the attraction of gambling. Mr. Whittlesey did not neglect his farm, but he knew every haunt and path of the deer and the turkey, and was often in their track by day and by night. He is with us to-day, (1867) and reports the killing of one bear, two wolves, twenty wild cats, almost one hundred and fifty deer, and smaller game too numerous to specify. One branch of his business was bee hunting, a pursuit which required a keen eye, good judgment and practice. The method of the hunt was to raise an odor in the forest, by placing honey comb on a hot stone, and in the vicinity another piece of comb charged with honey. The bees were attracted by the smell, and having gorged themselves with the honey, they took a dee line for their tree. This line the hunter observed and marked by two or more trees in range. He then took another station, not on this line, and went through the same operation. 'These two lines, if fortunately selected, would converge upon the bee tree, and could be followed out by a pocket compass. The tree, when found, was marked by the hunter with his initials, and could be cut down by him, at the proper time." Mr. Whittlesey is also accredited with having been among the first in Brownhelm township to manufacture pearl-ash, which he did quite extensively. He seems to have been one of the most industrious and energetic of the pioneers, and a worthy man in every respect. He died February 22, 1871, aged eighty-four years, nine months and twenty-two days; his excellent widow survived him about two years, she departing this life on the 26th of April, 1873, aged seventy-one years, one month and three days.

William Sayles

was born at Milan, Erie county, Ohio, June 5, 1821, and was the sixth child in a family of eight children of Lemuel Sayles, who was born March 8, 1783, and Laura Adams, who was born February 4, 1789, she being a native of Utica, New York. The subject of this sketch started out in life at the age of fourteen, sustaining the loss of his excellent mother at a tender age. During the winter months he 'attended school, and by being industrious and indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, he became quite proficient in the English branches, and followed school teaching as an ayocation, commencing in the winter of 1839-40, at New London Center, Huron county, Ohio, and continued for nineteen consecutive winters, all but the first one, in the vicinity of his present home. He made his first purchase of land, consisting of fifty acres, in the year 1845, in Vermillion township. He bought his present farm of one hundred acresin the spring of 1851, and has since added some adjoining land to it.

Mr. Sayles was united in marriage with Sarah C., daughter of Perry and Elizabeth Darley, July 3, 1843. She was from Frederickstown, Maryland. She died May 6, 1876, regretted by her friends, and deeply mourned by her relatives. She joined the Congregational Church of Vermillion, in 1845, and her con- | nection with that body ceased only with her life. Her husband became a member of the church at the same time, and still retains his connection with it. For his second wife, Mr. Sayles married Lovina E., daughter of John and Elizabeth Gordon, of Paulding county, Ohio, in September, 1877, who is still living.

Mr. Sayles is a self-made man in the broadest sense of that term. He secured his education by personal efforts, and the same energy and determination to succeed that characterized his endeayors in that direction, has attended him in his subsequent business career. From January 18, 1864, until 1875, he occupied the position of superintendent of the Antwerp Iron Works, located in Paulding county, Ohio, and retains an interest in the same at present.

In early life he was an old line whig; and in the formation of the republican party espoused its principles as being best calculated to perpetuate popular government and our American insti'utions. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1876, and still holds that office. He has also been township treasurer, assessor, etc., at different times. A fine illustration, surmounted with the family portraits, appears elsewhere in. this yolume, which forms an appropriate page in the history of Brownhelm.

John H. Heymann

was born in Nassau, Germany, August 13, 1828. He was the third son in a family of eight children of George Heymann. The whole family emigrated to

America in 1848, and settled in Lyme township, Huron county, Ohio, where they purchased a farm of two hundred acres, upon which John H. worked three years. In 1851, he went to California by way of the Isthmus, where he worked at blacksmithing, mining and teaming. He remained there until 1855, when he returned to Lyme township and purchased a farm, upon which he remained until 1868, when he bought a flouring mill, a saw mill and other buildings adjoining, situated in Brownhelm Hollow, on Vermillion river, an illustration of which mills, etc., is given elsewhere in this volume. In 1875, he obtained a half interest in the Amherst flouring mill, and three years later purchased the other half and became sole proprietor of it. The mill in Brownhelm Hollow was destroyed by fire in October, 1876; it was rebuilt the following year, and is one of the finest mills in the county. It contains all the modern improvements, and is capable of turning out as good grist as any mill within a radius of fifty miles.

