Carlisle Township (part 1 of 4)

Carlisle Township

Residence of the Heirs of David Bennett Portraits of David and Jane Bennett . Residence of Lorenzo Clark Portrait of William Patterson " Chauncey Prindle was born iu Westmoreland, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, May 2G, 1788. He was tlie second sou of David and Abigail Bennett, and third in a family of fifteen children. When about fifteen years old, he was apprenticed to a man named Duttou, living in Dummerstou, Windham county. Vermont. Becoming dissatisfied with the treatment he received, he ran away soon after he was sixteen, and went to Homer, Cortland county. New York.

On the Gth of December, 1810, he married Miss Polly Wheeler, and lived in Londonderry, Vermont, on a farm on the east slope of the Green mountains. He came west, to look for a farm, in 1827, and moved from Londonderry, April 21, 1828, with his family, consisting of himself and wife, his wife's step-father, and his neice, Miss Malvina F. Bennett. They came by wagon to Troy, New York, in two days, thence by canal boat to Buffalo, by schooner to Cleveland, which took three days, then by wagon to Carlisle, - in all, a journey of three weeks.

On the 33rd day of August, 1828, he purchased of Joseph and Mary Perkins the south one-half of the southwest quarter of section twelve, town five, range "seventeen, where he spent the remainder of his life.

He married, the second time, February C, 1830, Miss Jane Galpin, of Elyria, daughter of Neri and Betsey Galpin. They had six children, four of whom are living. He held various township offices from 1830 to 1860, being three times elected justice of the peace. He was a man of strict integrity, and his word was as good as his bond. He died July 16, 1SC3, of paralysis.

Jane Galpin was born in Woodbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut, August 11, 18lo. She was the daughter of Neri and Betsey Galpin, and the eldest in a familv of nine children. Her parents moved to New Milford, Susquehanna county. Pennsylvania, when she was about nine mouths old. In May. 1818 they moved to Center township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania. In November, 1822, they left Center for Carlisle, Ohio, then called Murraysville, Hurou county. They moved in a covered wagon drawn by a yoke of steers and a span of old horses. They were three weeks on the road and had but two pleasant days in the whole time. In some places the wagon hub would roll on the mud. They moved iu with Abner Murray's family until Mr. Galpin built his house, which stood just over the line in Elvria township. February 6, 1830, she married David" Bennett and moved on to the farm in Carlisle, where she still lives.

front of his ofiBce, which he had surrounded by forest trees, dreamiug his happy dreams of the future, Charles H. Douglas lurked behind him and fired a fatal shot. The wounded man struggled to his feet, attempted to raise his arm, but aimed too low. He was borne into his office, where in intense pain he calmly awaited death, saying, "I am not afraid to die, but want to see my brother before I go. Am glad I did not hit Douglas when I fired, on account of his wife and little ones." Asking again if Theodore had come, for whom a messenger had been dispatched, he fell into a calm sleep, and as the Sabbath day dawned his spirit took its flight.

Marks of respect and tenderness were shown by the warm-hearted peoj)le, and with aching hearts loving hands consigned him to his resting place. And while the breezes of his mountain home chant the requiem above his grave, loving hearts will entwine and bedew with their tears an imperishable garland to the memory of Edwin Dorr Holbrook.

Physical Features

In the western jiart of the townshii> the surface is level. In the central and eastern portions it is undulating, but nowhere rough and broken.

The soil is generally a clay loam, varied in some places by gravel. It is one of the Ijcst watered townsliips in the county. Rocky river flows northward tlirough the township, gathering up in its course many tributaries. Plum creek flows in a nearly parallel direction through tiie western part of the town. The timber native to its soil was beech, maple, hickory, black and white oak, black and white ash, basswood, elm, sycamore, buckeye, walnut and butternut.

Purchase

Prior to tlie a]iportioumont by draft of that part of the Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga river, Levi Bronson, i\.zor Bronson, Harmon Bronson, Calvin Iloadley, Jared Pritchard, and some fifteen otiiers, formed au association called the '" Waterbury Laud Company." This company, togetlier with William Law, Benjamin Doolittle, Jr,, and Samuel Doolittle, drew at the fourth draft, April -1, 1807, this township as number five, range fifteen, with two thousand six hundred and fifty acres in the townshijis of Boston and Richfield, in Summit county, annexed to equalize it. The draft was in the following proportions: to the Waterbury Land Company, twenty one tliousaud six hundred dollars; William Law, two thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollars; Benjamin Doolittle, Jr., one thousand five hundred and ninety-two dollars; Samuel Doolittle, eigiity dollars. The deed was executed on the 28th day of May, 181)7, by John Caldwell, John Morgan, and Jonathan Brace, for the Connecticut Land Company, to Levi Bronson, Calvin Uoadley, Jared Pritchard, Azor Bronson and Harmon Bronson, in trust for the Waterbury Land Comijany.

*Our thanks are due Ransom Bronson, for information furnished in i the preparation of tiiis history. He has kept a record of early events, for the past twenty years, access to which has been of much service to us.

Pending the negotiation for the extinguishment of the Indian claim to the lauds west of the Cuyahoga, the conij)any bouglit of William Edwards a thousand acres of land in tract two, town eight, range eleven, Euclid, (now East Cleveland), and a number settled there the summer previous to the draft.

Survey

In the summer of 1807 the townsliip was surveyed. A surveyor by the name of Lacey was first employed, but his cliain was found to be of an incorrect length and he was discharged. In August of the same year Robert Worden, a surveyor from Columbiana county, was engaged, who, with Levi Bronson, Daniel Bronson, Benoni Adams, and Elias Frost of Euclid, as ax and chain men, set out from Cleveland taking a southwest eoui'se until the northeast corner of the town was I'eachcd. From this point they proceeded west two and a half miles, thence south a like distance to the center of the township. The party made their encampment here, on tlie west bank of Rocky river. A daughter of Levi Bronson, afterwards Mrs. Oliver Terrell, accompanied the party to do their cooking, to whom must be accorded the lionor of being the first white woman tiiat ever set foot on the soil of Columljia.

Settlement

In September, 1807, a company numbering thirtytiiree persons, left Waterbury, Connecticut, for this townsliip. They wei-e, Bela Bronson, his wife and one child; Calvin Hoadley, wife and five children; John Williams, wife and five children; Lemuel Iloadley, wife aud three children, his father and his wife's mother; Lithrop Seymour and wife; Mrs. Parker and four children; Silas Hoadley and Chauncey Warner. Two months afterwards the company reached Buffalo, west of which place there was then no road, and they were compelled to choose between the dangers, at that time of year, of lake navigation and those attending a journey along the beach. The company divided, four families embarking on the lake, while the remainder preferred the laud route. The little Jtarty set sail under a bright sky and with a favoring breeze, butuot long afterward encountered one of those sudden gales common at that time of year, which carried them back a distance of several miles, where the vessel went ashore. A week was spent before another start could be made. Arriving in siglit of I'resque Isle the vessel was again struck by a contrary wind and driven back to a point on the Canada shore under which tiu^ voyagers took shelter. They remained here two weeks for a favorable wind, when tlie journey was resumed.

They proceeded without further reverses until within sight of Cleveland, tiien a i)retentious place of three log cabins, when a violent wind s(ruck their craft. and they were forced to retreat until near the site of the present city of Erie, where they went ashore. They were now thoroughly discouraged with their experience by lake. The season was growing late, and whether to make another attempt by water or undei'- take the long journey l)y land on foot was not a pleasant alternative. Calvin Hoadley determined to make another trial, and, with his family, arrived at Cleveland after encountering many experiences similar to those we have mentioned. The most of them, however, determined ujion the land route. Beta Bronson, wife and child, were of this party; Mrs. Bronson carrying the child in her arms fur a distance of fifty miles west of Brie, where they were met by teams with which friends had gone back from Clcvelan<l in search of them. Arriving at Cleveland, the company made a location there, with the exception of Bela Bronson and family, wiio, with ox-team and sled, jjushed on towards Columbia. They were accomjianicd by Levi Bronson, Jared Pritchard, John Williams, Silas Hoadley, Calvin Hoadley, and five or six others who wcut ahead and cut a road for them. The family brought along in the sled cooking utensils - with which Mrs. Bronson prepared the food for the company - and camp e(pii})age. Their progress was, of course, slow, eight days being consumed in reaching Columbia. Two days subsecjuently - on the 7th day of December, 1807 - they arrived on lot twentyseven, where Bronson and family made a location.

The company divided into three sections, commencing simultaneously the erection of three cabins, one for Bela Bronson, on lot twenty-seven; one foj' John Williams, on sub-lot three; and-oue for Calvin Hoadley, on lot thirty-four. During the erection of Bronson's house, the box of the sled was turned u]) against a tree, and under this the family took shelter until their cabin was built. The house was ready for occupancy by Christmas.

In 181(1, Mr. Bronson changed his location to the Center, where the cellar of the house in which he resided can yet be seen. He died here in October, 1811. He was one of the ten sons of Seba Bronson. His wife's maiden name was Sally Twitchell. Mrs. Bronson subsequently married Benoni Adams. Two children of this pioneer family are now living - Rev.

Sherlock A. Bronson, D.D., who was eight months old at the time of the settlement of the family in Columbia, now an Episcopal clergyman of ability and u.sefulness, resident in Manslield, 0., and a daughter Sally, living in Ottawa county. In an address delivered in this township July 4, 1859, Rev. Dr. Bronson gives the following interesting picture of their situation in the winter of 1807:

"Our post office was at Painesville, fifty miles distant; tlie nearest mill was at Newburgh, twenty -t'isht miles away; and but little provision could be obtained sbort of Painesville. That winter my father wrote back to his fi'iends that he was the richest man in town. He might have written himself dttwn the greatest nabob of all of 0\\\o that lay west of Cleveland and north of W<joster, tinfj there would have been none to dviimte his claim. For a time, that winter, ours was the only residence in Western Ohio. Gloomy, desolate and lonely as those times were, my mother kept up good cheer, and said she always hoped for better times. Taking into account the time of arrival, late in December, no house ready for occupancy, that in the conijiany was a woman with an infant only eight nn.inths old, and the nearest dwelling twenty miles distant, you have before you a rare picture of pioneer life."

