Green City (part 3 of 14)

)* MOSES THOMPSON, - born in Goshen, Connecticut, January 22,1776; liberal education, including study of medicine ; December 22, 1797, married to Miss Elizabeth Mills, immediately moving to Kinderhook, New York; practiced medicine there until Spring of 1800, when he came to Ohio, with Summit county's first settler, David Hudson, purchasing for himself, his father, Deacon Stephen Thompson, and his brothers, Abraham and Stephen, 750 acres of land in Hudson; in Summer of 1800, went back to Connecticut on foot, walking 650 miles in twelve days; in Spring of 1801, returned to Ohio with wife and one child, settling on farm + two miles southwest of center of Hudson, where he afterwards resided, until his death, from an accident, November 20, 1858, at the age of 82 years, 9 months and 28 days. Dr. Thompson was the first practitioner in what is now Portage and Summit counties, his ride extending from Lake Krie south nearly fifty miles. During the War of 1812, Dr. Thompson served as surgeon in the army ; at close of the war engaged in raising and selling agricultural products in in Southern markets, Louisville, Nashville, Huntsville. ete. Mrs. Thompson shared with her husband the hardships and privations of pioneer life, both heartily promoting the religious, educational and material

Church of Hudson, from 1808, dying November 20, 1850. Their children were: Eliza Lemira, wife of Horace Metcalf, deceased; Susan, wife of Horace Holbrook, deceased; Mills, deceased; Kimily, widow of Samuel Woods, deceased; Sylvester H., deceased., Virgil M., a prosperous farmer in Siow; Ruth B., wife of Leander Starr, deceased ; Mary, wife of John Hazelton, deceased ; Martha, died at 22; Elizabeth, unmarried, yet enterprises of the time, Mrs. Thomp- living, and two dying in infancy. BArRLY Ciuren Srructures. - The early religious services of the township were held at private residences and in school houses, but about 1817, the question of building a church began to be mooted, resulting a year or two later in the completion of a small frame edifice on the west side of the green, under the name and style of the "Union Church," free to any denomination that might desire to worship in it. This sort of free and easy religious partnership did not comport with the strictly orthodox notions of Deacon Hudson, Captain Oviatt and other members of the Congregational Society, and in 1818 that organization began building for themselves on the site now occupied by the Town Hall; the house, costing about $5,000, being dedicated in March, 1820. As, with all church structures of New England, at that day, there was, for many years, no provision whatever for warming the building, with its bare floor and bare seats, the congregation depending altogether upon the foot-stoves carried from home, and upon the fervent heat of the discourse to keep them warm during the "firstly to the fifteenthly and lastly" elongated sermons in vogue in that early day. What would the lady church-goer (or the gentleman either) of the present day think of sitting two mortal hours, with the thermometer below zero, even in one of the comfortably cushioned and carpeted, but unwarmed, churches of the present day?

This building was used by the congregation until the completion of their present handsome and comfortable brick edifice, on Aurora street, in 1865, when it was sold to private parties and converted into a public hall, for which purpose it was used until 1878, when it gave place to the town hall as already named. The Free Church edifice, after promiscuous general use for several years, was also sold to private parties and relegated to secular business purposes.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS. - In 1828, a Methodist Episcopal church was organized,-among its early members being Daniel Gaylord, Perley Mansur, Moses Draper, and their respective wives, the society, at first, using the Union Church structure above spoken of, their present building.on Aurora street, having been erected in 1836. Though for several years maintaining a fair standing as to members and influence, removals and deaths have so depleted its. membership that pastoral appointments by conference have sometimes either been omitted or made jointly with neighboring charges, the present pastor (October 1891) being Rev. E. J. Smith. Present membership about 30 and church free from debt.

In 1840, measures were taken hy Frederick Brown, Henry O'Brien and others of that faith, looking to the organization of a Protestant Episcopal church in Hudson, Rey. T. B. Fairchild and other ministers of the Northwest Convocation, holding regular Sabbath services in the other churches, public halls, the academy building, etc., until the erection of their present elegant church structure on Aurora street, in 1846. Thirty-seven names, among whom Anson A. Brewster, Dr. Israel Town, Arthur Sadler, Freder-. ick Brown and Henry O'Brien, were subscribers to the original document for forming the "Parish of Christ Church of Hudson, - O.," and the church was duly organized July 11, 1842; Rev. Alanson Phelps being the rector of the church, at the time of the dedication of the new edifice by Bishop McIlvaine, in April, 1846. The church tower is equipped with a fine bell, the gift of Mr. D. H. Arnold, of New York, and atown clock, the gift of the late Anson A. Brewster, of Hudson; and the interior, besides its general elegant furnishings, provided with a fine-toned church organ, and a Sabbath School cabinet organ. Rev. S. W. Garrett officiated as rector of the church from October 1, 1874, to December 12, 1887, a period of over thirteen years, resigning the pastorate to go to Canon City, Colorado, being followed November 1, 1888, by Rev. James A. Brown, for about two: years. The parish is now without a rector, lay services, by direction of the bishop, being conducted by Mr. W. H. Lewis. The present membership of Christ Church is about 70.

Mary's Church, on Railroad street, having been built in 1858, though additions and improvements have been made upon it from time to time, as the necessities of the congregation seemed to demand. The present pastor is Rev. J..B. Dogherty, who is also ~ pastor of the Cuyahoga Falls and Peninsula congregations, the church at Hudson embracing about 40 families, or an aggregate of about 200 souls.

AHeCTOR JONATHAN METCALF, - born in Lebanon, Connecticut, June 26, 1787; educated in common schools, at family school of Rev. Dr. Nott, Franklin, Connecticut, and at: Colchester Academy; studied medicine three years with Dr. Bass, in Middlebury, _. Vermont, with two courses of lectures in medica! department of Dartmouth College; in Spring of 1812, started west, on horseback, locating in Hudson, June 12, of that year, his medical practice extending over many of the surrounding townships, without roads or bridges,. involving exposure, danger and fatigue, wholly unknown to the profession of the present day. In 1813, Dr. Metcalf bought 290 acres of land, one mile east of the center, building a comfortable log-house thereon. December 26, 1814, was married to Miss Abigail L. Root, of Aurora, who bore him five daughters - Harriet, married to Rev. James Shaw, born in 1817, died in 1850; Caroline, married to Rev. T. H. Barr, born in 1819, died in 1889; Catharine, married to R. G. Perry, born in 1822, died in 1858; Mary, now wife of Rev. FE. Chester, of Clifton Springs, born in 1825, and Emily K., born in 183i, for 15 years principal of Hudson Ladies' Seminary, and still residing in Hudhearty support to-all of the educational, religious and benevolent enterprises of their day and generation; the former dying July 30, 1869, and the latter November 27, 1870.

EpucATIONAL Marrers. - Hudson has been a prominent factor in the educational development, not only of the Western Reserve, but largely of the entire Western country. Its history in that regard has heretofore been so fully written up, that the briefest outline only will be here attempted.

The first school in Hudson was taught by Mr. George Pease, from Enfield, Conn., in 1801, in a small log school house, on the green, nearly opposite the present store of Mr. C. H. Buss, some of his more immediate successors being Miss Patty Field, Miss Amy | Cannon, Titus Wetmore, Martha Filer, Benjamin Whedon, etc.; other schools than the one named being started from time to time, in convenient localities, as the population increased; the trustees, in 1825, dividing the township into five districts, denom1- nated, respectively, the central, northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest; the central district being divided in 1838, and three other districts created, making in all nine districts in the township. In 1855 the two central districts were consolidated, under the graded school system now in vogue, a high school department being added and a commodious high school building erected in 1868. ' In the meantime, however, in addition to the College enterprise to be treated of further on, a number of private seminary enterprises had been inaugurated, with varying degrees of success; Mrs. Nutting (wife of Professor Nutting of the College) opening a school for young ladies in 1827; her immediate successors being Miss Eggleston, of New York; and Miss Upham. In 1834 an academy for both boys and girls, was opened by Mr. H. H. Gross, on Aurora street, the brick building erected by Mr. Gross, being afterwards purchased by a stock company, and, under the title of Hudson Academy, furnished, free of rent, to such teachers as were willing to depend upon tuition receipts for their compensation. Successive teachers in this school were Miss Smith, Miss Eunice Town, Miss Rebecca H. Dana and Miss Mary Strong, the latter erecting a new building on Main stret, in 1845, which she christened the "Hudson Female Seminary." Contemporaneous with this was the "Hudson Young Ladies' Seminary," by Rev. Mason Grosvenor and his sister Mary; and the "Seminary for Ladies," by Rev. A. Phelps, the two former being boarding schools; Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, from Massachusetts, succeeding Mr. and Miss Grosvenor and a Miss Deven acting as principal of Mr. Phelps' school. Though pursued with commendable vigor, these several competing enterprises proved unremunerative, and gradually subsided. ; . In 1853, Mr. J. W. Smith fitted up and furnished a suite of rooms in the " Pentagon," and employed Miss Elizabeth Burt, a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary, as principal, the school being reasonably successful, until the general businéss collapse of 1855, 56, when it was discontinued. The old "Hudson Female Seminary" 'was then refitted by an association of citizens, and another graduate of Mount Holyoke, Miss Everett, employed as principal. This effort did not prove successful, and in 1860 Miss Emily K. Metcalf, of Hudson, assumed control, afterwards purchasing 'the property, and by her enterprise and good management, conducted the school with fair pecuniary returns for some twelve or thirteen years, Rev. H. B. Hosford and daughters, about 1874, reviving the academy. for a single year, only.