In August, 1855, Mr. Heymann and Miss Katherine Schied were united in marriage. She was born in Nassau, Germany, January 12, 1832. Her parents were natives of the same place. She had three brothers and two sisters, all of whom came to this country in 1854, and settled in Peru, Huron county, Ohio, where Mr. Schied bought a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres. They all now live in Huron and Erie counties, except the father, who is dead.

Mr. and Mrs. Heymann have had ten children, seven daughters and three sons, all of whom are living. The oldest son is married, as is also the oldest daughter.

Mr..Heymann is one of the substantial and res- - pected men of his township, and enjoys a good general reputation for industry, honesty and economy.

Henry Brown

Judge Brown was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 3, 1773. In his youth he commenced a course of liberal education and entered Harvard college, but by reason of the failure of his health when in his sophomore year he was compelled to discontinue his studies. After partially restoring his health by travel, he engaged in merchandise in his native town and continued in the business until his western interests required its abandonment. In the fall of 1816, he visited the tract of country, then simply known as number six in the nineteenth range (now Brownhelm) and on his return east he entered into contract with the Connecticut Land Company for the purchase of threefourths of the township, and with the Messrs. Rockwells, of Colebrook, Connecticut, forthe rest. Under his lead many of his. old neighbors in Stockbridg< removed to his western purchase and settled. Cc' Brown, as he was formerly called, selected for himself a tract of about a mile square, in the northeast corner of the town, and sent out, in the winter of 1816-17, several young men to erect him a house and to commence the improvement of his land. He removed with his family in the summer of 1818, and took up his abode on the lake shore in the house previously built.

Upon the organization of the county of Lorain, Col. Brown was appointed one of the three associate judges of the county, a position which, both by reason of his business experience and the natural bent of his mind, he was well qualified to fill. Not unfrequently, in the absence of the presiding judge, he was obliged to proceed with the business, even to charging the jury. He was always equal to these emergencies. Judge Brown's record on the bench was an exceedingly creditable one.

He was a man of enterprise and public spirit, liberally supporting with his means and time every object tending to the improvement of society. Long before his conversion, which occurred at a comparatively late period in his life, no one was more earnest in the support of the gospel, and few members of the church more regular in their attendance upon its appointed services. When the people in Brownhelm began to think of inviting a minister to settle among them, he proposed to pay one-eighth of the expense. After a few years he united with the church, his wife and some of the children haying previously joined. His habit of punctuality in everything, especially in his attendance at every meeting, directly or indirectly affecting the church, was remarkable. It is said by one who knew him well ''that during a whole winter, two evenings in a week, when nearly seventy years of age, he came through mud and rain, snow and frost, to attend a singing school; and up to his last attendance on public worship he was always to be found in his place in the choir."

He was frequently a delegate from the presbytery to the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, and in one year spent not less than five months, including his attendance at a church trial in Philadelphia, and the convention at Auburn.

Judge Brown also took an active part in the establishment of a college in the Western Reserve, attending the meeting at Hudson, called for the purpose. "Indeed," says a writer on this subject, '"'but for him and another friend of the college, no such charter would have been obtained as the friends of the institution would have accepted. There was deadly hostility to it in the Legislature; and the charter which they asked was so altered in its provisions as to prevent the possibility of securing religious instruction, and as such was passed through the house. Intelligence of this was communicated to the friends of the institution. Judge Brown and the other (Rev. Caleb Titkin) went with haste to Columbus, and arrived just as the bill was about to be read for the third time. They succeeded, by the aid of a friend, in arresting this; and after days and evenings of patient waiting upon the opponents of the contem- plated institution, they succeeded in obtaining the charter as they had asked, with the exception of two trustees, against whom there was such personal hostility as no arguments could overcome."

Judge Brown was afterwards a member of the board of trustees of this college, and continued in the office until the infirmities of age compelled him to relinquish it.

He was a man of many social qualities, and of much intelligence. His hospitality was unbounded. His log house on the lake shore was the general rendezvous of the early emigrants and in many other ways they were the recipients of his practical beneyolence.