The second family that settled in town was that of John Williams, wlio moved in from Cleveland after spending the holidays with his friends there, arriving January 3, 1808. They took up their abode in the cabin already j)artially prepared for them on sub-lot three. In 1810 he removed to a farm a mile south of the Center on lot forty-eight. Mr. Williams died in the spring of 18K), and his remains lie in an unmarked grave in the Center Ijurying ground. The only surviving member of the family is Mrs. Weaver Harrington, now residing in Eaton county, Mich.

Calvin Hoadley followed closely after Williams, arriving in the tirst i)art of March of the same year, and commenced life in the Columbia woods in the house ])reviously built on lot thirty-four. In the summer of 1809, he built a grist mill on Rocky river, south of the Center, the tirst mill in the county. He afterwaril built a grist mill and also a saw mill, on the same river, on lot twenty-one. Captain Hoadley was a man of great energy of character, and became one of the most prominent men of the town. He was a son of Lemuel Hoadley, S.'., who raised a family of eight chihlren. Cahiu was the second child and oldest son. He was a carpenter by trade. His wife's maiden name was Marian Terrell. They raised a family of five children. A daughter, the only living representative of the family, resides in Berea, 0.

Early in the spring of 1808, the following additions were made to the settlement: Lemuel Hoadley, Sr. , and Lemuel Hoadley, Jr, on lot forty-seven; James (ieer, on lot thirty-five, south part; Lathrop Seymour, on lot eleven; Jared Pritchard, on lot thirty-one; Silas Hoadley, on lot twenty-nine; Isaac Frost and his two sons, Elias and Lyman, on lot twenty-eight; Nathaniel Doan, on the north part of lot thirty-five; and Benoni Adams, on lot fifty.

The Hoadleys were originally from either Salem or Plymouth, Conn. Lemuel Hoadley, Sr., was the fatiier of eight children. Mary, the eldest, became the wife of Asahel Osborn. Of Calvin we have already given a brief history. The next was Lemuel; he was a colonel in the war of 1813. Sally married Zephauiah

Potter. Lennu'l was a mechanic, and nmcli of his life was eupaoed in tlic erectioTi of niills; he bniltmos( of the grist mills in this region of country. He removed to Brecksville in 1812, and bnilt tlie first mill in that town; and two years subsequently he went to Bath and t'rected mills there. In 1819, he settled in Olmsted, Cuyahoga county, and erected for himself the i)ionoer mill in that township, and also built the first frame house there. In 1824, he exchanged his farm and a mill in Olmsted for a farm in Ridgeville, west of the center of the town, and took up his abode there. In 1833, he sold out and moved l)ack to Olmsted, and with his son-in-law, John Barnum, built a saw-mill at the mouth of Plum Creek, and laid out a village there. In ISliS, he removed to Chillicothe. He married Chloe Tyler.

He was known everywhere as Major ILwdley, a title which he acquired, it is said, on the journey from Connecticut. The company would sometimes be obliged to construct a bridge across a swollen stream, and Mr. Iloadley was so perfectly at home at such work tiiat his cf)nipanions gave him the honorary title of "major,'' which he ever afterwards bore.

Luther was also a colonel in the war of 1813, and died in the service. David, a carpenter by trade, died in Connecticnt. Urania married Riley Whiting, an extensive clock-maker of Winsted, Conn.

In 1810, James Geer changed his location to the north part of the townshij), exchanging his original purchase with Calvin Iloadley, for land on lot twentyone. Here he established a rude tannery, using sap troughs for vats, and an axe to pulverize the bark. He also followed shoemakiug, having learned the trade of his wife, formerly Mrs. Mary Parker, whose first husband was a shoenuiker.

Nathaniel Doan was a man of more than average ability, and was a leading man in tiie settlement. He was the first justice of the peace of the township. He subsequently removed to Cleveland.

whose mother subsecpiently became the wife of Mr. Adams: "I have heard him say he has traveled the swamii wiien the water was iialf-way to liie knee, and he was obliged to bri'ak the ice the whole forty miles."

During the same year, Seba Bronson, Sr., and his two sons, Seba and Daniel, moved in from Ashtabula county. The elder Bronson settled on sub-lot four, Seba, Jr., living with him. Daniel located on the north part of lot thirty-six.

In 1813, Seba Bronson, Jr., removed to Liverj)ool, Medina county, remained a year, and then returned to Columbia. In the s])ring of that year, it is said, he dug out a canoe, and journeyed down the river to the lake, thence to the mouth of Sandusky river, thence up that river, to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont). There, in an opening in the forest, he jilanted a piece of ground to corn, under the protection of Fort Stephenson. After harvesting his crop, he returned to Columbia, residing thei'e until his death, in 1851, aged seventy-five.

In 1809, Roswell Scovil, Horace (Junn, Timothy Doan, Daniel Bunnell, Zephaniah Potter, Wm. Hoadley, Noah Warner, Marcus Terrell, and Joseph Burke joined the settlement. Scovil settled on lot thn-ty; (lunn on lot - . The latter carried the first mail west of Cleveland, in 1808. In June, 1809, he married Ann Pritchard, daughter of Jared Pritchard, which was the second marriage in Columbia. Timothy Doan located on lot twenty-nine, buying out Silas Hoadlev, who returned to Connecticut. Bunnell drew, by draft, lot one, which he exchanged with Samuel Pardee for laud in Olmsted. Potter settled on lot - . He was a doctor - the first in the township. Iloadley settled on lot thirty-five, south part, but returned to Connecticut iu 1811. Marcus Terrell settled ou the northwest corner of lot tliirl,y-niiie. Warner, in 1811, removed to Liverpool.

Joseph Burke was the earliest settler in Euclid. He came from New York, in 1798, traveling from Buffalo to Grand river in an ojien boat. Leaving his family there, he came on to take a look at the wilderness, in which he thought of settling, and after making a selection at Eaolid, returned for his family. He resided in Euclid eleven years, and then removed to this township, locating on lot twelve. Ho died July 4th, 1814. His widow removed to Michigan, and died tliere-in 1833. Of their large family of fourteen chddren, only two are living: Ira Burke on the old homestead, aged seventy-five, and Mrs. Sophia Louder, residing in Illinois. A little daughter, four years of age, while in the woods with her brother, who was miking maple sugar, wandered away and was never found. The generally accei)ted theory as to her fate is, that she was carried away by Indians seen in the vicinity a day on two previous.

1805. In that year he came from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Clevelanil, on foot, bj way of Albany anil RiitTalo, and returned by way of RaUiniorc, Pbiladel- ])hia aud New York, walking almost the entire distance. In JSOIt, he ai,'ain came to Ohio, also on foot, this time for the |>uriiose of settlement. He was a carjienter and joiner, and on iiis arrival at Cleveland, engaged at work for a Mr. Murray, for whon lie Imiil a log house near the mouth of the Cuyahoga, on the east side of the river, and about where the government piers are now. His family, then consisting of a wife and three daughters, and his mother, (his father, Seba Bronson, Sr., having come to Columbia three years previous), came on soon afterward on a little vessel called the "Ranger," Captain Hathaway, landing at the mouth of the river March 15th. Other members of the coin|>any, aud their families, came at the same time. Mr. Bronson made a settlement in Columbia, erecting a house on sub-lot four.

At the breaking out of the war of 1812, when it was generally feared tiiat this ]iart of tlie State would be overrun by Indians, Mrs. Harmon Bronson, with her three girls, - the oldest about tliirteen, - and an infant son less than a year old, started from (Cleveland in September, 1813, with a horse, saddle and bridle, and took her little family back to Waterbury, the heroic mother walking the entire distance. It required four weeks to make the journey.

She remained in Waterbury until late in the fall of 1815, and then set out in a lumber wagon for Oiiio. At Bloomfield, in the State of New Y'ork, her funds run out, and she hired out her two eldest daughters at fifty cents a week each, while she worked for her board and that of her two younger children. Abmitthe 1st of March, 181(3, the journey was resumed, and the family reached Columbia in the latter part of that month.

Mr. Bronson kept a store in Columhia from I81(i to 1820. He removed to East Cleveland in December, 1821, aud lived there until July. 1821, when he moved into Boston township, tiien Portage, udw Summit county. He died December 18th, 1853. He was the seventh of the fourteen children of Seba Bi-onson, Sr. , all of whom lived to mature age and were married. Azor and Rela died in Columbia, in 1811, October 5th and 13th, respectively. Harmon was tJR' last survivor of the family. His bii'th, marriage and death occurred in the same montii and on the same day of the montli - Decemlier 18tli. He was seventy-nine years old at his death. His wife survived him four years and two months, and was something over eighty. Two of his family are now living - his second daughter, now seventy-eight years old, and the youngest child, a son, now sixty-seven - both residing in Peninsula, Summit county. From the latter, Mr. H. V. Bronson, we have obtained liie facts here given.

David Eddy, btn-n in New Jersey, came to Ohio while yet a single man, in the year 1804 or 1805. He made a location in Euclid, Cuyahoga county, and erected a cabin there. The followmg year his father and mother, wilii a son named Timothy, came on and took up tiieir abode in tiie jirimitive hal)itation already prejiared by David. Caleb Eddy, the fathei', spent the remainder of his days here, but David soon pushed on further west, ami joined the infant colony in Columbia. He " stuck his stakes "' on lot forty, and built liis log house on the l)ank of Rocky river. In the early winter of 1811 he married Elizabeth Shirdine, of Washington county, Penn., and about two yeai's subse({uently began pioneer life in the little cabin previously mentioned. Eddy was a member of the militia, and was an occupant of the block house. His life was one of many hardships and of arduous toil. He died, on the farm on which he lirst located, October 31, 1853, and his widow about a year afterward, Octobei' 6th, 1854. Their children were four in numbei', two boys and two girls, viz : Jesse, Enos, Susannah and Eunice. Jesse married Caroline Chamberlain, daughter of John Chandjerlain, of Rochester, Lorain county. He, Jesse, is now living there. His wife died February 5th, 1855. leaving two children, Mary E. (Mrs Myers,) and llattie E. (Mrs. Mann). Enos nuirried Cynthia ]5radford, now deceased. Susannah married Myron Bradford, and lioth are dead. Eunice married, lirst, Hiram Bradford, and afterwards Samuel Ilanley, with whom she is now living in the township of Rochester.