Western Reserve College

Western Reserve College was the outgrowth of the profound religious sentiment and educational aspirations of the earlier settlers of the eastern townships and counties of the Connecticut Western Reserve. As early as 1801, Rev. Joseph Badger, and sixteen other gentlemen of Cleveland, Hudson, Ravenna, Warren, Youngstown, etc., presented a petition to the Territorial Legisla- 'ture, for a college charter, in which David Hudson's name headed the list of the incorporators. But for some reason not now apparent, the prayer of the petitioners was not granted.

Rrie LirerAry Instrrurr. - At the first session of the State Legislature, however, in the Spring of 1803, an act was passed Incorporating the "HKrie Literary Institute," Mr. Hudson's name heading the list, and Mr. Badger's name also being among the incorporators. Trumbull county then embraced the entire Reserve, and after several meetings of the trustees, provided by the charter, the institution was located at Burton, now in Geauga. county, and a suitable house erected and duly equipped with teachers, in 1805. The burning of this building, in 1810, suspended operations, until after the War of 1812, the institution finally resuming operations in anew building, in 1820, which, under the management of Professor David L. Coe, a graduate of Williams 'College, and his successors, maintained a fair standing until 1834, when, through a combination of untoward circumstances, it 'ceased to exist.

EV. CALEB PITKIN - born in 3, New Hartford, Connecticut, Feb- Z ruary 27, 1781; graduated at Yale College in 1806; studied theology with Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Connecticut, and ordained as minister of Milford Congregational Church, March 6, 1808; removed to Ohio as a missionary in 1816, and installed as pastor of Charlestown (Portage county) Church, in April, 1817; was one of the founders of Western Reserve College, and for many years president of the board of trustees, removing to Hudson, where he resided until his death, February 5, 1864, at the age of 82 years, 11 months and 8 days. June 15, 1807, Mr. Pitkin was, married to Miss Anna Wenderson, of Milford, Connecticut, who died in Akron, December 6, 1882,

TnEOLOGY AS WELL AS LITERATURE. - Meantime, in 1817, the Presbyterian and Congregational churches of the leserve had organized a "Society for the education of indigent pious young men for the ministry," and an arrangement was made with the Burton school for them to study there; a joint committee from the several presbyteries interested, reporting in favor of establishing the "Literary and Theological Institute" which had been resolved upon, at Burton, under the charter of the " Erie Literary Institute," upon certain conditions to be accepted by that institution, which were acceded to, and the theological school duly launched. This arrangement continued only about two years, the managers becoming convinced that such an institution as they desired could not be maintained at Burton. Commissioners were appointed by the Grand River, Portage and Huron presbyteries, to select a location, taking into consideration all the points connected with the several competing localities--character of inhabitants, healthfulness, accessibility, contributions, etc.

Propositions were submitted from Hudson, Cleveland, Burton, Euclid, Aurora, and perhaps other points; and after several meetings, and considerable discussion, the decision was 'made in favor of Hudson. The then munificent sum of $7,150 was subscribed by the people of Hudson, to secure the location of the institution to - ' that town, of which amount Mr. Hudson, himself, contributed over $2,000, besided donating 160 acres of land to secure the location of the college buildings, where they were afterwards erected, rather than have them placed in what he regarded as a less favorable locality, south of the village.

New CHARTER GRANTED. - A petition, numerously signed, - setting forth the objects sought to be attained by the proposed new educational institution, presented to the Legislature in the Winter of 1825, '26, was vigorously opposed by certain, anti-orthodox members of that body, on account of its theological character. This opposition, with perhaps some modifications of the original draft, was finally overcome and the act of incorporation duly passed on the 27th day of February, 1826. The first board of trustees, under the charter, were: David Hudson, Elizur Wright, Joshua Bradford Sherwood, Rev. John Seward, Rev. Caleb Pitkin, Henry Brown, Rev. Simeon Woodruff, Zalmon Fitch, Rev, Benjamin Fenn, Harmon, Kingsbury, George Swift, Rev. Stephen Ingalls Bradstreet and Rev. Harvey Coe. The board organized on the first day of March, 1826, by electing Rev. Caleb Pitkin president; Rev. John Seward vice president; Rey. William Hanford secretary, and Benjamin Whedon treasurer.

This was the fifth college charter granted in the State, not counting the Erie Literary Institute, at Burton. The board not only took immediate and vigorous measures for the erection of a suitable building, but also for the organization of classes, admission of students, etc. Mr. David L. Coe, late principal of the Burton school, then in charge of the academy at Tallmadge, was appointed tutor pro tem, for the examination of applicants. Orrin. Cook Thompson, Charles Merriman Preston, Ellery Bascom and Joseph Welch Barr, were admitted to the freshman class in December, 1826; the first regular tutor, appointed in 1827, being Ephraim T. Sturtevant, a graduate of Yale College, afterwards, for many years, principal of a select classical school in Tallmadge.

LAYING THE CORNER STONE. - The foundation of the first college building was pushed with such vigor by the contractor, Captain Heman Oviatt, that the corner stone was laid on the 26th day of April, 1826,in the presence of a large crowd of people, and with « imposing ceremonies by the Masonic Fraternity, the president of the Board of Trustees, Rev. Caleb Pitkin, delivering the oration in Latin. In the cavity of this corner-stone was deposited a metallic plate bearing upon one side the names of the president and secretary of the board of trustees, and on the other the name of the grand master, by whom it was laid, date, etc.; one copy each of the Religious Intelligencer, Pittsburg Recorder, Masonic Register, and of the principal papers then published on the Western Reserve, together with a brief history of the rise and progress of the institution, and a hymn, written for the occasion, by Mr. Asaph Whittlesey, of Tallmadge. Though of no. special monetary value, during the succeeding night the stone was robbed of its contents, which were never replaced. The trustees and building committee were beset with innumerable hindrances - scarcity of money, difficulty in collecting subscriptions to the building fund, etc., so that the building - what has since been known as " Middle College" - was not ready for occupation until August, 1827.

CoLLEGE GoVERNMENT. - The first president of the college was Rev. Charles Backus Storrs, a native of Longmeadow, Mass. Though profoundly learned, Mr. Storrs was not a college graduate, but, while preaching in Ravenna, had, in 1829, been called to the chair of sacred theology, which he filled so acceptably that in August, 1830, he was unanimously elected to the presidency of the college. At that time the financial management was mainly in the hands of Rev. Caleb Pitkin, president of the Board of Trustees, and the administration of President Storrs, so far as the educational interests of the college were concerned, would have proved a grand success, but for certain disturbing elements that were permitted, by the managersand faculty, to creep in.

PPREDERICE BALDWIN, - fourth' son of Stephen and Susannah Baldwin, born at Goshen,Connecticut, March 17, 1794; educated in Goshen district schools; at 18, with his elder brother, Augustus, came to Hudson, arriving June 12, 1812, bringing with them a wagon load of goods, and opening the second store in the township, under the firm name of A. Baldwin & Brother, Frederick continuing the business until about 1844, when he went into the cattle business on his farm, south of the center, where he resided until his death, July 12, 1880. February 12, 1828, Mr. Baldwin was married to Miss Saloma W. Brownson, of Winchester, Connecticut, who bore him two children - Maria Louisa, who died in infancy, November 9, 1836, and Caroline A., born December 17, 1841, now the wife of Mr. Perry H. Babcock, formerly of Ravenna, now residing in Cleveland.

Frederick Baldwin

Manvuaut LAnor Inrropucep. - -At that time, so-called manual labor schools were largely in vogue, by which indigent young men, desiring an education, could, by working a certain number of hours per day, pay their board, tuition fees, etc. Unfortunately, the managers of the college adopted this hobby, not only permitting those who desired to do so, but requiring of all students a given amount of work (two hours per day) on the ground of promoting their physical as well as their mental development.

To this end a wagon-shop, a carpenter shop, a cooper-shop and a farm, with tools, machinery, superintendents, etc., were provided at considerable expense. At first, while the novelty was on, the thing worked smoothly enough; but it was soon discovered that a good many of the students (like a good many outsiders), were disinclined to manual labor - duties were shirked, rules were evaded, exemptions were obtained, jealousies aroused, caste distinctions engendered, and the general interests of the college interfered with, and after a few years of friction aud dissatisfaction the project was abandoned.

Tur SLAVERY QUESTION.-But the most disastrous cause of dissension in college circles, about this time, was the agitation of the slavery question. President Storrs, and several of the professors, as well as quite a number of the students, had not only adopted extreme Abolition views, but engaged earnestly in the discussion of the question, in the class-room, in fraternity meetings and in public lectures, both in Hudson and elsewhere. Others of the faculty and students, taking the opposite ground, and the Board of Managers also being divided upon the question, not so much, perhaps, in principle, as in regard to the propriety of its agitation in an institution open alike to Abolitionists, Colonizationists and Slaveholders, a majority of the Board finally passed a resolution against the innovation.