Rev. Alfred H. Betts

Rev. Alfred H. Betts took up his residence in Brownhelm in January, 1821. He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, September 2, 1786. November 2, 1809, he was united in marriage to Sally Harris, daughter of Captain Luther Harris, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In early life, he adopted the profession of medicine, and practiced for ten years in Danbury. In the fall of 1816, he and his father-in-law came to Ohio, and selected a-place for settlement in Florence, Erie county. After the 'erection of a cabin, Captain Harris returned east for their families, with whom he Dr. Betts spent the' first two or three Sabbaths with Deacon Beardslee and family, who, a short time before, settled in Vermillion. They had a few religious exercises, such as singing, prayer, and a sermon, read by Dr. Betts. He was soon invited by others in their neighborhood to come to their dwellings, and hold similar meetings, at which a few families would be invited to attend. And thus began his '' reading meetings."

In a short time, Dr. Betts had regular appointments at Birmingham, Florence, Vermillion, and other places. In consequence of the detention of his freight at Buffalo, until the next spring after his arrival, Dr. Betts had but one suit of clothes, which, having to wear in the woods through the week, was hardly suitable for the pulpit on the Sabbath. Long: before the arrival of his goods, his old coat needed repairing, and Deacon Beardslee's wife would mend it as best she could, with the means she had. Some of such cloth as she had, which was not always of the same color. In the spring his boots were gone, and a neighbor made him a pair of moccasins. The condition of his apparel greatly disturbed him, and he began to question whether he had better continue in his old clothes, or suspend the meetings until the arrival of his goods. He consulted a few of his friends in regard tothe matter, who told him that, as he had

After his stock of printed sermons was exhausted he prepared discourses of his own; yet he did not call them sermons, and he was always careful to assure his auditors that he was not actually.a minister. A missionary hearing of Dr. Betts' labors called upon him for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the denomination to which he belonged. ''I came to Vermillion," he said, 'and asked a young man if they had any preaching?' He said 'no.' 'Have you any meetings?" 'Yes, a man comes from the Ridge and holds meetings on the Sabbath." 'What is he? 'Don't know; guess a Methodist? Of another I made the same inquiries who guessed you was a Baptist. Another still, thought you was a Universalist. ''And now," said he, "I want to know from you, yourself, what you are?" Dr. Betts was able to satisfy him and he departed.

In the summer of 1819, Dr. Betts went to Hudson, Portage county, to prepare himself for the ministry. He remained until April, 1820, when he was licensed by the Presbytery. He returned to Florence, where his family had remained, and continued the meetings formerly held by him. In the winter of 182021, he received a call from the Congregational church in Brownhelm, which he accepted and was ordained and installed April 5, 1821. He continued pastor of the chureh twelve years, when he was dismissed at his own request. Dr. Betts was one of the busiest and best known men in the country. For years he trayeled all over this region, having visited every township on the fire lands, assisting in organizing churches and performing the duties of colporteur and Bible distributor. On the occasion of a donation visit at a late period in his life, by his friends from many of the towns comprising the field of his early labors, it was remarked by one of the visitors that a great many people had assembled. ''Yes," said Dr. Betts, after a moment's reflection, ''and there is not a family represented that I have not lodged with."

His busy and useful life came to a close September 8, 1860. Of his thirteen children ten lived to mature years. Sixare now living; two of them in Brownhelm,

Henrie Ppa

Tue ToOwNsHIP is described on the county records as town number five, in range nineteen of the Connecticut Western Reserve. Its position in the county is in the western tier of townships ; to the north, Brownhelm ; to the east Russia; to the south, Camden; to the west, the county line. The surface in its general features is quite level, with pleasing undulations in those portions through which its small streams run, particularly in the northwest corner. The soil is generally a clay loam, with a more sandy soil in small portions. 'The water courses are Chance creek in the eastern part, Leonard brook in the western, both tributaries of the Vermillion river, which makes a detour into the northwest corner of the township, from Erie county. The east branch of the Vermillion traverses the southwest part. 'There are a few other smaller streams, mere rivulets, one of which is Division brook, in the northern part. The principal original kinds of timber were whitewood, white oak, hickory, walnut, white and black ash, beech, elm and basswood. At an early period, evidently long previous to settlement, a terrific hurricane swept through the township, by which all of the larger timber, for over a half a mile in width, was blown down. This district is called ''The Windfall." It is plainly indicated by the younger and more uniform growth of the timber than that of the adjoining territory, the varieties consisting chiefly of white and black ash, elm, oak, hickory, maple and cherry.