In 1810 Levi Bronson moved in from Euclid and took up his residence on sub-lot three, the first location of John AVilliams. Of him Rev. Dr. Bronson bears the following testimony:

" My father became interested in the laads of Colutiiiiia by jiurchase of his brother Azor, but botli died before deeds were given or paymeut fully made, and matters were left in an unsettled state, and after a while became entangled with other land matters. These have since been a prolific source of strife, and a rich field for lawyers. * *

* * I deem it my duty to bear witness to the unyielding integrity, public spirit and self-.sacrifice of Levi Bronson. When all the land in Columbia would not have sold for more than enough to pay the ta.ve.s, he borrowed money, worked on the road, turned and twisted evei-y way to save the property of his father and his deceased brotlier for their heirs."

In regard to other arrivals this year we mention the following: Asahel Osborn and Marshall Culver, his son-in-law, the former on the south part and the latter on the north part of lot thirty-seven. They came frt)m Salem, Connecticut. Osborn married Mary Hoadley, daughter of Lemuel Hoadley, Sr. lie was a man of good natural al)ility, and of local intluenee.

Timothy Eddy cleared a piece of land on lot seventeen, sowed it to wheat, and then returned to Euclid to live; James and Walter Strong chopped off a piece on lot fifteen; Samuel Hitchcock settled on lot forty, purchasing of Calvin Hoadley.

Asa Rol.)ertson made a beginning on the west part of lot one, then removed to Liverpool, Medina county, whei-e he made a permanent location. Samuel Heacock also arrived in 1810, and located on lot thirtysi.^, but returneil to Connecticut the following j'ear.

John Adams, father of Benoni, with his wife, five sons and a daughter, left Waterbury, Connecticut, for Columbia, in the fall of 1811, and moved in with

Benoni, on lot fifty. Adiims having sold his farm for twenty-five luindred dollars, and taken his pay in clocks at five dollars a piece, nmst turn his property into cattle and the cattle into money, whicli took nji tlie time nntil Octoher.

lie brought his wife and boys, with some of the household goods, with a team and wagon, a young man by the name of Marshall Bronson accompanying tlic family with a team and wagon of his own, with wliich he brought a part of their goods. The daughter, who was a child of it former wife of Mr. Adams, and a cousin of Bronson, rode with the young man. In consequence of a violent snow storm they remained several days at a tavern a few miles west of Buffalo. Tiie next house on their ronte was Mack's tavern, eighteen miles distant, the ro;id to which was along the beach nntil within four miles of the tavern, when it lead away from the lake through a dense forest. This is the road the collector of historical facts so frequently hears spoken of by early settlers as the "four mile woods."'

It was December, too late to travel along the beach with safety, as there were many rocky cliffs which extended out into the lake; and to get by them, the emigrants usually drove into the water. In attempting to pass one of tiiese points, Adams' team became frightened at the dashing of the waves, and refused to go, and he was obliged to cut them loose from the wagon in order to save his wife and children. After much ditRculty, they succeeded in reaching the shore, and proceeded in the direction of the tavern, Adams evidently thinking that Bronson, who was ahead, had got through in safety. Not so, however: he had become involved in a situation more perilous than that from which Adams and his family had escaped. The wlieel of his wagon caught fast in the seam of a rock, and the horses, in their struggle, became entangled in the harness and were tiirown down; and Bronson, almost paralyzed with cold and fear, could not release them. Ilis situation would have appalled the stoutest heart. The roar of the angry waves, the horses struggling beneath them, and the cries of his companion, coupled with his utter powcrlessncss to aid her, tilled him with frantic terror. He determined to go for help. Reaching the shore with great difficulty, he liurried to the tavern and gave the alarm. Several men started for the scene of distress, meeting Mr. Adams and family on the way.

The mother and children were conducted back to the house by one of the party, while the father returned with the rest to tlio relief of liis daugliter. But it was too late - her lifeless body was found in the water, carried to f he tavern, and buried in Mack's garden. Some time after, a passing missionary, on recpiest of the family, preached a funeral discourse. The team of Bronson was drowned, and his wagon a complete wreck. Another was constructed out of the parts as they floated ashore, and then turned into cash. The other wagon, which was without serious damage, was also sold, and a sled purchased. A few articles were gathered up as they floated ashore, and the surviving family resumed their journey. Arriving in Euclid, friends induced them to rcnnain there till the following spring, when they moved into (!ohnnbia. A son of Mr. Adams is yet living in Olmsted, nearly eighty years of age, and jn-eserves a clear recollection of the painful disaster.

Another prominent arrival in 1811, was the family of Azor Bronson. They left Waterbury, Conn., in June of that year. They experienced a tedious time getting through Cattaraugus swamp. Night overtook them in the "four mile woods,'' while yet a long distance from Mack's tavern, at Cattaraugus creek, to which they were making, and they were unable to [n-oceed. Leaving the mother and ciiildren in the wagon, whicli was Ijuried to the axletree in mud, Mr. I?ronson went to tiie tavern for help. The ever-accommodating Dr. Mack, with a lantern and accomjianied by a couple of friendly Indians, returned with Mr. Bronson for his family and assisted them to the tavern. In Middleburg, Cuyahoga county, their wagon broke down, and wife and children were thence carried to Columbia on the horses. They arrived at the center of town July 4, 1811. Mr. Bronson died the next year after his arrival. Ransom and Albert Bronson, residing in Olmsted, Cuyahoga county, aged seventy-three and seventy-six respectively, are the only surviving memljers of the family.

Samuel Pardee also moved in, in 1811, settling on the south part of lot thirty-sis, and kept a tavern, the sign of which was a pair of deer's horns.

Jonathan Vanghan became an inhabitant of the township during this same year. The following year, he, with his l)rother Richard and E. Hickox, entered the service of the government and aided in cutting a road from Sandusky to Maumee. This was in war time, and the men, some three hundred in number, cut the road under the protection of a military guard. Vanghan was afterwards stationed for a time in Fort Stephenson. He subsequently married a daughter of Calvin Iloadley and settled in Middleburg, (Ju3-ahoga county, residing there until 1834, when he purchased an interest in the Iloadley Mills, and returned to Columbia.

About this time also, Noah Terrell and Thomas Osborn came into town. Terrell was a valuable acquisition to the settlement, being skillful in the manufacture of every kind of wooden dishes, such as milkbowls, trenchers, cups and saucers, salt-cellars, pepper boxes, and little kegs which took the place of pails. BeiTig a Terrell, he was of course a hunter, and sup- }>orted his family to a great extent by his gun. He subsequently removed to Ridgeville, where his daughter Harriet was soon after bor;,. She was the first child born in that township.

Osborn settled on the farm first occupied by Bela Bronson. He was a blacksmith, and carried on his trade in that early day under difficulties whicli would be thought insurmountable in this. This pioneer blacksmith went on foot through an unbroken wilder- ncss to New Lisbon, Columbiana county, a distance of about one liuntlrcd miles, to obtain liis material, wliicji, haviufr paid for in labor, lie then lugged home on his back. His untiring industry was eventually rewarded by a handsome competency.

Reuben Lewis moved in from New York State in 1814. He established in tliat year the first tannery wortliy of the name in the county. It stood on lot tiiirty-four, on wiiich also the first mill in the county, the grist mill of Captain Hoadley, was built.

Epliraim Bigelow became an inhaliitaut of Columbia in 1816, settling on lot twenty -eight, and Amos Richmond, the same year, on lot twenty-nine.

Julius and Albert Bronson settled on lot twentythree, on the north and south parts respectively, in 1817, and Thomas G. Bronson on lot eighteen the same year. Cideon Richmond located in 1818, and Sylvanus, tlie following year, on lot fifty.

Simeon Nichols arrived with his family in about the j'car 1830. He was also a Waterbury man. He started in the winter, and, when he got into the State of New York, the snow was so deep as to make traveling with a wagon difficult. He therefore bougiit a sled, placed his wagon on the top of it, and thus resumed tlie journey. All wa^iit well until he arrived at wiiat was tlien called the "Holland purchase," in that State. This was a newly cleared ])iece of land, and he C(jnld not j)ass among the thick stumps with his wagon; he therefore cut off the axles. He traveled without further impediment until he arrived in the eastern ])art of Ohio, when tlie snow left and he was obliged to provide iiiniself witii now axles. He arrived in Coliinil)ia in early spring and settled on lot fortyseven.

Niciiols was an industrious and respected citizen. He held the office of justice of the peace for a number of years, and was a leading memlier of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

We can but but briefly mention subsequent settlers. Heman Terrell on lot twenty-eight; Miles Seymour rented the farm of Timothy Doan, in 1831; William Adams on lot four hundred and ninety-one; Abner Martin (and his distillery) on lot forty-seven. Solomon Hancock on lot twenty-seven, in 1833; Manly Hitchcock nn lot forty-four; Hiram Richmond on lot twenty-six; Asa Jewett on lot sixty-four, in 1833; Sterling Goddard on lot seventy-six; James Mattison on the same lot; William Brown on lot seventy-four, in 183it; Amos Curtis on lot seventy-seven; Samuel Hoadley on lot twenty-one; Elihu Morgan on lot forty-seven; Ransom Bronson on lot thirty-nine, in 1835; Anson A. Goddard on lot sixty-three, in 1830; John Cole on lot eighty-eight; Simon and John Crockers on lot ninety, in 1838; S. H. Friiik on lot twenty-two, in 1831; David Chamberlain on lot seventy-nine; Joliu McCreery on lot forty; Wakeman Beers on lot sixty; John Chamberlain on lot sixty; Seth and Bina Wood on lot sixty-one; Stei)hen Sabin on lot forty; Ezekiel Olcott on lot fifty-nine, in 1833; Samuel Gaylord in 1835.