These discussions, with attendant criminations and recriminations, participated in by the people uf Hudson, generally, and the hitherto warm friends of the college, elsewhere, tended to promote withdrawals, prevent accessions, diminish subscriptions, donations and endowments, and to greatly retard its usefulness and prosperity; (anti-slavery people believing, from the action of the Board, that the institution was pro-slavery in sentiment and purpose; and pro-slavery people believing from the utterances of the president and other members of the faculty and students, that it was thoroughly anti-slavery in its aims and-tendencies); in fact, with the death of President Storrs at this time (September 15, 1833), and the resignation of several of the professors, entirely broke up the faculty.

AN Hisroric GurpE-Post. - Ohio was at that time - in the early and middle thirties - decidedly pro-slavery in sentiment, with certain rare exceptions, like Hudson, Tallmadge, and perhaps a few other towns on the Western Reserve, and in most places it was quite risky for an anti-slavery man to appear upon the rostrum as a lecturer upon that subject. Thus, towns suspected of the taint of Abolitionism, were largely held in contempt by the outside world, and made the butt of many unkind remarks, practical jokes, etc.

In the early Spring of 1835, the writer paid his first visit to Ohio, sojourning for several weeks in Aurora, with his friend, Colonel Artemas W. Stocking, afterwards for many years a citizen of Painesville. Colonel Stocking was a carriage-maker by trade, but did such occasional jobs of painting, sign-writing, etc., as the neighborhood required. One of the township trustees was talking with the Colonel, one day, about placing guide-posts, at the several road crossings of the town. Aurora, at that time, was largely proslavery in sentimtnt, and the writer,.having spent the previous year and a half in the South, had also become somewhat impregnated with slave-holding notions. Hudson having often been spoken of as a rabid abolition town, the writer being something of an "artist," in connection with Colonel Stocking's younger brother, "'Sam," also quite a "genius," proposed to the trustee to getupa guide-board for the diagonal road to Hudson, free of expense, if he would permit us to carry out the little design we had concocted, which he assented to. We accordingly built a strong, heavily banded and cleated board, about three feet square, upon which, on a white back-ground, we painted the bust of a stalwart young negro, with expanded optics, broad nostrils, and protruding lips,. his broad grin disclosing a couple of rows of ivory teeth, and with the index finger of his right hand pointing in the proper direction, saying: 8a" Dis de road to Hudson!"

_ Bolting this board firmly to a solid oak post, aided by the numerous "Young America" of the neighborhood, we planted it on the south angle of the road in question. We had supposed that the anti-slavery people would take umbrage at it, and take measures for its summary removal, but they seemed to enjoy the joke, as well as their pro-slavery neighbors, and the Aurora-Hudson 'guide-board remained standing for many years, eliciting many a guffaw from the passing traveler, and attaining almost a Statewide notoriety.

-TON. SYLVESTER H.-THOMPSON, - son of Dr. Moses and Elizabeth (Mills) Thompson, among the very earliest settlers of Summit county, was born in Hudson, July 28, 1808; educated in pioneer district schools; raised to farm life, at 22 began farming for himself; May 14, 1833, was married to Caroline D. Peck, of Waterbury, Connecticut, who bore him seven children - - Charles S., deceased; Sherman P., now a prosperous farmer of Hudson; Martha BA now Mrs! .P. 'G: Clark, of East Cleveland; Theodore F., now a prominent dealerin carriages, implements, etc., in Ravenna; Albert S., carpenter and builder in Cleveland; two dying in' infancy. Active in all public affairs, he held many positions of trust in his native township, resigning the office of justice of the peace to accept the appointment of associate judge of Summit county, on the resignation of his old neighbor, Judge John B. Clark, in 1846, which office he ably filled till the taking effect of the new constitution in February, 1852; in 1859 was elected representative to the State Legislature, serving two years; in 1864, was appointed commissioner; was connected with City National Bank of Akron, and its president thirteen years. Mrs. Thompson died Noveimnber 23, 1876, the Judge himself dying January 15, 1883, aged 74 years, 5 months and 17 days.

REORGANIZATION, NEW PRESIDENT, Erc. - For a full year, after the culmination of these dissensions, the college was without a proper head, though the management had become so far harmonized as to provide instruction for the several classes, and gradually fill the chairs made vacant by the resignation of the professors, as above stated. In March, 1834, Rev. George E. Pierce, a graduate of Yale and of Andover Theological Colleges, then the successful pastor of the Congregational Church of Harwinton, Conn.,, was elected president, but not inaugurated until commencement of that year. .

President Pierce, in addition to being a fine scholar, and an able preacher, was a man of large stature, commanding presence, and untiring energy. Hitherto, the financial affairs of the college had been largely, if not wholly, under the control of the Board of Managers or Trustees. But President Pierce immediately entered upon the work, by personal effort, of increasing the endowments -and enlarging the facilities of the college - erecting new buildings, creating new professorships, increasing the apparatus, library and cabinets, elevating the standard of scholarships, etc.. so that in two or three years, the effects of the late "onpleasantnesses" began to disappear, and the college entered upon a new era of efficiency and prosperity ; by an amendment to the charter a Medical Department being established, at Cleveland, in 1844.

Prosperity, ADVERSITY, Erc. - Our limited space will not permit us to minutely follow the fortunes and misfortunes of the college, through the twenty-one years of President Pierce's administration. The first ten years had been decidedly auspicious and prosperous, both in attendance, efficiency of professors and tutors, and proficiency of pupils, as well as financially successful, considering the general monetary stringency of the last half of that decade. But the last eleven years of President Pierce's incumbency were marked by much that was annoying and unpleasant, both to the president, the faculty and the board of trustees, and detrimental to the interests of the college, generally. The large expenditure for new buildings, and in maintaining the new professorships which had been established, (although no excessive salaries were paid,) had created a large permanent indebtedness (at one time as high as $28,000) which the natural income of the college, and the annual subscriptions to the general fund did not meet. Portions of other funds were from time to time used to meet emergencies, which, though, done in good faith, and with the most honest intentions, served, in the absence of a thorough system of keeping the accounts, to complicate the financial affairs of the college, and to engender distrust, and create grave differences between the president, the faculty and the trustees, finally extending to outside friends and patrons of the college, and almost resulting in the financial, professional and scholastic bankruptcy of the institution; in 1852-3, the president, one professor, one tutor and twenty-three students comprising the entire roster. of the college for those years, without a single graduate in 1853.

PRESIDENT Huircncock's ADMINISTRATION. - Thus matters remained, until May 3d, 1855, when President Pierce resigned, and Rev. Henry L. Hitchcock, then preaching in Columbus (son of the venerable Peter Hitchcock, one of the pioneer settlers of Burton) was elected as his successor, entering upon his duties at commencement, July 12th, 1855. President Hitchcock, then 42 years of age, small of stature, but big with energy and enthusiasm, not only assumed control of the educational affairs of the college - thoroughly reorganizing and harmonizing the several departments - and the pastorate of the college church (organized during the administration of President Storrs, in 1831), but also took upon his own shoulders the herculean task of paying off the college indebtedness (then about $22,000) and of securing an ample permanent and general fund for the proper running of the college, without the financial friction and embarrassment which had hitherto hampered its progress and impaired its usefulness.

Resignation And Death Of President Hitchcock

personal effort was made by President Hitchcock to obtain new subscriptions to both the general and the permanent funds. This effort, notwithstanding the severe stringency of the times immediately preceding the war, and the business and financial derangement caused by the war, was so magnificently successful, that at the time of his death, in 1873 - a little less than eighteen years - he had not only extinguished the debt above alluded to, but had added $67,000 to the permanent fund, and $99,000 to the general : fund - all, except the trifling amount of about $6,000, being raised by his own personal solicitation and influence. No wonder that he broke down, in the prime of his ripe manhood (60 years); a sacrifice to the educational, spiritual and pecuniary interests of Western Reserve College.

Owing to the strain upon his physical system, President Hitchcock finally tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted, in 1871, though he still continued to discharge the duties of professor and pastor, and to manage the finances, until

UDGE VAN RENSSELAER HUMPHREY,- - born in Goshen, Connecticut, July 28, 1800; common school education; at 17 engaged in teaching, at the same time studying law under Theodore North, Esq., being admitted to the bar, September 26, 1820, while yet under 20 years of age; April 17, 1821, was married to Miss Stella Beach, of Goshen, the following June emigrating to Ohio, after a short sojourn in Norton and Twinsburg, settling in Hudson, where he acquired a large practice in Portage, Medina and adjacent counties; in 1828 was elected representative to the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1829; in 1837 was appointed by the Legislature president judge of the third judicial district, servine with great ability for the full term of seven years, on retiring from the bench, in 1844, resuming his law practice, which he successfully followed until his sudden death from apoplexy, September 5, 1864, at the age of 64 years, 1 month and 7 days. Mrs. Humphrey dying April 8, 1832, he was again married, August 22, 1839, to Mrs. Laura Maria (Pease) Tallmage, of Warren, who still survives. By his first marriage, Judge Humphrey was the father of two daughters and two sons, two of whom are now living - Stella (now Mrs. ex- U. S. Senator Conger, of Michigan), and James Kent, of St. Paul, Minnesota, and by 'his second marriage of two sons - Calvin Pease eid BE now a successful attorney in Akron, and Clarence, now of Chicago.

THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT ABOLISHED. - Though the establishment of Western Reserve College, as a distinct institution, grew out of dissatisfaction with the arrangement which had been made by the "Society for the education of indigent pious young men for the ministry" with the trustees of the "Erie Literary Institute," at Burton, as above set forth, and though theology was sought to be made the prominent feature of the college, the fond anticipa - tions of its founders, in that regard, were never fully realized. Though supplied with earnest and faithful professors and teachers, and though students in that department were nearly as numerous. as in others, there was such a dearth of subscriptions to its endow- _ ment. fund, that it was utterly impossible to pay the requisite salaries, and the several chairs were vacated about 1859, and never again filled, though the general religious purpose and character of the college was thenceforth continuously and consistently maintained.

PRESIDENT CARROLL CUTLER. - On the acceptance of President Hitchcock's resignation, in 1871, Professor Carroll Cutler was promoted to the presidency, immediately assuming its duties, though not formally inaugurated until commencement, 1872. Not burdened with the financial management of the college, the president had comparatively fair sailing for about two years, when the death of Doctor Hitchcock devolved upon President Cutler the business management of the college,also. During these two years. of exemption from triple duty, the discharge of his double duty as president and professor had been in every way satisfactory, which success, even with the additional burdens placed upon him, was co-extensive with his incumbency.

But the old adage about "too many irons in the fire," holds good in educational as well as in mechanical affairs. Increased professorships, and necessarily constantly increasing expenditures on buildings, apparatus, etc., and the forced lack (by reason of his. scholastic duties) of that personal application and energy given to the financial and business department by his predecessor, at length caused the monetary affairs of the college to tighten up again, necessitating a vigorous agitation of the question among the alumni and other friends of the college, in regard to ways and means to place the institution on an endowment basis commensurate with its present and future necessities.

REMOVAL TO CLEVELAND. - About this time, too, the question began to be mooted, among the alumni and the trustees residing in that city, about removing the college to Cleveland, the argument being that its location in so populous a city would bring to it an infinitely greater pupilage than could possibly be secured in a rural village like Hudson, and a wealth of money and influence that alone could make it what it should be,a first-class university. Responsive to this suggestion, a wealthy resident of Cleveland, Mr. Amasa Stone, made a formal offer to the trustees to donate to the college $500,000 (as a memorial offering to his deceased son, Adelbert), on condition that the college should be removed to Cleveland, and its name changed to "Adelbert College of Western Reserve University ;" Mr. Stone, afterwards, also, providing in his will for a bequest of $100,000 additional. ;

Hvupson Propie Justty InpiGNANtT. - To this proposition - munificent as was the offer - the people of Hudson and vicinity entered a most earnest and righteous protest. Established in times that truly "tried men's souls," and pockets, too,and maintained for over half a century amid the most appalling difficulties and perplexities, now that old Western Reserve College, of Hudson - well and favorably known everywhere - was really in the height of its usefulness, with all needed buildings and appurtenances, and requiring only a moderate degree of liberality on the part of its many weathy alumni, to secure to it perpetual future success, it seemed to them little less than sacrilege to not only remove the institution to another locality, but also to absolutely blot out the

OP Slit JAMES H. SEYMOUR, - born in Colebrook, Connecticut, July 16, 1842; came with parents to Hudson, Ohio, in 1851; attended Hudson public schools, and Western Reserve College Preparatory School four years; 1858 to 1860, traveling salesman for his father in wholesale cracker business; September 4, 1861, enlisted in regimental band of 2d O. V. C.; discharged by general order No. 91, war department, September 4, 1862; tendered commission in 12th O. V.C., but, being needed at home, declined the appointment; commissioned first lieutenant in O. N. G., in 1864, by Governor Brough, and while in camp in Cleveland, promoted to captain; same year entered U.S. service in Q. M. department, at Duvall's Bluff, Arkansas; detailed as clerk and given charge of transportation on White and Mississippi rivers, and the military railroad betweenDuvall's Bluff and Little Rock; also, by appointment of Ohio State Commission, superintended taking vote of troops and employes, in October 1864, soon after which the sudden death of his father necessitated his resignation and return to Hudson ; engaging in the grocery and provision business, he was often elected a member of village council; served fourteen years as village clerk, fifteen years on board of education, fourteen years as cemetery trustee and treasurer, and otherwise devoted himself to the public welfare, being a charter mempost conimander eight years, and post adjutant seven years, with still higher honors in the order, both State and National. In 1887, was elected treasurer of Summit county, and re-elected in 1889, serving four years. Captain Seymour was married July 24, 1865, to Miss Louisa Coe, of Hudson, who died April 18, 1887, leaving one daughter - Anna C.; was again married, April 9, 1888, to Miss Martha L. Webb, of Springfield, who has borne him two children - Marian and Ruth.

THe DEED ACCOMPLISHED. - After many meetings and much tempestuous discussion, however, the majority of the trustees voted to accept Mr. Stone's proposition and the transfer was made in 1882. President Cutler, by virtue of his presidential incumbency in the old, continued at the head of the new institution, in addition to his presidential duties filling the Handy Chair of Intellectual Philosophy, and continuing in charge of the financial and business affairs of the University. After fifteen years of faithful service as president, with the added duties devolved upon him, as indicated, President Cutler resigned the presidency and business cares at the close of the college year, in 1886, and assumed for a time the duties of teacher in the Handy professorship, above alluded to.

After an interregnum of nearly a year and a half, Rev. H. C. Haydn, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, was elected to the presidency of the college in November, 1887. President Haydn after three years of faithful service, was succeeded by Charles F. Thwing, D. D., who was inaugurated February 9, 1891, the new institution thus far (November, 1891) notwithstanding its more imposing title, and its more pretentious location, scarcely more than holding its own, in point of yearly attendance and graduations, with the venerable institution: which it despoiled of its fair name and time-honored heritage.

Hupson Stitt A LITERARY CENTER. - The arrangements, as finally consummated, for the removal of the college, proper, to Cleveland, provided for the retention and occupation of the buildings, fixtures, apparatus, etc., at Hudson, as a Preparatory School, under the title of "Western Reserve Academy," in which capacity, under the direction of the trustees of " Adelbert College of Western Reserve University," and with Professor Newton B. Hobart, as principal, and James S. Chamberlain, John Dickerman, Gillette Wynkoop and Miss Nanna Barclay, as instructors, it is still one of the very best academic institutions in the Western country, not only as preparatory to a college course of study, but as affording an opportunity to those not contemplating entering college, to acquire a thorough practical education, especial facilities being offered to those intending to follow the profession of teaching - both ladies and gentlemen. Average number of pupils 75. The old Western Reserve College buildings, now occupied as above, consist of a chapel, observatory, Athanzeum, the north, middle and south college buildings and five dwelling houses. The village of Hudson has also a high school and four primary schools, under the superintendency of Mr. C. F. Seese; scholars in former, 36; in latter, 220.

. THE CoLtor Line - Co-Epucation. - Western Reserve College, like all similar institutions of that early day, without any express regulation upon that subject, was supposed to be intended for white male students, only, though in point of fact, without any formal official action upon the question, colored students were from time to time admitted - one as early as 1832, who went through the regular college course of four years, graduating with honors, and spending one year in the theological department.

Previous to the accession of President Cutler, in 1871, the question of co-education of the sexes had been largely discussed in other colleges, and though as yet no applications of that nature had been made at Western Reserve, in his inaugural address, in 1872, President Cutler announced that women would be admitted to the privileges of the college on the same conditions as men, a number of young ladies afterwards being in attendance, both at Western Reserve and Adelbert.

But, in the year of Grace, 1887, in casting about for the cause of the declension of the college, since its removal to Cleveland, in spite of its wealthy and aristocratic environments, and its munificent endowments, it was concluded that woman was the "Jonah" who was sinking the magnificent ship, and at the annual commencement in 1888, the trustees formally decided against co-education, but established a Ladies' Department, and so far as the writer is advised the affairs of the college are now harmonious and _prosperous.

Hupson As A RAILROAD CENTER. - In 1836, a charter was obtained for the construction of the Cleveland & Pittsburg road, through Hudson, but by reason of the immediate breaking down of the finances of the country, by the panic of 1837, the charter lapsed, before work was begun upon the line. A renewal of the 'charter was obtained in 1845, and the work was proceeded with, the people of Hudson subscribing liberally, in lands, for right of 'way, money, etc., the road being finally completed from Cleveland 'to Hudson in the winter of 1851-52.