Survey

The township was surveyed by Edward Durand in connection with other territory. The three northern tiers of lots, constituting about one-third of the area of the township, formed a part of Brownhelm until the year 1827, when they were set off to Henrietta; and, on the county map, it will be noticed that those lots are numbered continuously with those of Brownhelm. The remainder of the township Was surveyed in connection with territory lying south of it. The survey began at the southern boundary of the Western Reserve, in the township of Troy, then Lorain county, now Ashland, and the land divided into fifteen tracts, numbers twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen being in this township. These were subdivided into lots. That part of the gore embraced in Hennietta is divided into lots twenty-three, twenty-focr and twenty-five. The part detached from. Brownhelm was originally owned by Col. Brown, by contract with the Connecticut Land Company, and the rest of the township by different persons.

Settlement

The family that is generally accorded the honor of being the first settlers in the township was that of Simeon Durand. Durand was a native of France. At the age of sixteen years, he and a brother, Merari, accompanied La Fayette to America, Simeon acting as the general's interpreter, and, in that capacity, continued to serve him unti' the close of the Revolution. He married soon after the close of the war, and settled in Essex county, New York. He lived there until the winter of 1817, when, with wife and youngest child, the older children coming subsequently, he removed to Henrietta.. He settled on lot ninety-eight, and the family lived under a shelter made of poles and covered with bark until a more civilized habitation could be provided. His purchase comprised one hundred ard sixty acres.

ninety. Her death occurred in the year 1854, at the house of her son Merari, in the township of Russia. She possessed, in a marked degree, those qualities necessary to a successful combat with the hardships of pioneer life. 'The remainder of the children came into the township subsequently. Lucinda, the oldest, married Joseph Powers in New York, 'with whom she removed to Henrietta from the State of Vermont a few years after the first settlement. Deacon Powers, as he came to be called, kept a public house here for many years, and was also a leading member. of. the Baptist church. His location was on the same lot on.which Durand located. He lived for a time in Wisconsin subsequent to his settlement in Henrietta, but returned and died here. His widow died in New Jersey.

Hiram Durand, the next oldest of the children, with his family, settled on a part of his father's farm. He did not remain long in the township, however, removing to Illinois and, subsequently to California. Louisa married a cousin Durand. 'They, many years ago, removed to Michigan. Edward was one of the most prominent citizens of Henrietta, and was well known throughout the county for many years. He has held the offices of county surveyor and county auditor, justice of the peace and other township offices. He removed with his family to Wisconsin, and died there soon after of cholera. He was twice married; first to a danghter of Thompson Blair, of Amherst. She died some fifteen years afterwards, and he subsequently married a widow Burrell, of Sheffield. The next of the children was Teressa. She is now a widow, living in Avon. Betsey married Charles Wells, of Henrietta; afterwards removed to Illinois, and died there. Merari, the youngest, married twice and was the father of twelve children, ten of whom are living, and one, Dorleski, wife of L. N. Higgins, in Henrietta.

Calvin Leonard. He was a native of Bennington county, Vermont, removed to Cayuga county New York, when eighteen years of age, whence, in the his back, he came to Henrietta. He purchased some three hundred acres on the. lot (ninety-seven) next west of Durand, and twenty-five (gore). Choice of location with the first settlers was determined not so much by the quality of soil as by a desire for new neighbors, and we usually find them locating upon land adjoining, or near, that on which a settlement had been made. Young Leonard cleared a small piece on lot ninety-seven, built his log cabin, and, the following winter, returned to New York to consummate an arrangement previously made with Miss Tryphena Root, immediately after the fulfillment of which he set out for the far west with ox-team and sled and a few household goods. His wife came by stage to Buffalo, and there joined her husband. The weather was propitious for this primitive bridal journey. It is authentically stated that the first snow, that season, fell the day before they started and disappeared the day after their arrival in Henrietta. Where Elyria now is, a bear was seen. to cross their path a short distance in front of them. That part of the county was then an almost unbroken wilderness. Mr. Leonard was better off, as regards ready means, than perhaps any of the earlier pioneers. He had the money to pay for his land, and that can rarely be said of the settler in that early day. He was, moreover, an enterprising, industrious farmer, and eventually became well off. Their family consisted of three children, Jeannette, Cuyler and Hervey. The daughter became the wife of Rev. Oliver W. Mather, a Presbyterian minister who was a graduate of Yale College. At the time of his marriage he was located at Birmingham, Erie county, but preached also at other points. He eventually returned to Connecticut, and died there. Mrs. Mather dicd many years previous, at the residence of her brother Hervey, in Henrietta. Cuyler graduated at Hudson College, remained a tutor there for two years, then studied law, and was for many years a leading member of the bar of Sandusky City. He married a young lady of high social rank in Danbury, Connecticut. His death took place in 1859. Hervey Leonard resides in Oberlin, having, afew years since, removed there from. Henrietta, where he had resided on the farm, on which he was born, for forty-nine consecutive years. His first wife was Maretta O. Wheden, of Washington county, New York, originally but subsequently of Oberlin, where she graduated. She died in 1868, and Mr. Leonard married, three years afterward, Mrs. Helen M. Dart, of Oberlin, with whom he is now living.