Among the later settlers are: Abel Goodwin, from New London county, Connecticut, who arrived in 1838, and located on lot eighty-eight. He died in June, 1841. Elishaand Richard Harrington, originally from Vermont, came to Ohio in 1815, settling in Cuyahoga Falls. They came to Columbia, Elisha in 1834, and located on lot eighty-six, and the latter in 1837, on lot fifty-seven. Elisha now lives on lot seventy-five, and Richard on his original purchase. Norman T. Beers, from the State of New York, located in 1833, where the widow of Marcus Nichols now resides. He died April, 1878, and his widow now lives on lot fifty-nine. Joseph Osborn became a settler in 1837, on lot fifty-seven. He now resides with his son Andrew, on the old homestead, and is eighty-four years of age - the oldest m:iii in the township. William Brown located on Plum creek, iu 1837.

"The Bronsons were Episeopaliaas, and when thej came to Ohio, they brought their prayer booivs with thetn. When they reached here they used those books, tiiough they had no minister. My father gathered around him, as soon as he had neighbors, as many as he could and read the service and a sermon. When the grave closed over him, my grandfather took it up. When he passed away, Levi Ifronson coninued it; and after his death, it, for a while, devolved on me."

The first organized church society w'as of the Episcopal faith, some time in the year 180'J, Bishop Chase ofilciating in its organization. The following named were the constituent members: Seba Bronson and wife, Bela Bronson, Levi Bronson and wife, and. John Williams and wife. A meeting house was liuilt on the east side of the river, on sub-lot three, as late as 1835 or '3G.

Methodism

The first Methodist services held iu town were at the house of the widow of Joseph Burke, in about the year 1818. They were conducted by Rev's Messrs. Goddard and Booth. The following year a society was formed, by Rev. Mr. Goddard, of the following members: Calvin Hoadley, Julius Bronson and wife, Mrs. .Joseph Burke and her two sons, Allen and Urrin, and Mrs. McConkey. .Julius Bronson was appointed leader of the class. The church building at 1 the Center was erected in 1830, and was the first house of worship iu Columbia. This society is at present under the charge of Rev. J. W. Thomp^im. It has a nienibership of sixty. The Sabbath school has a membership of some seventy scholars. Frank Suell is superintendent.

There i~ also a Methodist Episcopal society at West View, the church having been erected in 1844. Services are held every alternate Sabbath by Rev. J. W. Thompson.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church of West View. - This clmrch was formed April 1, IS-tS, with sixteen members, as follows: Rausom Bronsou and wife, Moses 0. Baker and wife, Jane Baker, Clark Iloadloy and wife, Cornelius Smith and wife, Calvin Iloadley, Calvin R. Hoadloy and Edwin Hedgins (all of whom seceded from the- Methodist Episcopal cluirch of West View because of its alleged indifference with regard to the question of human slavery) and Jesse Eddy and wife, Clarissa and Jane Bronson. Of this number only Ransom Bnmson remains. The ohurcli building was erected in 1845, costing abont one thousand dollars. The dedicatory sermon was preached by James Laugdon. .Jahial Porter and John McCloud were the first regular preachers. The existing membership is fifty-tive. William B. Moody is jiastor. The two chnrciies unite in a sabbath school, wiiich has a membership of forty-five, with J. M. Geer as su]>erintendent.

A Congregational society was organized aliout the year 1820 liy Rev. Mr. Shaber of Richfield and was composed of the following members: Boltis Ruple, Marshall Culver and wife, Mrs. Mary Osborn, Mrs. Roxana Nichols, Sterling Coddard and wife. Wdliam Brown and wife. Sterling Goddanl and Boltis Ruple were appointed deacons. This society never ei'ected a house of worsl'.ip.

The First Baptist Chnreh of Columbia, located ac the Center was organized May 13, 1832, with nineteen mcmbei's, as follows: John Stranahan, .John Cole, Robert Fuller, Abel Goodwin, from the Baptist church in Liverpool, Medina county; Simeon Crocker, .Jeremiah Chamberlain, who had letters from a, ciiurch in the east; Mary Goodwin, Amelia Crocker, Clarissa Crocker, Nancy Bigelow, Margaret Chamberlain, Prudence Stranahan, Olive Goodwin, Betsey Cole, Mary Cole, Constant G. Cole, William Cole, Robert N. Fuller, and .lohn Cole, Jr. Elder James Ilovey otliciated as moderator; Abel (Joodwin was iliosen clerk. Of the constituent members, two only. William Cole and John Cole, remain. The erection of the building was commenced in 1841, but was not (-(iinpleted until 1848. The church has at present a membership of one hundred and four. Rev. L. Yarmdl is pastoi', N. N. Cole, clerk, and .John Cole and ( 'yrus Ives, deacons. A Sabbath school was organized in 184T. The officers and teachers at present number eleven; scholars, eighty-three; superintendent, N. N. ' Cole.

The first school was opened by Mrs. Sally Bronson, in iier own house, in the summer of 1808. The number of her scholars was ten. The following winter her husband, Bela Bronson, taught a school in Lemuel Hoadley's blacksmith shop. Rev. Dr. Bron- son, son of these pioneer educators, speaks as follows in i-egard to the opportunities afforded for acquiring an education more than rudimentary:

" My own experience will illustrate the difficulty of obtaining anything beyond what the district school afforded. In 1H:M I set out to obtain an education. An old Latin graniniai' was found and studied nn<ler the instruction of Rev. Luke Bowen of Strongrsvitle. After a while a dictionary was neeiled We sold a cow for ei^ht d'>llars and with this sum I mounted a horse and rode more than a hundred miles in a fruitless search for a Latin dictionary. This led to my going to Talimadge and studying with Elizur Wright, Esq., where I could have the use of a dictionary. Thei'e I remained three months, working two days in the week for Francis Wright for my board, and two days in the montli for hisfatlaer to pay m3' tuition. After this I found the required book and a teaclier nearer home."

A private school was taught at the house of T. G. Bronson by Rev. V. P. Bronson, in 183.5. The first school house in town was erected in 1817, on lot thirty-six. From the report of the clerk of the board of education for the year ending August 31, 1878, we present the following statistics:

Early Events

The first white child born in Columbia was Sally Hoadley, daughter of Lemuel Hoadley, Jr. This interesting event occurred September 36, 1808, She became thi wife of Albert Terrel, who now lives in Ridgeviile. On the 17th of October following Calvin Geer, son of James Geer, was born, and his was the second birth in town. Mr. Geer is yet living, and resides in Olmsted. In the spring of 1809, Marcus Terrell married Dillie Doan, - Esquire Nathaniel Doan, the bride's father, performing the ceremony. This was the first marriage. The next was that of Horace Gunn to Anna Pritchard, in .Tune of the same year. The first death was that of a child of Lathrop Seymour, in 1809. It was buried on Nathaniel Doan's farm, east of the center. The first adult death was that of Mrs. Ciiloe Tyler, mother of Mrs. Lemuel Hoadley, in August, 1810. She was buried in Benoni Adams' orchard. The old burying ground was laid out in 1811. The first interment was that of Azor Bronson; the next that of Bela Bronson.

The first post office in town was established about the year 1817. The first post master was Thomas G. Bronson, who kept the office in his house. The name selected was the Indian name for Rocky river, -'Copokah." In the papers sent from Washington the word was mis-written Copojm, and the error was never corrected. The postal route extended from Cleveland to Liverpool, a man by tiie name of Mallett being the first mail carrier. He received fifty dollars per year, making the trip on foot once a week.

Harmon Bronson, in the fall of 1816, built the first frame house in Columbia, on sub-lot four. The first frame barn was built by Tin othy Doan, in 1836. The first brick house was that of Simeon Nichols, on lot forty-seven. Harmon Bronson brought the first mercantile goods into town in 1816. He kept his "store" in his house on the hill, half a mile east of the center. He also, the year following, brought the first cast iron plow ever seen in these parts. In 1819 the first bridge tliat ever sjianncd Rocky river, was built half a mile south of tlio center. The first doctor was Zophaniah Potter, wlio began to dispense jalap and calomel in 1809. In 1813 Potter was town clerk, and while his wife was out in the woods with her servant one day, gathering grapes, his house burned to the ground and the town records were destroyed. The deed was supposed to have been committed by Indians, out of revenge. Dr. Potter iuxving assisted Dr. Long, of Cleveland, in dissecting the body of the Indian Oniik, who was hung there for the murder of two men in Huron county a short time before. The present doctor is Asahel Culver. The first shoemaker was Mrs. James Geer. Slie was the widow Parker, mentioned as one of the orginal party from Waterbury, Conn. She remained in Cleveland the first winter, and while there married James Geer. Her former husband was a shoenuiker, and Mrs. Parker, in emigrating to this country, brought his outfit of tools with her. She made slioes for the women, but the work of making boots, wliich were entirely sewed in those days, was too irksome for her, and after tcaeliing lier husband tlie trade she resigned the work to liim. Lemuel Hoadloy constructed the pioneer fanning-mill of Culuinbia.

The first orchard was set out by John Williams a short distance north of Copopo. J. Warner erected in the fall of 1813 the first cider-mill, near tlie block house. The first tavern was kept by Samuel Pardee, in 1813, in a log house on lot thirty-six. Rev. Mr. Hyde, a Presbyterian, was the first resident minister. The first blacksmith was Lemuel Hoadley, Sr. His shop was built in 1808, on lot forty-seven.

The Militia

In the year 1810, a com})any of militia, composed of men from tlie townsliips of Columbia, Ridgeviile, Eaton, and also Middleburg in Cuyahoga county, was organized. Tlie following are the names of tlie members :

In the election of officers, Calvin Hoadley was chosen captain; Lemuel Hoadley, lieutenant; Lathrop Seymour, ensign; Elias Frost, first sergeant; Samuel Potter, second sergeant; Daniel Bronson, third sergeant; Bela Bronson, fourth sergeant; Capt. Levi Bronson, first corporal; Capt. Samuel Hiekox, second corporal: and Jared Pritch:ird, third corporal.

After the selection of these "old soldiers" as corj)orals, young Eli Hiekox stepped up and said: "I'll be the fourth to carry the jug for the old men," and was thereujion elected fourth corporal. Joseph Burke was drummer; Marshall Culver and Zephaniah Potter, fifers.