("HARLES C. HINE, - son of Hial M. and Mary (Pease) Hine, was 'born in Twinsburg, May 1, 1842; edu- -cated in district schools and at Twinsburg Institute; raised a farmer; 'October 8, 1867, was married to Miss Ellen M. Farrar, of Hudson, and located on a farm in that township the same Fall. In politics, Mr. Hine is an ardent Republican and active in all public affairs, having served as trustee of Hudson township for eight: "consecutive years. In October, 1885, Mr. Hine was elected county commissioner, entering upon his duties the following December; was re-elected in 1888, and is still (October, 1891), ably and intelligently filling -that responsible position. Mr. and Mrs. Hine are the parents of one daughter, only - Florence Farrar Hine, born

Meantime, the people of Hudson, Cuyahoga Falls and Akron had projected the '" Akron Branch," now the Cleveland, Akron & 'Columbus railroad, on an amendment to the charter of the first named road, to which road, completed to Akron, in 1852, Hudson was also a liberal contributor. The completion of these roads so favorably affected the business and agricultural interests of Hudson, that they came to believe that they couldn't have "too much of a good thing," and were, consequently, more than ready to enter into any new project that seemed to give promise of increasing the boom that was then beginning to be felt in the business, industrial and educational departments of the town. Accordingly, when the "Clinton Line Railroad" from Hudson east to the Pennsylvania State line, which was to be one of the links of "The Great American Railway," from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific, was organized, in 1852, the people of Hudson were among its most active promoters, Professor Henry N. Day, of Western Reserve 'College, becoming its president, and very largely assuming its management, to the stock and right of way of which the people of Hudson unstintedly contributed. So, also, to the "Clinton Line Extension" link, from Hudson to Tiffin, organized in 1853, also under the presidency of Professor Day, and with Hon. Van R. Humphrey as principal trustee, like liberal investments were 'made in lands and money, by the people of Hudson. The "Hudson & Painesville" project also, designed to be a continuation of the "Akron Branch" direct to Lake Erie, organized in 1853, with Judge Humphrey as its president, was also generously promoted 'by Hudson's public spirited inhabitants.

vigorously prosecuted for about two years, the official reports for 1855 showing that forty per cent. of the grading, bridging and masonry upon the Clinton Line had been done; that about $70,000: had been expended upon the eastern division of the Clinton Line Extension (chiefly between Hudson and Ghent), while a large proportion of the work upon the Hudson & Painesville had also- 'been completed. ak Expenditures exceeding estimates, monetary affairs tightening down, together with the difficulty of raising additional local subscriptions, or even collecting maturing installments upon those already-made, necessitated the suspension of work on all the roads named, early in 1856. While most of the impoverished contributors have gradually recovered from the financial embarrassments resulting therefrom, the three roads in question have since remained in statu quo, the lands on which they were located having mostly, if not all, reverted to the original owners; though there are semi-occasional rumors to the effect that, sometime in the near future, the visions which absorbed the attention and the wealth, of the good people of Hudson, a third of a century ago,. may yet be realized, by the resuscitation and completion of some, if not all, the roads in question.

Primarily, the business of the township is bucolic - almost literally so - for while her thousands of fertile acres are capable of growing all the various cereals and vegetables, and the. very best of fruits adapted to this climate, her most reliable and profitable industry has hitherto been stock-growing and the dairy, though we are pleased to note that within the past year many fine fields. of wheat have been harvested in the township.

And, in this connection, it may be well to note the changes that a third of a century has wrought in the mode of handling and marketing the products of the dairy, in Hudson and other towns. traversed by railroads, and contiguous to that modern lacteal institution, the cheese factory. Instead of being worked up by the old hit-or-miss process of setting curds, the uncertain pressure of the rickety old style hand press, and the manipulation of ye ancient dashing and splashing hand-churn, and disposing of their unevenly made products to the local tradesman in exchange for merchandise at barter prices, hundreds of gallons of milk are now daily shipped to Cleveland from this single township, affording a small but steady cash margin to the producer, while other hundreds of gallons are daily taken to contiguous cheese and butter factories, at generally living prices, to be worked up, by uniform me scientific processes, into merchantable cheese and palatable

Through the kindness of S. Straight & Co., we were furnished in 1887 with a statement of their cheese and butter operations for the year 1886, which, as showing Hudson's approximate interest in' the matter we condense as follows: Of the three regular cheese and butter factories in Hudson, proper, one conducted by Messrs. Straight & Co., and one each by M. D. Call and W. A. Curtiss (the latter operated by McNeil & Cassidy), all, probably, doing about an equal amount of business, the previous year (1886), the Straight factory bought 1,226,254 pounds of milk, at the cost of

$11,397.50 producing 101,387 pounds of cheese and 26,465 pounds of butter. According to Messrs. Call and McNeil & Cassidy, an <qual amount of business, we have an aggregate of 3,678,762 pounds of milk, selling for $34,102.50, and producing 304,161 pounds of cheese and 79,395 pounds of butter. That year (1886) the milk . industry reached its lowest point of depression in ten years, the average being fully 25 per cent. above the figures given, so that, with the Sweitzer cheese factory of Mr. John Mack and the shipment of milk to Cleveland, the total yearly' average of that industry in Hudson would not fall much, if any, short of $50,000.

BaARLY MANvurFAcTURES. - The first grist-mill, nearer than the Valley of the Ohio, accessible to the early settlers of Hudson, was at Newburg, erected in 1800, and access to this, through the dense forest, and over unbridged streams, was both difficult and dangerous. The distance. was but 22 miles, but three days' time - one in going, one in waiting for the grist and one in returning - were consumed in performing the journey. The first wheat harvested in the township was.by Thaddeus Lacey, 183 bushels, on the nine acres planted for Mr. Hudson, on lot eleven, in 1799, Mr. Lacey receiving one fourth of the product for harvesting and threshing. Of the remaining three-fourths, Mr. Hudson's share was about 34 bushels, the remainder going to his co-proprietors. Ofthis wheat, Samuel Bishop took a load to the Newburg mill, receiving one-half of the flour, feed, etc., for his trouble.

But Mr. Hudson had thoughtfully included in his orders for supplies a small pair of mill stones and, in 1801, in connection with Ezra Wyatt, commenced the erection of a mill on Tinker's Creek, in the northeastern portion of the township, Aaron Norton taking Mr. Wyatt's place in the enterprise before the mill was completed ; a distillery also being established in connection with the mill by Messrs. Hudson & Norton, both being completed in 1802, but a year or so later both were destroyed by fire. Captain Heman Oviatt and George Darrow also erected and for several years, both before and after the close of the War of 1812, carried on quite extensive distilleries in Hudson, it being found that the Indians were not the only persons fond of fire-water, even among the generally staid and sober pioneer settlers of Hudson. Several saw-mills were erected on the different streams running through the township and a number of tanneries were also established, the first that of Owen Brown, father of the immortal John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame, that hero, himself, also working at the business for a number of years. The ashery business also, during the clearing up of the forests, was a prominent business of the town, the products, black salts, potash, pearlash, etc., finding a market in Pittsburg, Cleveland, Buffalo, etc. -

Earty Horers, Mercnants, Erc. - For several years every | house in Hudson was a house of entertainment, the private latchstring always hanging out for the accommodation of the stranger and the traveler, though at quite an early day Captain Heman Oviatt formally opened his log cabin, a mile south of the village, as a house of public entertainment. The first regular inn, within the limits of the township, however, was the large frame house of Deacon David Hudson, a short distance north of the public square, opened to the public in 1813 - the same house now occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Harvey Baldwin, and in which, when a girl in her teens, she officiated as bar-maid and general assistant to her good' mother, in the conduct of the house and in caring for the guests. In 1816, George Kilbourn opened a tavern on the Justin Kilbourn place ; about 1825 Augustus Baldwin opened a hotel on the site of the present Buss residence, and about 1833, the Mansion House, 'which still survives, was built, its first landlord being Samuel | Edgerly, father of Mr. Charles H. Edgerly and Mrs. Sarah M. EBattels, wife of Akron's well-known photographer Mr. B. F. Battels. This house has had many proprietors during the nearly sixty years. of its existence, and though at times, perhaps, a trifle too liberal in the dispensation of intoxicants, to suit the abstemious notions of the average Hudsonian, has generally been regarded asa good house by the traveling public, its present owner and keeper, 1891, being Mr. 05. A. Edson. The Hotel Delta, recently established on Peninsula road, opposite depot, is kept by Mr. Henry A. Bissell. ssgeell:

The first store was kept by Captain Heman Oviatt, in his log cabin, one mile. south of the center, trade being mostly with Indians, exchanging blankets, shawls, powder, lead, whiskey, etc., for skins, which were transported on horses to Pittsburg, and his stock replenished by the same mode of conveyance, from that city. In 1806 he removed to the center, where he did a lucrative business for many years, afterwards entering into partnership with Mr. Zenas Kent (father of Hon. Marvin Kent, of Kent), and opening a store at Ravenna; also being interested with Mr. Allison Kent, at Canfield, and Mr. Roswell Kent, at Middlebury.

As illustrating the mode of doing business in the absence of | money, in those early days, the following document copied from: the records of Poftage county is reproduced:

"Received, Hudson, December 6th, 1800, of David Hudson, a certain three-year-old black cow which I am to keep for her milk until the first day of May next, and at that time return to said Hudson at his dwelling house, in good flesh unless said cow is. killed by lightning; or in case I do not return said cow on that. day, lam to pay for said cow in good merchantable, yard-wide linen brown cloth at 33144 cents per yard. The cow to remain Hudson's property until returned or paid for as above. The cow is valued at $14. Signed,

Stephen Upson

We can only give the names of a few of those who have carried on business in Hudson during the 91 years of its existence - the many not even having an abiding place in the memory of the present "oldest inhabitant." Besides those mentioned, Augtstus. and Frederick Baldwin, Dudley Humphrey, J. H. Crawford & Co., _ Hill & James, Kent & Brewster,-Hamlin & Dawes, Anson A.