Next in order came Ruluff Audress and John Denison, and their families, in the fall of 1817.. They were also from New York, as were nearly all of the early settlers. The women and children came by boat from Dunkirk to the mouth of Black river, and were thirteen days on the water, and experienced an almost unprecedently rough voyage. Their store of provisions was exhausted on their arrival at Black river, having nothing in that line, except half a barrel of salt beef, which Denison had put aboard. Andress and Denison came through with their teams, and arrived at the mouth of Black river, where they expected to find their families, three days in advance of them.

Andress located east of Durand, taking up a hundred and sixty acres. He was a carpenter and joiner, and was much employed in the building of mills, bridges, ete. He built for Perez Starr, of Birmingham, the first dam across the Vermillion. He also built a mill for Mr. Starr. Andress subsequently removed to Huron county, where, in a little place called Puckerbrush, he kept hotel for a time. His wife died while there, and he afterwards returned to Henrietta, where he died in about the year 1855. His was a busy, useful life. Of his nine children, four are yet living. The oldest of these, Almon, lives in Birmingham, who, although feeble in body, retains his memory unimpaired, and we are indebted to him for many facts relating to the early settlement of the township. Milo is a Mormon, living in polygamy at Salt Lake. Charlotte (Mrs. Abbott) and- Harriett (Mrs. Lang) reside in Iowa.

Mr. Denison made his location just west of Henrietta Hill. He was possessed of some ready means on his arrival, but instead of paying for his land, he kept his money for possible contingencies. A combination of adverse events exhausted his resources, and he was finally dispossessed of his land, by which he lost all that he had expended in the improvement of it. He then rented land of Calvin Leonard for a number of years, and then, his wife having died, he took up his abode with his daughter, Mrs. Bristol, in Birmingham, with whom he spent the remainder of his life. He died March 11,1866. His wife died February 12, 1826. She was carried to the grave upon an ox cart, on which the mourners also rode. Four of his six children are living, viz: Mrs. Lewis, in Ridgeville; Mrs. D. C. Marsh and Mrs. Charles A. Bristol, in Birmingham; and John 8., in Henrietta. The latter has lived in the town longer than any other present resident of the township.

helm, on lot eighty-one. He eventually owned a large amount of land on the Vermillion bottom, on which he raised immense crops of corn, and that locality claimed to be called ''Egypt." His product of this cereal one season was five thousand bushels, which he sold for one dollar per bushel. He was an enterprising, successful farmer, and acquired a large property. He built a house as early as 1840, which cost some five thousand dollars. It was a grand structare for the time, with pillars which were brought all the way from Albany, New York. This house is now occupied by Nicholas Wilbur. Swift married a sister of Mrs. Calvin Leonard, Elizabeth Root, and had a family of six children, four of whom are living, as follows: Joseph, in Iowa; Elisha and Mrs. Cooley, near Jackson, Michigan; and Mrs. Griggs, in Detroit. Mr. Swift died at Grass Lake, Michigan, about three years since, and his widow now resides there. Almon and Jedediah Holcomb and their families moved in, in the spring of 1820. They have now no descendants in the township.

Uriah Hancock joined the settlement in 1820. He was a wheelwright, and had a machine shop on Leonard brook, in an early day. Hesubsequently removed to Illinois, and died there. His second son, Smith Hancock, was killed in a somewhat singular manner. He was riding in an ox cart loaded with hogs, one of the wheels of which coming into collision with a stump, the cart was overturned upon him, killing him almost instantly.