The intelligence of Hull's surrender produced a feeling of the gravest apprehension among the inhabitants; and when, shortly afterward, the information was circulated that a large party of men, ragged ami dirty, and some with blankets around them, and handkerchiefs on their heads, were seen landing at Huron, the wildest excitement jirevai led. They were believed to be British and Indians overrunning the country, and the people of Columbia, and those of Ridgeviile and Eaton also, sought safety in flight. Every wagon, cart and sled was loaded, and a, general exodus made for Hudson - an older settled town, then under the protection of the forces of Gen. Wadswortli. who was stationed at "Old Portage." Men, women and children, cattle, slice]) and hogs, inarched along in iiromiscnons confu.sion.

Roswell Scovill, having no other means of conveyance, tied a feather-bed on to an unbroken pet colt, placed his wife and babe, then three weeks old, upon it, and thus took them in safety to Hudson, a distance of thirty miles. Tlie first night, some of them encanijied on the ridge between Brunswick and Strongsville; some to the east of that ridge; while others took up their cpiarters in the old log house of Silas Burke. Uncle Oliver Terrell could not be induced to enter the house, but preferred the exposure of a lodgment on the ground to the more dangerous one, as he believed, in the house. Sentinels were placed to observe the approach of danger, and every preparation made to prevent surprise. That same night, however, Levi Bronson, who, to obtain more definite information in regard to the report, had gone to Cleveland, arrived with the cheering information that the party supposed to be British and Indians, were Hull's jtaroled iM'isoiiers, and the ])eople thereupon returned to tiieir homes.

On their flight, believing their homes would be pillaged and burned, they concealed many of their household goods in the woods, hiding them in hollow logs, in the thick brush, and in other places where they believed tliem safe from the suppo.sed invaders. When they returned, many valued articles, which they suppo.sed were effectually concealed, lay on the ground in plain sight, while others of but little worth (U' use were so securelv hid tliat it was impossible again to find them.

After the return of the fugitives, Capt. Hoadley, to re-assure the people, called out the militia, and immediately afterward received orders from Gen. Wadswortli to proceed with his comjjany to the defence of Cleveland. This the doughty captain ])erein]itorily refused to do, and thus leave the people without protection in time of danger, lie was therefore not court-mart i.iledf or di.sobcdieuce of orders, but directed to establish "frontier military lieadipuirtcrs " in Coliunbia, and tiie erection of

Tue Block House

SO long a historical landmark of this exciting period, was accordingly begun, under the direction of David Beebe, of Ridgeville. Its location was a short distance south of Copopo, on the east side of the river. The building was some thirty-five feet square, two stories, the upper projecting over the lower story two feet on the sides, with a row of port-holes in each story. While in course of erection the militia occupied the house of Mrs. Azor Bronson near by. The fort was garrisoned for about three months. The company was furnished, by the United States government, with new rifles, which were brought by Sylvester Morgan, and two others on horseback, from Cleveland. About one-half of the company afterwards became substitutes for drafted men, and served Under Gen. Harrison.

Until Perry's victory on Lake Erie, in September, 1813, the red coat and the scaljiing knife haunted the settlers in visions )jy day and in dreams by night; and a rumor, however improbable, would cause immediate flight to the fort.

In the spring of 1813, Benoni Adams, while in search of some cattle, spied Joseph Burke as he was getting over a brush fence some distance from him, and it occurred to Adams to have a little sport. Evidences of Indians in the immediate vicinity had recently been seen, and, when Adams gave a shout in imitation of the Indian's warwhoop, Burke darted off like a deer for his house. Adams, seeing his fright, and fearing the cousequeuces of his Joke, called after him to stop, but that only frightened Burke the more. Arriving at his house, he ap[)rised his family of their danger, and, with their youngest child in his arms, Mrs. Burke following with the rest, set out for the fort, Burke yelling "Indians!" all the way. The alarm spread rapidly, and many ludicrous scenes were enacted.

Mrs. Azor Bronson, then a widow, lived a short distance from the fort, and the family of Noah Warner lived with her. Mrs. Bronson, on hearing the alarm, collected together a few tilings, and, seizing an old musket that had neither lock nor stock, with which to defend herself, started for the fort; while Jlrs. Warner took a kettle of beans from over the fire and followed, in her terror forgetting her babe in the cradle.

After the close of the war small bands of Indians oc- 1 :isionally returned to the Columbia hunting grounds. The last of them was a small party that encamped one winter on the bank of the river opjjosite the block house, in which, that same winter, Samuel Potter I aught school. In the spring they went south, and only an occasional Indian was afterwards seen.

During the first years of the settlement there were seasons of great scarcity of food. Such a season occurred in 1809. Whole families lived for many weeks at a time without bread and other necessaries of life. This season the peoi;)le were reduced to such extremities that provisions had to be imported. James Geer and Seba Bronson, Jr., dug out a canoe and in it went down Rocky river, thence to Cleveland, where they engaged a man named Johnson, with his boat, to go with them to the river Raising, now Monroe, Mich., after provisions. A terrific storm overtook them and they came near being lost. Their progress was slow, the journey so prolonged, and the jieople reduced to such a degiee of want for food, that on the return of the party with provisions, a day of thanksgiving to Almighty (fod was observed.

The year 181 1 was also a dismal one for the pioneers. A fever jjrevailed extensively, resulting in the death of nine mendiers of the little community. Azor Bronst)n was the first and Bela Bronson the next; soon after followed Mrs. Pardee, three cliildren of Ash;iel Osborn, and three of John Williams. Whole families were sick at the same time, and there were not enough left in health to attend the sick. The dead were interred in cofhus made by Captain Hoadley, out of planed whitewood slabs, and blackened with a mixture of basswood charcoal and milk.

At the time of its organization, this township was a part of Geauga county. At the election of officers, held at tlie house of Calvin Hoadley, Nathaniel Hoadley was called to the chair, and Bela Bronson appointed secretary. Township officers were chosen viva voce, as follows: Bela Bronson, clerk; Calvin Hoadley, John Williams and Jared Pritchard, trustees; Lathrop Seymour, constable. In May following, Nathaniel Doane was elected justice of the peace.

"All of Geauga county lying west of Columbia was annexed to that township for judicial and other jnirposes. The jurisdiction of that judicial functionary covered, in territorial extent, nearly an empire. The plaintiff in the first action brought before him, lived on (irand river, and the defendant on the Vermillion. It was the case of Skinner vs. Hulburt. The idaintifiE had judgment, which was paid, not in legal tender, but in lalior."* The labor was performed by the defendant for Calvin Hoadley and Nathaniel Doane, which paid the judgment.

Mrs. Sally Brown, in honor of being the first white woman that settled in town, was accorded the jOTvilege of naming it. She selected that of her native townshiji, "Columbia." At the time of the organization, there were twenty voters in the township, as follows: Lemuel Hoadley, Sr., Lemuel Hoadley, Jr., Calvin Hoadley, Jared Pritchard, Horace Gunn, Nathaniel Doane, Timothy Doane, Job Doane, Lathroi) Seymour, Isaac Frost, Elias Frost, Lyman Frost,

Grist Mill

The fir.st manufacturing establishment ever built in tiic county was the rude log grist mill of Calvin Iloadley, built in the summer of 18011. Its location was on tlie cast hank of Rocky river, on lot thirtyfour. The captain built a dam across the creek on that lot, about where the present road intersects the creek, and carried the water to his mill by a ditch some fifty rods in length. Tlie mill-stones of this pioneer establishment were made out of a couple of "hard-heads,"' by Lemuel Iloadley. The mill was crowded with business, but it soon came to an inglorious end. The great drawliai'k was its failure to run in dry weather, and the tirst freshet carried away the dam. The enterprise was abandonetl, and a location was selected on the same river, on the north line of the township, on lot twenty-one. Here he erected, in April, 1811, another log mill, and the same year a saw mill. These mills, in that early time, constituted a center of as much importance as a great city does to-day. " Iloadley "s Mills '' were known far and wide. In 1816, the log grist mill gave way to a frame. This old mill, built over sixty years ago, is still in operation, and has undergone but little change, although the familiar, smiling face of the miller has long since disappeared.

Sixty years, and overhead Tlie same broad root of blue is sjlread; But in the meadows bright and green. The stranger's children now are seen.

Saw Mill

A saw mill was built by Reuben Lewis in about the year 1814, a half-mile south of the center. A man by the name of Olmsted made the running gear and set it in operation. When the water was let on, the wlieel turned the wrong way, and before the slight defect could be remedied, a freshet washed a channel ai'uunil the mill and swejit it away.

Tliere are at the present time one grist mill - the old mill of ('a|it. Iloadley - now owned by O. \'aii Ilise, and two saw mills, those of 0. Van Ilise and Brown & Brother.

the only one in the township, waslniill in l>S(;;. It is located at the center, and is owned by W. B. FoUansbee. The number of cows supplying the factory is about three hundred. Average daily consumjition of milk during the season of 1878 was from. six to seven thousand ])ounds, making twelve cheese per day, of forty pounds each, and seventy pounds of butter. B. B. Adams, of the center, is at piv-^enl conducting the eiiter[irise.

The only store in Columbia is that of R. .J. Ba.stard & Son, who carry a general stock of. merchandise. The post office is in their store - R. Bastard, P. M.

Ransom Bronson

Mr. Bronson is a worthy descendant of an old and honored family. He wa.« born in Waterlniry, Conn., Sept. 11, 1805. He traces iiis lineage back to John Bronson, who emigrated from England to the United States in the year 1636. He settled in Hartford, Conn., but afterwards removed to Farmington, where he died in the year 1680.

The successive descendants, in the line of ancestry, were as follows: John Bronson, Joseph Bronson, Seba Bronson, and Azor Bronson, the father of the subject of this sketch. He was one of a family of fourteen children, nearly all of whom emigrated to the West, as did also their parents.

He was one of the five trustees of tlie Waterbury Land Company, and was therefore one of the original owners of the soil of Columbia. He emigrated to the township with his family, consisting of his wife and four children, in the summer of 1811, arriving at the place of destination on the 4th day of July. He located on sub-lot 11, but before the completion of his house lie was stricken down by a malignant disease, which was so fatally prevalent in the infant settlement at that time.

The family was left at his death in peculiarly unfortunate circumstances. The mother had four voung boys - the oldest only thirteen - to care for in the uncleared forest, with uo available means to clear the land of the debt resting against it, or even to put tlie uncompleted house in a condition for occupancy. She moved into a house belonging to Nathaniel Doane, which she occupied until her marriage to Reuben Lewis, some three years after the death of her first husband.