Tue Boom AND THE CoLLApsE. - The advent of the C. & P. and _ Akron Branch Railroads, and the projection of the several other railroad schemes elsewhere mentioned, in the early fifties, stimulated enterprise in other directions and the town and village entered upon an era of speculative improvements commensurate

It was already the literary center of Northern Ohio, and why should it not become the business emporium also? Professor Henry N. Day, of the college, having some cash capital of his own, as well as having many capitalistic friends, built the large five-sided brick block, on Aurora street, known as the " Pentagon," in which, besides a number of mercantile operations, a large printing and book publishing house was established, with all the paraphernalia of presses, types, stereotyping, book-binding, etc., requisite for successful competition with the best Eastern houses, if business could be found to sustain it.

About this time, also, a large planing mill and lumber yard was established, near the depot, by J. W. Smith & Co., one of the mercantile firms of the Pentagon, for the purpose of supplying and working up the large amount of. building material to meet the requirements of the boom. A large steam flouring mill was built and put in operation a little west of the present union passenger depot, by Henry A. Tallmadge and ex-Sheriff Lewis M. Janes, afterwards transferred to ex-Sheriff Thomas Wilson, but a few years later was destroyed by fire; large butter, cheese and produce warehouses were established, near the old depot by J. C. Snyder and I. C. Dow, and, altogether, Hudson was decidedly a live business town for the period of about three years from 1853 to 1856.

The collapse of the three railroad schemes - the "Clinton Line," the "Clinton Line Extension" and the "Hudson & Painesville," in 1855, '56, also brought disaster to all the enterprises named, the Hudson Book Company making an assignment with liabilities greatly in excess of its assets, and J. W. Smith & Co., the Lumber Company, J. C. Snyder, I. C. Dow and Tallmadge & Co., going under with liabilities aggregating hundreds of thousands of dollars, also very seriously crippling many of the other business operators of the village, who had built upon the bright future presaged by the boom alluded to. a

GRADUAL RECUPERATION. - T hough for several years the depression in the business circles of Hudson was very great, and though, in the intervening years, some serious mercantile disasters have occurred, the town has gradually assumed, and now maintains the average of theWestern Reserve village of 1,000 to 1,200 inhabitants.

The population of Hudson township and village, in 1840, was 1,220, while the total of township and village as shown by the census of 1880 was 1,816, a gain of 597 - nearly 50 per cent. in the forty years - notwithstanding the many reverses alluded to, the census of 1890 placing the figures at 1,797 - a falling off of 20 - the village itself numbering 1,143 souls.

The past third of a century, however, has wrought vast changes in the methods of doing business, as witnesses the account given elsewhere of the milk product of Hudson township. As an incident to, and a necessity of, this change of method, Messrs. S. Straight & Co. having come into possession of the Pentagon property, fitted it up as headquarters for the immense cheese and

In addition to the shelving capacity of the' Pentagon block itself (about 15,000 cheeses) building 60x60 foot two story brick curing house, with basement, with shelving for 12,000 cheeses, and .storage capacity for 250,000 pounds of butter, with ice house, air tubes, fan, engine, elevator, and all the necessary paraphernalia for handling, preserving, packing and marketing the immense yearly product of the several factories named. As showing the magnitude of this interest, the firm report the aggregate business of their fourteen factories in 1886 as follows: Milk bought, 8,392,797 pounds; cost $65,782.62; cheese made, 700,227 pounds; butter made, 171,669 pounds, though we are informed that within the past year or two, Mr, Straight has sold the majority of his factories to other parties.

OTHER INDUSTRIES. - As an adjunct to the immense business just written of, the cheese box and butter tub factory, of Mr. E. A. Osborne, established in 1870, with a capacity of about 300 boxes and 100 tubs per day, is worthy of mention; also a similar factory, established in 1878, by Erastus Croy, now operated by Mr. E. B. Shields, the former being destroyed by fire in January, 1890.

For a number of years subsequent to the destruction of the Wilson mills, above alluded to, quite an extensive flouring mill was maintained near the depot, but the building having passed into the hands of Mr. E. J. Lobdell, was devoted to the manufacture of all kinds of buggy lumber, until burned in January, 1890, the business having since been removed to Marietta, Ohio.

About 1878, the Oviatt Manufacturing Company was organized and suitable buildings erected, south of the depot, for the purpose of manufacturing the patented inventions of Mr. Solomon E. Oviatt (formerly of Richfield) - Oviatt's thresher and separator, common sense wagon, independent runner sled, etc., but though _ promising well for a year or two, either from lack of adequate capital, proper enterprise or judicious management, the company came to financial grief, and the business was abandoned. .

Hupson's PRESENT Business Stratus. - Dry goods, Charles H. Buss, Henry Wehner; groceries, Dennis J. Joyce, George V. Miller, James A. Jacobs, E. E. Lewis; drugs, John Whedon, Edwin S. Bentley; shoes, Sebastian Miller; books, Edwin S, Bentley; stoves and tinware, Rk. H. Grimm, John N. Farrar; harness, John G. Mead, Cornelius A. Campbell; blacksmiths, Charles H. Farwell, Charles Rk. Cash, Perry N. Shively; carriages, James L. Doncaster; machinist, Samuel Bediant; bakery, Ralph T. Miller; meat markets, George V. Miller, Philip Wendling; undertaker, James L. Doncaster; syrup evaporators, The G, H. Grimm Manufacturing Company; hotels, American, A. A. Edson; Hotel Delta, Henry A. Bissell; livery, Andrew May & Company; lawyers, Matthew C. Read, Horace B. Foster; dentist, Dr. E. E. Rogers; physicans, Drs. Frank Hodge, L. D. Osborn, George L. Starr, Horace C. Coolman; jewelers, Samuel Fletcher, A. Pettingell; mews dealer, David M. Darrow; saloons, 5; the latter "industry" being out of 'all proportions to the requirements of so staid and sober a people, as are the majority of the inhabitants of the village and township.

corporation being 480 rods in length, from north to south, and 320 rods in width, from east to west, the exact geographical center being the center of the east and west and north and south center roads. © Some small tracts outside of these bounds, notably on Aurora . street, have been laid out into lots and handsomely improved, but have never been formally annexed to the village plat. The first election, under the charter, was held on Tuesday, May 2, 1837, the officers then elected being as follows: Mayor, Captain Heman 'Oviatt; recorder, Lyman W. Hall; trustees, Frederick Baldwin, John B. Clark, Jesse Dickinson, Harvey Baldwin and Daniel C. Gaylord. As showing the shrinkage of values and the resources of the property holders, caused by the panic of 1837, it may be stated here that the tax lists of 1837, place the value of the 'real estate of the village at $93,967.58, and the personal property at $19,474, while the list of 1844 (seven years later) give the real estate at $30,427 and the personal property at $12,177, only. .

The village government, though never called upon 'to grapple with the great problems of grading, paving, sewering, electric lighting, etc., that have agitated larger municipalities, has, nevertheless, been of great service to the people of Hudson in conserving the public order, providing proper sidewalk and street improvements, regulating and beautifying the public square, cemetery, etc., and especially in the fostering care which it has ever bestowed upon the educational, religious and moral interests of the community, having, in connection with the township, in 1878, '79, erected a handsome two-story brick town hall, on the site of the old Congregational church, which, besides meeting rooms for the council and trustees, and a lockup on the ground floor, has a capacious well-seated public hall in the second story; in addition to which Adelphian Hall, in Farrar's block, west side of Main street, has a seating capacity of about 900.

In tHE NEwsrPaArerR Line. - The second town in what is now Summit county, to avail itself of the manifold blessings of the newspaper, was Hudson, the Portage Journal, established in Middlebury, in 1825, havinga priority of some two or three years. In 1827, a religious and literary paper called the Western Intelligencer, was established in Cleveland, which after several changes was. suspended in 1829. In March, 1830, Mr. Warren Isham revived the paper in Hudson, under the name of the Obsever and Telegraph, Mr. Isham changing the name in 1832, to the Ohio Observer. In February, 1834, R. M. Walker-and S. J. Bradstreet became its proprietors, and in December, 1834, Rev. James B. Walker, afterwards, for several years, pastor of the Congregational church in Akron, became its owner and editor, Mr. Walker being succeeded by Rev. A. P. Clarke in the Autumn of 1835.