Squire Abbott joined the settlement in June, 1825. He was originally from Massachusetts, but removed to New York at an early date, and thence to Kingsville, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and subsequently to this township, as stated. He made his location on Henrietta Hill, and struck the first blow ever made there. His habitation occupied the spot on which is now the residence of Ansel Hales. Mr. Abbott was a Baptist preacher, and was the first settled minister in town. His wife was Annie Spafford, also of Massachusetts. His death occurred in December, 18538, at the age of eighty-one years and six months. His wife died in January, 1845. Their daughter Wealthy, is the wife of Almeron Stedman, of Henrietta, who came into the township in 1827. Mr. Stedman had previously made a journey from Litchfield, Connecticut, to Kingsville, in Ashtabula county, for the purpose of visiting an uncle, and while there met Miss Abbott, whom he afterwards married in Henrietta.

one, a short distance south of the Hill, on the north and south center road, and he still occupies his original purchase, which has been increased by subsequent additions. His primitive log cabin stood a little south of his present neat frame house. Although Mr. Stedman settled here ten years after the first settlement was made, there was not even then a stick cut south of him to Brighton. Mrs. Stedman is a woman of much intelligence, possesses a tenacious memory as to early events, and has given the writer many facts in the history of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Stedman, now well advanced in life, raised a family of thirteen children, all of whom lived to adult life. Justin Abbott, the oldest of Squire Abbott's family, died in Minnesota. Anna was the wife of Amos Morse, one of the early settlers in widowhood, in Nebraska. Susan became the wife of Ferris Webster, spent her married life in Jefferson, Ashtabula county, and died there. Orlan is living in Kansas. Thirza married Orlando Holcomb, both

Prominent among subsequent arrivals was that of Moses Fuller, in 1831, from Mount Morris, Livingston county, New York, with his wife and one child. He located on the farm now occupied by Horace Sanders. He built on Chance creek, a sawmill, the first mill in the township; and an embankment, the remains of his dam, can yet be seen. He ingeriously attached a spinning-wheel, which was propelled by the same motive power, and his industrious wife spent many an hour with it, hehind the roaring dam. He died in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio, in August, 1877, having removed there some seven or eight years previous. He was a worthy member of the Baptist church in Henrietta for forty years, and left at his death many friends, who revered him for his many admirable traits of character. His widow still survives him in Wauseon. He was the father of nine children, two of whom reside in this township. Mrs. S. O. V/ellman, whose husband died in December, 1875, and a son, Byron.

William Hales moved into the township at about this time, and located on the farm now owned by Adam Hensner, on lot eighty-eight. He subsequently changed his location to the hill, purchasing the farm now owned by his son Ansel. He resided here until 1872, when he removed to North Amherst, where he now lives in his seventy-sixth year. He is the father of eleven children, all of whom are living, four in this township, three in Amherst, and one in Brownhelm.

Simeon Shepard, with his family, consisting of his wife and five children, came to Henrietta from Madison county, New York, in about the year 1830. He settled on the State road, about a mile and a half east of Birmingham, on lot ninety-eight. He cleared up a farm of one hundred acres, and lived upon it until his death, in 1868. His widow survived him three years. Three of the five children are living, viz: Jacob, in Henrietta on a farm of sixty-six acres, onehalf mile south of the center, and Oliver and Sarah, in Iowa. Simeon, Jr., died in Texas, September 17, 1878, and Lucy (Mrs. Sizer), many years ago, in Henrietta.

Silas Wood, a native of New York, removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio with his parents in 1824. The family settled in Greenfield, Huron county. He married, in 1827, Hannah Ennes, whose parents came to Birmingham in 1825. Heafterwards became a member of the firm of Hawley & Whittlesey, proprietors of a woolen factory and carding machine near Birmingham, Erie county. Several years afterward he purchased a farm in Berlin, in that county, and took up his residence there for a year or two, and then moved into this town, buying one hundred acres of Calvin Leonard. He eventually removed to Birmingham, and built a stone grist mill, and also engaged in merchandise. Mr. Wood's life was one of great activity. He possessed excellent - business qualifications, and amassed a fine property. He died of heart disease in 1860, and his wife died subsequently. Four of his five children are now living, viz: Mrs. Althida Arnold and George 8., in Birmingham, and Mrs. Hannah A. Kline and Mrs. Sarah A. Strauss, in Oberlin.

A family by the name of Pike settled in the gore at an early date. A son, James, was a military officer, and fought at Lundy's Lane. He was afterwards much engaged in forming and drilling rifle companies. He was a man of local prominence, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He was killed in 1821 while at work in the woods, a tree which he cut down falling on him.

The first permanent settler in the south part of the township was John Hunter, who removed from Cayuga county, New York, in about the year 1830. He bought one hundred acres in the north part of lot ten, in tract twelve, and afterwards added the north part of lot nine, erecting his cabin on the former lot. He eventually removed to Florence, Erie county.