Instead of ameliorating her condition by this marriage, as she evidently expected to do, it was rendered infinitely worse by the unkindness of her husband, both to herself and children. After an unharmonious union of four years a separation ensued, Mr. Lewis removing from the township.

During this time the boys worked out at whatever they could find to do, and thus supported themselves, and for a time were kept together with theii* mother.

Ransom, at the age of eleven, took up his abode, under contract, with Marshall Culver. One day he thoughtlessly cut down some of the trees in his employer's growing sugar-bush. Culver \vas greatly offended, and refused to keep the boy longer. The lad regarded this as a great misfortune, but it really proved a blessing in disguise, for he was immediately after placed under the care of Samuel Hitchcock, to whose teaching and influence he attributes much of his subsequent success in life. He was trained by him in habits of industry and economy.

Dec. 4, 1833, Mr. Bronson was united in marriage to Mrs. S. H. Frink. His mother subsequently made her home with them, and died at their residence in Columbia, in the year 1851, aged seventy-seven.

Mrs. Ransom Bronson

Mr. Branson's occupation has been that of a farmer, and by good management, untiring industry, and frugal habits he has accumulated a fine property.

He has held various township offices, such as trustee, justice of the peace, etc. He was elected to the former office when twenty-two years of age. He was formerly a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but at the organization of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of West View, which was the result of a division of the former church on the question of slavery, became one of the charter members.

His first wife died in 1877, and Dec. 25 of the same year he married the widow of Aaron J. Chapin, with whom he is now living at West View, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio.

Mrs. Bronson is the daughter of Moses and Almira (Smith) Adams, who were born in Schoharie Co., N. Y., in the year 1805 ; the father, Aug. 7, and the mother, April 26.

They had a family of six children, - two boys and four girls. The oldest daughter died in Joliet, 111., in 1878, and a son, John Q,. A. M., died when young.

Ida married, in the year 1870, Lindsey Anderson, and is now residing at Harvard, 111. The two sons, unmarried, also reside there. Olive died March 19, 1859.

Mr. and Mrs. Chapin first settled in Canada, where they remained about a year, thence removing to Iowa. After a residence there of three years they moved to Minnesota, and two years subsequently, back to their former home in Riceville, Pa.

He was a cabinet-maker, and was a skillful workman. Mr. Chapin served four years in the war of the Rebellion, being a member of Company D, Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry. He died in Canada, in the year 1871.

During her widowhood, Mrs. Bronson resided mostly at Titusville, Pa., but retained her home in Riceville. Though encountering many difficulties, by industry and frugality she maintained herself and children, whom she gave also a good education. She looks back to that period as one of great usefulness.

Jesse Eddy was born in Washington Co., Pa., Dec. 15, 1814. He was the son of David and Elizabeth Eddy, and lived at the home of his parents until he became of age.

David Eddy came from Pennsylvania about 1806, and erected a log cabin for his father, Caleb Eddy, in Euclid township, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. He spent a part of his time in Columbia township, Lorain Co., until his marriage with Elizabeth Sherdine, of Pennsylvania, March 4, 1814. The following year (1815) he brought his wife and settled in Columbia township, remaining there until his death, which occurred Oct. 21, 1853. His wife survived him about one year, she dying Oct. 6, 1854. They liad four children, as follows, namely :

Jesse, born Dec. 15, 1814; married Caroline Chamberlain, Jan. 30, 1837 ; had issue - Mary E., who married Cephas Myers ; Susan Josephine, who died in early childhood ; Hattie E., who married James M. Mann ; both now reside in Rochester township.

Eunice Eddy, born Feb. 22, 1822 ; married - 1st, Hiram N. Bradford ; 2d, Samuel Huntley. Iter children were Eddy, Sylva E., Viola S., Henry 0., of whom A'iola died Oct. 1, 1862; Sylva married Dr. M. H. Miller; and Henry married Miss Ella Storrow.

Caleb Eddy was born in the year 1754, in Morristown, Morris Co., N. J. He married a Miss Brown. Their children were Timothy, born March 4, 1781 ; David, born Feb. 1, 1783; Elizabeth, born Dec. 9, 1784, still living in New Jer.sey in her ninety-third year.

About the year 1790, Caleb Eddy moved into Washington Co., Pa., where his last five children were born. He went from Pennsylvania to P]uclid, Ohio, about the year 1807, and was among the pioneers of Cuyahoga County. He died there about the year 1819. His widow afterwards married a Mr. Blinn, and died at Euclid. Caleb Eddy followed his trade, that of a black.smith, most of his liie, giving little attention to forming.

J&s.^e Eddy, as before stated, remained at home until he was twenty-one. He was occupied as a farm laborer, renting lands for a year or two after his marriage, when his father gave him twenty acres. He subse(|uently purchased ten acres more, making a total of thirty acres. These he exchanged for sixty acres of woodland, and on this he built a log cabin, and commenced life in real earnest by carving for himself a home.

His wife died in the old home, Feb. 5, 1855. She never had a strong constitution, but was full of energy and ambition. Her death was deeply uuiurned by her husband and friends.

Mr. Eddy has had various offices of trust bestowed upon him by his fellow-citizens. He was postmaster at Rochester Depot for four and a half years, and bears the reputation of having been its most efficient officer. During his term he registered nine hundred letters ; the smallest amount having been fifty cents, the largest, seven thousand dollars, in bonds, which went to Fort Collins, Col. He has also held other trusts, all of which he filled faithfully and well.

Tlie surface; rises fron) the north in successive ridges, parallel to the hike shore, the i)rincii)al of wliich are ('enter ridge, Chestnut ridge and Butternut ridge. The soil is varied and fertile, producing abundantly whatever the liand of the husbandman entrusts to it. The township is one of the most highly improved in (he county, })rescnting to one who rides through it an almost constant succession of cultivated lields and tasty homes. Along tiie ridges originally prevailed the chestnut, butternut, whitewood, white oak, beech and maple - the chestnut being especially abundant. On the lower laud, the elm, bassvvood, black ash and hickory were the leading varieties. The streams are few and unimportant, tlie jirincipal being East creek. Center creek and West creek, so called from their position in the township. The first two tlow into Avon, where they unite and form French creek, a tributary of Black river. West creek flows into the township of Elyria and is also an

I There are two stone (juarries in the northeastern part of the township, owned and worked by Luvel and Sydney L. Beebe. The stone underlies a considerable tract of land and is sandstone of the newer formation. Some of the finest building stone in the country are obtained at these (piarries. It is finished up by the owners, at the present time, chiefly for monumental use. There is a similar quarry on the farm of Wyllis Terrell, though not extensively worked.

First Akkivals

In the fall of 1809, Oliver Terrell, Ichabod Terrell - and David Beebe, Sr., of Waterbury, Conn., exchanged their New England farms, witli Mr. Root for something over one-fourth of the township. Having the privilege of selecting their land, they chose the northeast quarter, with some additional territory on Butternut ridge.

In April of the next year, a company of men, some twelve or thirteen in number, on foot and with their knapsacks on their backs, set out from Waterbury for the western purchase. Their names were David Beebe and two sons, David and Loman, Joel Terrell, Oliver Terrell, Philander Terrell, Elihu Terrell, Lyman

* Wyllis Terrell, Ichabod Terrell autl Laurel Beebe will please accept tliauks for infurmation furuisLeil the writer in the preparation of the history of this township.

At Bntlalo they bought an Outfit consisting of axes, saws, planes, chains, and some other articles for their use in the Ridgeville woods. A man with a small sail boat was engaged to carry the tools to ('levelaud, one of the men, Lyman Root, accoinjianying to take charge of the valuable cargo on its arrrival at Cleveland. The rest of the comjiany resumed the journey the next morning and reached Cleveland only a. <lay after the arrival of the vessel. From this ])lace, then a little settlement of only a few cabins, they ju'oceeded to Ridgeville, by way of Columbia, carrying in their knapsacks some of the lighter implements and leaving the rest to be brought afterwards on pack-horses. They reached the end of their long journey on Tuesday, May loth. As they approached the Ridgeville line David Beebe, Jr., ([uietly passed ahead of his associates, and arriving first on the ground, cut down the first tree. The first improvement was made on lot fifteen, on land now owned by .(ohn Lonsby. Here the men erected a rude log cabin, tiie roof of which consisted of bark. Tiie structure was witliout even the luxury of a puncheon floor. In this the men kept bachelor's hall, while on their selected locations they prosecuted the work of clearing and preparing for the arrival of their families later in the season.

The First Settlement

in the town was made July G, 1810. On that day Tillotson Terrell and his family, consisting of his wife and three children, from Waterbury, Connecticut, came upon the ground and took up their abode in the cabin with the men on lot fifteen. They all lived here as one family until the following September. Mr. Terrell remained until October, when he moved into a house which, in the meantime, had been erected for him on the place now occupied by the residence of the widow of Harry Terrell. On the arrival, soon afterwards, of his father, Ichabod Terrell and his family, Mr. Terrell changed his locati(ni to the east bank of Center creek, and afterwards to a more permanent one two miles farther east, on lot eight. The farm is now occiii)ied by his son Lovinus. Here he spent the remainder of his life. He was born in Waterbury, Conn., May 1, 17S5. He married, at the age of eighteen. Electa Wilmot, (huighter of P]lisha and Hannah Wilmot, and lived in Waterbury until his emigration to Ohio. The life of this pioneer came to an untimely end December 23, 1838. While in the woods hunting, about a mile from his house, he was shot by one Sylvester Powers, who, seeing Mr. Terrell iit some distance from him tlirough intervening brush mistook hmi for a deer. He lived until the following morning, and although conscious from tlic first that he was mortally hurt, exhibited the greatest coolness and self possession in the midst of surrounding grief and excitement, and died without a murmur at his fate, or a word of reproacli for the man wlm was the cause of it. His widow continued to carry on the farm until her younger children were settled in life, when she made her home with her youngest sou, on the old homestead. She died November 23, 18C1, aged seventy-six. There were eleven children, and all were living at the time of tlie father's death. Five are now (.January, 1879.) living. Eliza lives near Grand Rapids, ^Michigan. She married Rev. William Peters, a Methodist minister and resided in Ridgeville for some years. Estlier is the wife of John H. Faxon, Esq., of Eiyriii, and Harriet the wife of Dr. George Underiiill, of La Grange. Two sons, Marcus and Lovinus, are residents of tliis town. Lucinda was the first wife of Laurel Beebe, a well known resident of flie town. Slie died iii 1851.