A SLEDGE-HAMMER EpisopE. - The Observer was not only a profound religious sheet, and a good family newspaper, generally, but it was especially devoted to the several reforms of the day - - the anti-slavery reform, the temperance reform, moral reform, etc.,. and was remarkably plain-spoken in regard to the real or supposed infractions of the moral code. In those days, too, the tongue

.of the gossip and the scandal monger were fully as "waggish" (and perhaps more so) than at the present time. 'It coming to the ears of a prominent citizen that a scandal, ~ which had been worked up against him, was about to appear in the columns of the Observer, in the shape of a series of resolutions adopted by the Female Moral Reform Society of Hudson, reflecting upon his moral character, he called upon the editor to ascertain the truth of the rumor. Getting no satisfaction in that direction, but learning from other sources that the objectionable matter was already upon the press, ready to be worked, the gentleman quietly steppedinto a neighboring blacksmith shop, and, borrowing a heavy sledge, deliberately entered the Observer office and not only knocked the entire form into pi, but thoroughly crippled.the press by demolishing the heavy cast-iron bed plate. It is not now remembered that any legal proceedings for damages were ever instituted against the wielder of the sledge, the presumption being that his. summary action in the premises was justified by the general public, if not by the proprietors of the Observer themselves.

REVIVIFICATION. - Printing presses were not as readily obtainable in those days as now; and the Observer was removed to: Cleveland and consolidated with the Cleveland Journal, Rev. O. P. Hoyt being associated with Mr. Clark''as editor. The Journal ., was suspended November 1, 1838, but resumed again January 9, 1839, and in April, 1840, returned to Hudson, resuming its old name, Ohio Observer, continuing, under various proprietors, until February, 1844, when the office was destroyed by fire. For a short time the paper was now printed at Cuyahoga Falls, but soon afterwards with a new outfit re-established in Hudson, and with many changes of proprietors and editors, and a great variety of vicissitude, it struggled on (its latest name being Ohio Observer and Register) until the general business collapse of the town, in 1855, 56, when it ceased to exist. It may properly be added, here, that the broken press above alluded to, was bought by Horace K. Smith and Gideon G. Galloway, of Akron, in 1836, furnished with a. new bed-plate and otherwise repaired, and devoted to the publication of the American Balance, and its successor, the SUMMIT BEACON, until its final destruction, in the first burning of the BrEacon office January 9, 1848.

Cleveland and Hudson, was wholly transferred to Hudson in January, 1852, with Professor M. C. Read as sole editor, under whose auspices it Was in every way a first-class scientific, literary, religious and agricultural family newspaper, but a quarter of a century ahead of the times, and for lack of adequate support its subscription list was transferred to the Observer in January, 1854.

_ College Citi) Venture was started by E. F. Chittenden, a former compositor on the Visitor, in July, 1866, with Professor Read as editor, who made a spicy, interesting paper of it for a few weeks, when it, too, was compelled to suspend for lack of proper pecuniary encouragement.

Hudson Gazette, started in November, 1857, by Rev. Alexander Clarke, afterwards a D. D., and a man of note in the M. E. church of Pennsylvania, was devoted to "commerce, education, agriculture, art and news," and though very ably edited, survived but a few weeks, only.

Hudson Enterprise, established as an amateur paper, in connection with 'a small job office, in May, 1875, finally became a household necessity to the people and vicinity, and under various proprietors seemed for a time to be quite prosperous, but its purely local support being inadequate to meet the considerable weeky expense of its publication, it, too, was several years ago. discontinued. 3

Hudson Gazette. Hudson's last local newspaper, a sprightly 32 column sheet, started November 23, 1888, by D. B. Sherwood & Son, independent in politics and everything else, had an existence of about one year only.

Excepting Jonathan Draper, 80; John Walker, 77, and John Ellsworth, 78, reported as pensioners by the census of 1840, we are entirely without data as to Hudson's part in the war of the Revolution - 1776 to 1783 - though, originating mostly in the patriotic' State of Connecticut, most undoubtedly several others of her early settlers participated in that glorious struggle.

In the War of 1812 several Hudsonians took an active part, though of this no accurate written history has been handed down. The people of the Western Reserve, of that day, were not only thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the Revolution, but, being upon the frontier, deemed it important to keep up military organizations for self-protection in case of trouble with their red-skinned neighbors. To this end, the able-bodied settlers of Hudson and vicinity were early organized into a military company, with Amos Lusk as captain; this company with others, forming a battalion, with George Darrow as major, the battalion being under the jurisdiction of General Elijah Wadsworth, of Warren. After General Hull's ignominious surrender at Detroit, in August, 1812, the news of which, and the rumored approach, eastward, of the British and Indians, caused a great panic in Hudson and _ surrounding towns, this battalion was ordered to Cleveland by Gen- . eral Wadsworth, and from thence, when the scare was over, to Old Portage, then the headquarters of the Reserve militia.

before completing which, learning of thé trouble which the American troops were meeting with at the hands of the red-coats | and red-skins, in the vicinity of Detroit, he hurried' forward to reinforce the garrison at Fort Huron; afterwards being ordered to Fort Stephenson of which he was in command, until the defeat of General Winchester, at Frenchtown, when he was ordered to Maumee, to assist in the building of Fort Meigs; the names of Zina Post, Eben Pease and.James G. Bishop, only, being monumentally recorded, in the cemeteries of the township, so far as the writer is advised, as being soldiers in that war, though there must have been at least a score besides those herein named. In regard to the Mexican War, of 1846-48, we can find no historical indication that Hudson furnished a single soldier.

EDUCATION AND PatrioTisM. - In the War of the Rebellion, however, Hudson was patriotic to the core. By reference to the Register of Graduates of Western Reserve College, compiled by President Cutler, in 1873, it will be seen that fully one hundred of the graduates of the college entered the army, nearly one-half of whom enlisted directly from the college during the progress of the war, to say nothing of those who entered the service from the preparatory and medical departments, and of whom no adequate record is now available.

Besides those who volunteered from the college, in 1861, the remaining students, together with several of the professors, organized for military drill, with Colonel Haywood, of Cleveland, as drill-master. During the vacation, between the sessions of 1861 and 1862, many of the students enlisted from their several homes, and, on the call of President Lincoln for three months troops, after the reverses of the Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley, in May,.1862, the College Company, en masse, tendered their services to Governor Tod, which were promptly accepted. The company, embracing some 35 or 40 students and professors, quite a number of the scholars in the preparatory school and several outsiders, (from 70 to 80 in all) was assigned, as Company B, to the 85th Regiment O. V. I, which regiment was never completed, the four companies thus assigned, being put on guard over rebel prisoners at Camp Chase, Columbus, later escorting a body of Confederate prisoners to Vicksburg for exchange; the college catalogue of 1862, '63 stating that sixteen members of the college classes, and twenty-three members of the preparatory school were in the army.

Of Company B, Professor Charles A. Young (now a distinguished professor of astronomy in Princeton College), was Captain, and Professor Carroll Cutler (afterwards for fifteen years president of Western Reserve and Adelbert College), was First Lieutentant; W. C. Parsons (of the Selle Gear Works, Akron), was corporal; Rk. H. Wright (of the Buckeye Works), first sergeant; Judge E. W. Stuart, corporal and promoted to sergeant; C. P. Humphrey Esq., as third sergeant; the latter being early transferred to the 88th Regiment, as first sergeant and quartermaster, but almost immediately detailed as Post Adjutant of Camp Chase, in which capacity he served until mustered out in September, 1862. George A. Purington, an Akron boy, then a member of the preparatory school, went into the army as first sergeant of Company G, 19th, O. V.I., in April, 1861, in August 1861, as captain in Second Ohio

Hudson'S Roll Of Honor

Cavalry, promoted to major, lieutenant colonel and colonel; after the War joined the Regular Army as captain of cavalry, and is now (1891) major of the 8rd U. S. C., with headquarters at Fort Clark, Texas.

_, Oursipers EgQuanty Parrtoric. - Outside the college, the citizens of Hudson were equally patriotic as the following roster, prepared from memory, by Mr. George W. Church, and others, and from the assessors' returns for 1863, '64, 65, believed to be substantially correct, abundantly demonstrates:

9th O. L. A., supposed to have been killed by guerrillas near Tallahoma, Tennessee; W. P. Williamson, 29th O. V. IL, killed in battle; Thomas Pacy, Company A, 2nd O. V. C., killed at Woolson's river, August 16, 1861; Robert Cox, Company D, Daniel Myers, Company .G, Edward King, Company C, 115th O. V. I, lost by blowing up and burning of Steamer Sultana, near Memphis, Tennessee, on the morning of April 27, 1865; A. Richardson, Company D, Ist O! TAs; Russell Lucas, Albert D. Dunbar, John C. Hart, James C. Packard, N. D. Gilbert, time and place of death unknown; James Draper, 9th O. L. A., died at Tullahoma, Tennessee, March 21, 1864; F. O. Stone, 9th O. L. A., died at Somerset, Kentucky, March 1862; Charles W. Clapp, 29th O. V.1., died at Camp Giddings, Ohio, December 5, 1861; Marquis Holden, 1st O. L. A., killed at Lost Mountain, Georgia; William Wilder, Company 9, 5S. S., killed at 'City Point, Virginia, March 13, 1862; George H. Gaylord, Company K, 19th O. V.I., died July, 1862; Ransom J. Ellsworth, 64th O. V. I., killed at Missionary Ridge; William Jones, 115th, O. V. I., killed at Cleveland, Ohio; Robert Andrews, Company H, 6th O. V.L., lost in South, December 1862; Nicholas Murray, navy, lost at sea ; 'Clinton C. Chambers, 6th Ohio Battery, died at Jeffersonville, Indiana, March 21, 1862; William Rubbins, 34th N. Y. L, killed at Antietam, September 17, 1862; Foster Rubbins, 34th N. Y. I., killed at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 12, 1862.