John. R. Hawkins came in in 1834, and made his purchase in lots ten and eleven. He rolled together his log house and.cut out a door, and with his family, consisting of his wife and five children, '"' moved in." He added a roof and floor afterwards. Without means, not even a team, and with a large family to support, Hawkins found life in Henrietta woods an uphill struggle, and after several years of hard toil, which was only moderately rewarded, removed to the prairies of Illinois, where a farm could be brought under cultivation with less difficulty. He died there a few years after, and his widow eventually became insane. -

_ Sometime in 1834, might have been seen an aged couple traveling on foot along the angling road that led from Birmingham to Camden. They were William Bates and his wife, from New York State, on their way to Camden, to visit some of their children who had settled there, and to examine the country, reports of the excellence of which had been sent back by the children. After returning, Mr, Bates being pleased with the western country, disposed of his property in New York, and with the residue of his family, except William Bates, Jr., who remained in New York, emigrated to Henrietta, arriving in 1836. The family located on lots thirteen and fourteen in tract twelve, purchasing of Robert Johnson and James Peak, who had made a beginning there. The Bates' eventunlly owned the whole of those lots, and except a small portion they are still in their possesion or that of their descendants. The pioneer Bates was twice married and became the father of fifteen children, ten boys and five girls. The family was not only remarkable for its size aumericaily, but also for the stature of its members, their great physical strength, and their longevity. 'The ten. sons aggregated a hight of nearly sixty-two feet. These characteristics were doubtless inherited from the father, who, it is said, was a powerful man, weighing over three hundred pounds. He died in the fall of 1848, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, and was buried on the bank of the Vermillion. His remains, however, were subsequently removed to the South Henrietta burying ground. Two sons and three daughters are yet living, all of whom are well advanced in life. Two of the daughters are aged respectively eighty-eight and eighty-four. Bennett Bates and-Thaxter Bates reside in Henrietta.

Henry Rosa, with his family of wife and four children, moved into Henrietta in 1835, from Birmingham, Erie county, whither he had come two years previously from Cayuga county, New York. He took up his residence on fifty acres of lot ten, tract twelve, which had been purchased by his oldest son, James H. Rosa. A log house had been built on the place some two years previously, by Alexander Ennes, of New York, who, on selling, removed to Birmingham where he now resides. This farm is still owned and occupied by Mr. Rosa, Sr., who is now eighty-five years of age. He married Mary Hawkins, who died about twenty years ago. Mr. Rosa served in the war of 1812. His son, James H. Rosa, resides on one hundred and fourteen acres in lot nine. He is the present justice of the peace for the south part of the township.

Moses R. Mapes, a native of Pennsylvania, moved in in the spring of 1838, from Florence township, Erie county, taking up his residence on lot twelve, track fourteen. He married Hlizabeth Hawkins, of Newburg, Orange county, New York, and raised a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters. She died in the spring of 1843, and Mr. Mapes subsequently married a Mrs. Tisdel, of Vermillion, where he resided for several years previous to his death, which took place in March, 1861. Three of the children now live in the township. Harvey, who lives on the farm to which he removed over thirty years ago; Samuel, who lives on the farm first occupied by John Hunter; and Rosella, now Mrs. Barhyte, who resides on the farm cleared up by John Hawkins. Her husband, Richard Barhyte, was killed by a kick from his horse, December 25, 1874.

Robert Johnson was the first settler on lot thirteen. He died soon after settlement, and his widow subsequently married Jacob Ennes, of Birmingham. She finally became insane, and hung herself to a limb of tree on the bank of the river.

Further east we find as carly settlers, John Balys, Medad Buckley, Aldridge and Roswell Allen, Benjamin Griffin, Levi Vincent, John Jewel, Thomas McOreedy, Richard Call, John Henderson, and two families by the names of Lewis and Billings. Balys and Buckley were the first permanent settlers on lots sixteen and seventeen, in tract twelve. Balys preceded his fumily, who arrived in 1834. After a residence of many years in Henrietta, he removed to Berlin, Erie county, but subsequently returned to this township, and bought out Jchn Hunter. He afterward sold to Samuel G. Mapes, his son-in-law,

The Allens located on lot fifteen. Roswell built a saw mill on the east branch of the Vermillion, in an early day, which, however, proved an unprofitable venture, - the dam continually breaking away. He, some ten years since, removed to Iowa, where he now lives. Aldridge died in 1875, aged eighty.