Lost In The Woods

It was during the residence of the family in their first location on the Ridge that the following incident occurred. One morning while Mr. Terrell was at work preparing for the erection of his house on Center creek, Mrs. Terrell went to the stream at a point further east to get a pail of water. Instead of returning immediately as she liud intended, she concluded to go over to her husband and see how his work was progressing and started, as she supposed, in the right direction. But she soon became bewildered and lost in the dense woods, and could neither find her husband nor lier home, where sjie had left little children. After wandering about in the woods nearly all day, over logs and through brush and swamp, she came by accident upon the "Indian trail" which led from Columbia through Ridgeville to the mouth of Hlack river. This, liy chance, she ft)llowed in the right direction, and finally reached her home, though in a terribly worn and wretched conditi(m. It wdl serve to indicate the newness of the country to know that the spring to which Mrs. Terrell went for the water was only about thirty rods from the house.

In the latter j)art of Octolier, 1810, the families of David Beebe, Sr., David Beebe, Jr., and Lyman Root, who arrived under the care of David Beebe, Jr., and Ichabod Terrell, his family and liis aged father, Oliver Terrell, were adiled to the infant colony. There were in the party some twenty-two persons, the oldest eighty-two years and the youngest five weeks. Two wagons, three yoke of oxen and one horse, brought the emigrants and their effects.

At Cleveland, Ichabod Terrell bought a barrel each of Hour and salt, paying therefor the snug sum of forty dollars. Instead of going around through Columbia, as their predecessors had done, they took a more direct course, and from Rocky river to the place of destination, had to cut their own road. This part of the journey, only twelve miles in extent, consumed nearly four days. As tlie l)arty approached the house of Tillotson Terrell, Mrs. David Beebe, Jr., who was a near neighbor of Mrs. Terrell in Waterbury, led the way so as to be the first to greet her friend. The two women were so moved by the meeting, that neither could utter a word for some time, during which they stood with hands clasped across the brush fence that surrounded the Terrell cabin. Mrs. Beebe was the first white woman Mrs. Terrell had seen for over three months.

When the party reached the settlement Lorin Smith who had driven one of the teams through, was told that each of the pioneers had done some special act to signalize the settlement of the ct)lony and tlial it was his work to do the first plowing. He complietl with the suggestion, and thus he has the honor of turning the first furrow in Ridgeville. Mr. Smith afterwards settled in Delaware county, where he died in March, 1878.

The Beebes located on lot twenty-one. David Beebe, Sr., was born in Waterbury, Conn., April 23, 1747. He married Lydia TerrelC February 1, 1768, who was born in Waterbury, .January 10, 1747. They had eleven children, as follows, named in the order of their birth: Alice, Ava, Electa, Lydia, Esther, Eunice, David, Molly, Chester, Augustus, Loman.

Mr. Beebe became blind some years previous to his death, wiiich occurred in the year 1840, at the advanced age of ninety-four. Mrs. Beebe died in 1833. aged eighty-eight.

I'Ouk Days And Three Niuuts In The Woods

Early one nuirning in the fall of 1811, Mr. Beebe went into the woods in search of his horses, and the day being cloudy, he lost his way aiul wandered about all day without the least knowledge of the direction in which he was going. Night overtaking him, he crept into a hollow tree and there passed a sleepless night. The next day he moved about unceasingly to discover some olgect Ijy which he could determine liis whereabouts, but without success, and in looking for a lodging place, to his great amazement, he found the same hollow tree in which he spent the ])revious night. Convinced by this that he had been travelling in a circle, he adopted the i)lan the following day of selecting three or more trees in range, and in this way was enabled to travel in a direct course. Another night, however, was spent in the woods, making his bed on mother earth under one of the trees which he had selected in line. In the forenoon of the fourth day he reached the lake shore in Avon, which he followed westward until reaching the house of John S. Reid at the mouth of Black river. Here he was given a little food, his famished condition not permitting the quantity his wasted pliysical condition craved, and was then sent by Mr. Reid in the care of a guide to the house of Asahel Porter, on the lake

John Terrell, with two brothers, Roger and Jesse, emigrated from England to America about the year 1630. Roger is mentioned in history, in 1639, as one of the New Haven colonists whu settled Milford, Conn, ; he coming from Wetherslield, and probably from Watertown, Mass., to Wethersfield.

Jesse settled at Naugatuck. The first mention of John, at Milford, is on the church record, as follows: John Terrell and his wife, Abigail, baptized August, 1044; so that probably became to Milford a few years later than his brother Roger. Subsequently he settled in New York, and owned two acres of land where the city hall now stands. John had a son John, who was born in 1655. This John had eight children, among whom was Josiah, born in 1095. Josiah married Mary Goodwin, Jan. 1, 1723. They had seven children, among whom was Oliver, born in 1730. Oliver had two children, Ichabod and Lucinda. Oliver came, with his children and their families, from Waterbury, Conn., to Ohio in ISIO, when he was eighty years old. He was very spry and active, and rode on horseback the entire distance. He died in Columbia, this county, in 1816, aged eighty-six.

Ichabod, the only son of Oliver, was born in 1703. He married, in 1783, Rhoda Williams, one of the very few survivors of the Wyoming massacre. To them were born ten children, as follows, - Tillotson, born May 1, 17S5 : married Electa Wilmot in 1804, and died Dec. 23, 1836; they had eleven children. Lydia, born Nov. 1, 17S7; married James Emmons in 1807 ; they had thirteen cbildren ; she died Oct. 25, 1871, aged eighty-four. Philander, born Dec. 10, 1789; married Lora Reebe in 1811; had fifteen children, and died iu April, 1875. aged eighty-six. Oliver, born Sept. 2, 1791; married, in October, 1815, Anna Runnel ; had three cbildren ; he died Feb. 19. 1865, aged seventy-five. Lucinda, born Nov. 0, 1795; married Aiiron Warner, June 29, 1813 ; had five children, and died Sept. 3, 1872, aged seventyseven. Orpha, born May 2, 1798; married John Shaffer in 1817; had twelve children, and died in August, 1872, aged seventy-four. Ichabod, born Ot?t, 1, 1800; married Sally Humphrey, Oct. S, 1823; they have six children, and live in Ridgeville, on tbe farm where they commenced their married life. Elihu F.. born Jan. 3, 1802; married Electa Marsh in 1822 ; he bad four children, and died April 9, 1843, aged forty-one. Horace, born Aug. 10, 1803; married Minerva Mc- Neal, July 4, 1823; he has had thirteen children, and now lives in Iowa. Harry was born at Waterbury, Conn., April 7, 1806; he married, March 2, 1826, Annis, daughter of Joseph and Retsey Humphrey. She was born at Simsbury, Conn., Jan. 7, 1807.

Ichabod, the father of Harry, exchanged his lands in Waterbury, Conn., for ;vn undivided third of the northeast quarter of the township of Ridgeville. On this tract of land he settled with his family in October, 1810, then an unbroken wilderness. They came from Connecticut with ox-teams, and were seven weeks on the way. They cut their road from Rocky River, a distance of twelve miles, camping out three nights between that and Ridgeville. Ichabod Terrell was a man of sterling traits of character, holding different offices of trust among his people. He lived to see a home built up for his family ;imid this wilderness. He died July 23, 1825, aged sixty-one. His wife survived him a number of years, and died in June, 1851, aged eighty-five. She was pre-eminently fitted to endure the privations and hardships of frontier life; a woman of unfliuehiug courage, and fearless among the Indians and wild beasts of the forest. She was a mother to each pioneer family as they made their advent into the new settlement, and far and near she was known as ** Aunt Rhoda."

Harry, their youngest son, and subject of this sketch, was but four years old when he was brought into this unbroken wilderness to battle with the stern realities of frontier life. He very early learned to use the rifle with unerring aim, and many were the trophies of deer, bear, wolves, etc., of which he and his brothers were the victors. He met with two very narrow escapes with his life from wild animals while hunting alone in the woods; but these incidents were quite common to all the early settlers.

His early education was such as he could pick up in this pioneer settlement, where every one was battling to clear the soil of its dense forest. His arithmetic was learned by figuring with a coal on the puncheon floor, his father being the instructor. Eager and quick to learn, he soon mastered reading, writing, etc., and was much in advance of the other pioneer children of his age, so that we find him at the age of nineteen teaching their school. He was commissioned by Governor Allen Trimble as captain in the 9th Company, 2d Regiment, 2d Rrigade, 9th Division, in tbe Ohio Militia, to rank as such from the 7th day of November, 1829. He held various offices of trust, both from his town and county. Elected justice of the peace in 1835, he held that office for many years for which he was so well qualified. Several instances are mentioned in which he adjourned court and went with the parties to their homes to effect a settlement and reconciliation. Among the German settlers he was known as '- the man vot makes it all right."

He was proverbially neat in his person and ajjpearance, and correct and exact in everything he did. Always cheerful and social, in his later years nothing pleased him better than to have a houseful of young people " as visitors."

He died Sept. 4, 1864. His wife survives him, and still lives on the farm and in the same house where they commenced their married life fifty- three years ago, and where he had lived since he was four years old.

shore in Dover, wlierc lie was again refreshed with food and rest, and then conducted to his home. Every possible effort liad been made to find the unfortunate man - men from adjoining towns assisting his immediate friends and neighbors in the search. While in the woods he subsisted on a few hickory nuts which lie had been carrying in his pocket.

David Beebe, Jr., or Major Bcebe, as he was generally called, Iniilt a distillery at an early date on Center creek, opposite the Cahoon grist mill, operated it for a few years and then abandoned the business. He was a mason by trade and was much engaged in brick and stone l.-iying in this region oi country, especially in Elyria. His death took i)Iace August 27, 1847, aged seventy-six. His wife, Belinda Beebe, survived liim many years; her death occurred at the age of nearly eighty-seven. There were seven children, two of whom are living, viz: David, in Elyria, and Mrs. Bennett Smith, in Buffalo.

Lyman Root removed to Dover the next spring after his arrival in Ridgeville, but returned in 1815, and settleil nc^ar East creek, on what is known as the Mills farm. He manufactured the ashes of the settlers into black salts, and also kept a little store in an early day. He died in Ridgeville in 183C; his wife many years after, in Wood county, Ohio. Tliey had eleven children, and seven of them are now living, thongh none in town.

Ichabod Terrell moved into the house then occupied by his son Tillotson, who vacated when his house on Center creek, then in course of erection, was completed. Mr. Terrell was Ijorn in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1703. He married Rhoda Williams, also of Waterbury, who was a survivor of the Wyoming massacre. They had a family of ten children, of whom Tillotson was the oldest. The other children were Lydia, Philander, Oliver, Lncinda, Oi-])ha, Ichabod, Franklin, Horace, and Harry. They all, with one exception, settled and resided in the town for longer or shorter periods.

Ichabod, now living in Ridgeville, has been a resident of the place for ne;irly sixty-nine consecutive 3'ears. He is the sole survivor in town of those who arrived in 1810. He is now seventj'-eight, and his wife, who was Sally Humphrey, seventy-seven.

Ichabod, the pioneer, died in 1825. His wife died in Columbia, in 1851, in the eighty-sixth year of her age. She left, at her death, ninety-one grand-children and a large number of great grand-children surviving her.

Noah Terrell came from Waterbury, with his biniily, when Tillotson Terrell came. He stopped in Columbia, for a' short time, and then removed til Ridgeville, occupying, for a while, the first cabin built in town. In 1811, lie settled a short distance east of where Laurel Beebe now lives. He afterwards moved to Columbia, and later, to Dover, but, eventually returned to this town, and died here. He had a turning lathe, with which he made wooden ware, such ;is tienibers, or plates, milk bowls, and many

In the fall of 1810, Joel Terrell returned to Waterbury, and in July, of the next year, lie and his wife, and their son Wyllis, and his family, of wife and five children, started for their hcmie in the distant west. They joined the infant colony in September following. They erected a house on the ground now occupied by the frame tavern at the Center, and the two families jointly occupied it, until the elder Terrell built a house where his grandson, Wyllis Tei-rell, now lives. He moved into his cabin January 13, 1812. It was a very primitive structure, when Mr. Terrell and wife began housekeeping in it. It was without a floor, and indeed, bad not a board in it, excejit two planks used as a foundation for the bedstead, and through an opening in the roof, over the fire-place, the tojis of three large oaks could be seen. This house was occupied for thirteen years, and then a frame was built on the same spot, or nearly so.

Mr. Terrell being a shoemaker, was a valuable acquisition to the little settlement. The settlei's paid bini, for the shoes he made them, in clearing and logging. He was a very successful bee hunter, and for years, now and then, a tree was found in Ridgeville forests, bearing the inscrijition of bis name. He was a man of much energy of character, and was one of the most prominent men in the place. He was the first justice of the peace elected in the township. His death occurred in 1825, at the age of sixty-eight, and his wife, Eunice, in 1842, aged eighty-four.

They had but one child, Wyllis. He, Wyllis, soon opened his log house as a tavern. It was a favorite place of resort for tJie Indians, both before and after the war. Major Terrell always treated them kindly, occasionally yielding to their importunities for liquor, but always exacting from them the promise that they would not get drunk, a promise which, it is said, they always kejrt. Major Terrell bought the Cahoon grist mill, soon after it was built, and the Indians often came to him for their corn and meal. He always yielded to tlieir requests to be trusted for payment, and this gained their further admiration. They frequently brought the family presents. They finally gave the tavern the name of and, on one occasion, some twenty of the men brought their s(|uaws and pappooses to see the wonderful ]ilaee. Some time afterwards, one of their number bnnight a ])air of deers' horns, and fastened them uji to the front side of the house. For a nunilier of years, small bands of them would ])ass and repass the i)lace, and would often stay over night in the house. In 1821, the old structure was torn down, and the following year a frame was built, and in this Major Terrell kept tavern up to the date of his death, in 1830. His wife died in 1857. There were six children in this family, four of whom are living, as fol-

Dnrinj; thc^ year 1812, a few additions were made to the .settionicnt. (ieorire Soxton, witii his family of wife and oiR' cliild, arrixcd in llio spring of tliat year. lie was orinjiially from Bennington connty, Vermont, Imt had resided for a short time in Newburgli. Cnyahoga eonnty. He settled on Center ridge, on lot thir(y-nine. The location is now occupied by the saw mill of .John (lahoon. He remained there three years, and then sold to fSamnel Calioon, and moved fartiier west on the same road. Sexton married a daugliter of Josepli Cahoon, and the two families emigratcLl from Vermont together, C!ahoon settling in Dover, Cuyalioga county. iMr. Sexton died in November, 1829, and his wife in tiie fall of 1859. Of their seven children, all but two are dead. Ciyrus S. lives in Ridgeville, and Amos in Cuyahoga (county.

Jonathan A. Sexton, a brother of George, arrived in town in 1813, and married here and settled. His wife was Betsey Shellhouse. .He lived on lot thirtynine for several years and then moved to Cai'lisle, and later to Wisconsin, where he died. Soon after, anotiier brother, .Tames Sexton, came into the township with his family, and settled on the lot on which his brother (ieorge last lived. He sold out in 1834, and eventually removed to Wisconsin and died there. His widow, who was a daughter of Martin Shellhouse, is now (January, 1879,) living in ^St. .loseph. Mo., at the age of eighty-seven.

One night, in 1817, Mr. Sexton was aroused by a fracas in the direction of his sheep pen, and, on going out to ascertain the cause, found, in the corner of the fence, his large dog and a wolf engaged in deadly conflict. Sexton procured a club and went to the assistance of the dog. In a few moments Mrs. Sexton arrived with the ax, with which her husband quickly despatched the wolf. The ground was covered with snow at the time, and both husbaiul and wife were barefoot. Mrs. Sexton, herself, with oidy a broom for her weajion, once rescued a pig from the jaws of a beai\

There were now some ten families in the township. Their nearest neighbors were in Columbia, and between them lay the uiibi-oken forest. West of them the nearest settlement was at Florence, Erie county, twenty-two miles away. But their eonii)arative isolation was not their greatest hardship. F'ood was sometimes very scarce and hard to procure. After the land was once brought under cultivation it produced abundantly, but it was covered with an extremely heavy growth of timber, which rendered the work of clearing, .slow and difficult. The price of many articles of food which the people of to-day would regard as indispensable, was so high as to render them beyond the reacli of the pioneers, and their food was consequently of the plainest character. A mush, made of "jointed" corn, milk and stewed puni})kiu, were some of the dishes composing the meal. Until the erection of the Cahoon mill, in the sjjring of 1813, it was often difficult for the settlers to get their grinding done. They sometimes carried their grain to the mill at Chagrin Falls, forty miles distant, and, at others, depended on the "mortar and pestle."

The clothing of the early settlers was as simple as their food. For a number of years after settlement, every farmer whose land was suitable for the growth of flax, cultivated more or less of the product, from which most of the clothing for summer wear was made. In the winter the men occasionally wore whole suits of buckskin, and their pantaloons were frequently of that material. It was far more durable than agreeable. The pants would often be wet to the knees, and, when dried in the evening before the Idazing tire, sometliing of a struggle would be required for the wearer, on going to rest, to bring about a separation; and the experience of getting into them of a morning, with the thermometer, perhaps, down to zero, can be Ijetter imagined than described.

While their condition was one of poverty, it was softened by the fact that none were exempt from it. They all shared the same lot, enduix'd the same hardships, subsisted on the same food, and were ari'ayed in the same rude garments, ami there was, therefore, no occasion for envy or uneasiness on the part of any one.

There were many things, however, that tended to discouragement. The cattle died in large numbers of murrain - a disease from which they were not wholly exempt for many years. Wolves attacked and killed the sheep, and considerable expense was incurred in building enclosures to protect them from the carnivorous designs of those annoying animals. Not only were the sheep unsafe from them, but they would frecjuently kill calves and young cattle. Joel Terrell, one night, thus lost two young cattle only a short distance from his house.

In the prosecution of the work of clearing, the larger trees were generally girdled, and, when dead, would frecjuently in a dry time take tire fnun burning logheai)s, when an arduous struggle would lie required for the settlers to save their homes. A tire, originating in this manner, destroyed, in the summer of 181.5, the log house of the elder Beebe, with all its contents except a single bed.

In August, 1813, Hull surrendered Detroit, and a ew days after, a report reached Ridgeville that a party of Biitish and Indians were seen landing at Huron. This information created the greatest excitement among the inhaliitants, and preparations for flight were immediately commenced. Household goods were secreted in brush heaps, stowed away in hollow logs, and even buried in the earth, wdiile a few blankets and other camp equipage were jiacked on horses, or in wagons, a general hegira was made for Columbia. There were about ten famlies living in Ridgeville at this time. David Beebe, Sr., David

Beebe, Jr., Joel Terrell, Wyllis Terrell, and Loman Beebe, and their families, with a wagon and two yoke of cattle journeyed along the ridge road, until they reached the old mud road leading to Oolnmbia. Ichabod Terrell and his family, with a cart and a yoke of oxen, took the old Indian trail to Columbia. In preparing for the journey, Mr. Terrell discovered that one of his oxen was suffering intensely from tlie bite of a rattlesnake, his swollen tongue hanging out of his mouth, and the family traveled only a mile and a half tlie first day. They camped in the woods the first night, and the next day, the disabled ox having partially recovered, they arrived in Columbia. The Beebe party, after many mishaps, reached Iloadley's Mills, on the nortli line of tlie township of Columbia, and spent the night in a deserted log cabin. The Columbia settlement was found to be nearly abandoned. The next day, word reached them that the party, supposed to be Hull's victors, were the paroled prisoners, and the refugees returned to their homes, all surviving their terrible fi-ight. From this time until Perry's victory, the settlers lived in almost constant fear of Indian massacre.