Levi Vincent settled in 1834, purchasing fifty acres each in lots four and five, of Judge Ely. He was originally from Canada East, but emigrated to Lake county, Ohio, where he remained in the township eighteen months, and then came to Henrietta. He

Thomas McCreedy was an early settler in Brownhelm, whence he removed to Henrietta. He is a native of Plattsburgh, New York, and removed to Cleveland in 1834. He remained there three or four years, engaged principally in chopping wood, cutting in eighteen months seven hundred cords. His next move was to Brownhelm, where he lived some thirteen years, and then moved to Henrietta, and purchased forty-nine acres on lot thirteen, tract thirteen. To this he has since added, and now owns something over seventy-one acres. His first wife died in 1845, while residing in Brownhelm, and he married, three years subsequently, the widow of Caleb Dunham. Mr. and Mrs. McCreedy are still living, aged respectively seventy-five and seventy-seven.

Still further east, Captain Elias Mann and Andrew Peabody. Mann was perhaps the earliest settler in this part of the township. All we know of him is that he owned a small patch of ground on which he had a log cabin.

Peabody settled where he still resides, on lot one hundred and four. He came to Henrietta with his family, in 1835, his native State being New Hampshire. His first wife died many years ago. He re married, and his second wife is also dead. She lived only a few months after her marriage. Mr. Peabody is in his eighty-third year.

Richard Kelly and John Petty were also early settlers in this section of the town. Petty emigrated to America from Yorkshire, England, when a young man, worked in a coal mine in Pennsylvania, for a time, and then came to the township of Russia, purchased fifty acres of land, married and raised a family. After a residence there of many years, he came to Henrietta. He is still living on the windfall road, with his younger children, aged seventy-six.

The most of lot seven, tract twelve, was originally settled by Newell, Jesse and Chapman M. Cook, brothers. 'Che former two came to Henrietta in 1837, and the latter in 1838. They were from New York, and all very poor when they came to Henrietta; but they were industrious, and cheerfully endured the hardships of those early times, The first work of clearing that Newell and Jesse did for others, in order that no time might be wasted in going back and forth for their meals, they carried a store of provisions with them to the woods, and kept bachelors' hall in a large hollow log. Newell was not long to enjoy the fruit of his toil; he died in 1848. Jesse moved to Camden in 1857; he served the Baptist Church in Henrietta for upward of thirty consecutive years. still lives on the old homestead, on lot seven.

Pioneer Hardships, Dangers And Amusements

The pioneers of Henrietta, while exempt from some of the hardships by which those of other townships, which were settled before the close of the war of 1812, were surrounded, were nevertheless subject to many privations and hardships of which it is difficult for those who have not actually experienced them, to form an adequate conception. The first settlers here lived in almost complete isolation. There were other settlers in Brownhelm, but they lived on the lake shore between which and the southern part of that township lay an unbroken forest of some five miles in extent, and there was, therefore, but little intercourse between the twosections. Provisions were sometimes scarce and difficult to obtain. The nearest grist mill was not far away - Col. Brown's, on the Vermillion - but it was not in operation much of the time and long journeys would have to be made to get the grain ground into flour. The earlier settlers in Henrietta frequently carried their grain toa mill at Cold creek, near Sandusky, to get their grinding done. Simeon Durand once carried on his back a bushel of wheat to Rocky river to get it ground.

Murrain attacked the cattle with terribly fatal results, and a disease among the sheep, of which they died in large numbers, while many were killed by the predatory wolf. The woods abounded in wild animals of which the wolf was the most annoying to the inhabitants, not only because of his frequent incursions into the farmer's sheepfold, but also on account of his nightly howls around the lonely cabin.. He was a rayenous animal, and even deer would frequently become the victim of his rapacity. They showed a great deal of ingenuity in capturing the deer, an animal too fleet to be overtaken by pursuit. Christopher Shaffer, an old hunter through this region, now living in Florence, relates that on a certain occasion, as he was going to his traps in Henrietta, he came upon the path, in the snow, of a pack of wolves, and he followed it up. For some distance the path showed that they had traveled along in single file, when suddenly it disappeared from the hunter's sight. On looking around him, however, he found numerous tracks on both sides of the vath, indicating that from some cause they had suddenly dispersed. On further examination the skeleton of a large buck was found. The wolves, on discerning the deer had instantly broken ranks, surrounded him, and thus secured their prey.