HoNoRABLE Civit ReEcorp. - In official civil affairs, Hudson presents 'an extensive and highly honorable record, as will be seen iby what follows. The first grand jury of the new county of Portage, which convened August 23, 1808, embraced among its members four of Hudson's pioneer settlers: David Hudson, Samuel' Bishop, Moses Thompson and Stephen Baldwin, Mr. Hudson being named as foreman by the court.

AARON NorRTON was among the accessions to the township in 1801, soon afterwards, in connection with Mr. Hudson, building a saw mill, grist mill and distillery, on a branch of Tinker's Creek, in the northeast part of the township, which were destroyed by tire in 1803; a year or two later removed to Northampton, where che embarked ina similar enterprise; in 1807, removed to Middlebury, where he became interested in a mill project, in company with Mr. Joseph Hart, was appointed an associate judge of the 'Common Pleas Court for Portage county, on its first organization, in 1808, serving the full term of seven years, with great ability and satisfaction.

Hon. VANRENSSELAER Humpurey, then practicing law in Hudson, represented Portage county in the State legislature for two successive terms - 1828, 1829 - and in the session of 1836, '37, was appointed by the legislature, president judge of the Third Judicial District, embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull and Portage. On its erection, in 1840, Summit county was attached to the third district, thus coming under Judge Humphrey's jurisdiction, who served with marked ability for the full term of seven years. ;

Joun B. CLarxK, was appointed associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, on the death of Judge Charles Sumner, of Middlebury, June 19, 1845, filling the place with honor to himself and his constituents for about one year, when he tendered his resignation.

SYLVESTER H. THompson, a native of Hudson, succeeded Judge Clark upon the bench, in 1846, ably performing the duties of the position, until the adoption of the new constitution in 1852, "Side

_ WILLIAM O'BRIEN was Summit county's first treasurer, elected in April, 1840, and re-elected, in the following October for the full term of two years, making a very competent officer, until his death, of consumption, in February, 1842; ex-sheriff George Y. Wallace,

Mitis THompson, from 1843 to 1849, two full terms, ably and faithfully filled the position of county commissioner, being in the office at the time the present infirmary farm was purchased, and aided in inaugurating that noble charity for the care and comfort of the comparatively few destitute infirm, among the generally well-to-do inhabitants of Summit county.

HARVEY WHEDON, EsQ., was elected prosecuting attorney, in October, 1850, holding the position two years, making in all respects, a first-class officer.

Dr. GEORGE P. ASHMUN, then an honored citizen of Hudson, was elected State Senator from the Summit-Portage district, in October, 1857, discharging the duties of that office to the full satisfaction of his constituents, in both counties, for the fuil term of two years.

SYLVESTER H. THOMPSON, in October, 1859, was elected to represent Summit county in the lower House of the General Assembly of Ohio, as the colleague of Hon. Alvin C. Voris, serving one full term of two years.

STEPHEN HENDERSON PITKIN, a graduate of the class of 1834; county surveyor of Fulton county, Illinois, from 1836 to 1840; probate judge of that county from 1840 to 1844, elected on the Union ticket, in October, 1861, to fill the unexpired term of Probate Judge William M. Dodge, deceased, (two years) re-elected on the same ticket in 1863, and again re-elected, on the Republican ticket in 1866, making his term of service in that important office eight full years. In 1868, Judge Pitkin was chosen as the Republican presidential elector for the Eighteenth Congressional district, composed of Summit, Cuyahoga and Lake counties, casting his vote in the electoral college for Ulysses S. Grant for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice-president of the United States the judge also holding the office of secretary of the Summit County Agricultural Society from 1871 to 1880, nine years, and an efficient member of the board of trustees of the Northern Ohio Hospital for the Insane, at Newburg, between 1862 and 1878, fourteen years.

Davip DuncAN BEBEE, for many years a merchant of Hudson, was elected State Senator for the Summit-Portage district in October, 1867, by his urbane and intelligent discharge of his senatorial duties, making himself so popular, in both counties, that he was unanimously tendered a second term, in 1879, the first re-election of an incumbent of that office in the history of the district.

MaTrHeEWw CANFIELD ReaD, graduate of the class of 1848; attorney at law; editor Family Visitor, 1852 to 1854; teacher in grammar school, Western Reserve College; member of U. S.: Sanitary Commission, with the Army of the Cumberland, during the War; deputy revenue collector, after the close of the War; member of Ohio geological surveying corps from 1869 till completion of the survey; lecturer on zoology and geology in Western Reserve College; township clerk, justice of the peace, mayor, etc,

Wit1tr1amM Isaac CHAMBERLAIN, born in Connecticut in 1837, accompanied his parents to Hudson in 1838; graduate of the class of 1859; principal of Shaw Academy, Collamer, Ohio, 1859-61; tutor of Greek and Latin in Western Reserve College, 1861-66; superintendent Cuyahoga Falls schools, 1864, 65; assistant professor in College, 1866-69; farmer, 1869-79; secretary of Ohio State Board of Agriculture, 1880-86; and from 1886 to 1890, president of the Iowa Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, one of the most successful institutions of its kind in the United States.

CHARLES C. HINE, a representative farmer of Hudson, was. elected county commissioner in October, 1885, and re-elected in 1888 for six years, making in all respects a first-class officer.

James H. Stymour, for many years a successful grocer in Hudson, was elected county treasurer, in October, 1886, taking charge of the funds of Summit county and of the City of Akron on the 5th day of September, 1887, and re-elected in 1888, his administration being marked with as full a degree of efficiency and integrity as the very best of his many worthy predecessors.

CALVIN PEASE HuMPHREY, born in Hudson, June 21, 1840, a graduate of the Western Reserve College, of the class of 1863, and of Cleveland law school in 1866; was mayor of Cuyahoga Falls from 1870 to 1871, and city solicitor for Akron from 1879 to 1881, filling both positions with marked ability.

HorACE BuRNHAM FosTER, born in Leyden, Franklin county, Mass., April 26, 1828; removed to Mantua in 1837; preparatory education at Twinsburg Institute; graduate from Western Reserve _ College in the class of 1852; principal preparatory department, 1852,

03; tutor in college, 1853-55; superintendent Akron schools, 1855, 96; tutor in the vacant professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy from September, 1856, till the accession of Professor Charles Young, January 1, 1857; justice of the peace from 1858 to 1861; clerk of incorporated village of Hudson ten years; mayor of village eight years; a safe counsellor and a successful lawyer.

Hon. WILtt1AM M. BEEBE, long a prominent citizen, and for four terms mayor of Hudson; was an efficient member of the board of trustees for the Northern Ohio Insane Hospital at Cleveland, from 1880 to 1886 - six full years.

Many others of Hudson's native and adopted citizens have held high official positions in life, in other localties, whose honors and fame cannot be here recorded; but enough has been given to show that Hudson has no cause to be ashamed of the part her sons have taken in the civil affairs of life, both local and general.

Townsuip Orricers. - Trustees, Henry H. Chamberlin, Charles H. Kilbourn, Sherman P. Thompson; clerk, Edward E. Rogers; treasurer, Sebastian Miller; assessor, William A. Curtis (successor to John M. Seidel, after ten years service); justices of the peace, Matthew C. Read, Edward E. Rogers; constables, George W. Church, Thomas W. Elliman.

Aside from the alleged shooting, in cold blood, sundry troublesome Indians, by certain so called "Indian hunters," of pioneer times, Hudson has been singularly exempt from crime, save those occasional minor offences incident to aggregated humanity, and diversity of temperament and habit, in the best regulated communities. .

Sometime in the early fifties, one Nelson Hinckston established himself in the boot and shoe business in Hudson, becoming the proprietor of three buildings on the west side of Main street; the middle building being a story and a half frame, with basement, the front of the lower floor being his salesroom, the rear room his shop, the attic used for sleeping rooms, storage, etc. The next building north was Hinckston's dwelling house and the building south was occupied by Mr. Judd as a book store. One night, in the Winter of 1856-57, a fire was discovered in the basement of the store, which, being promptly extinguished, brought to light indications that the fire had been purposely set, and pointing very strongly towards Hinckston, himself, as the incendiary, notwithstanding the fact that his own son, with one of the workmen, occupied the sleeping room above, with no other means of egress than by the stairs under which the fire had been kindled. Though very greatly excited over the affair, his neighbors took no legal steps in the premises, and gradually the feeling against Hinckston died out, and his business seemed to be running along as smoothly as before.

During the Summer of 1857, however, Mr. Jacob Niebel, an employe, began to observe symptoms indicating that his boss was again making preparations to "sell" his buildings and stock to the several insurance companies, who held risks thereon, aggregating nearly $5,000. Communicating his suspicion to a fellow-workman by the name of Thomas Cooper, the two kept watch over the movements of Hinckston, and when they believed he was about ready to apply the match, about the middle of February, 1858, other citizens were apprised of the matter, and an examination of the premises was had. It was found that through holes in the floor, bundles of waxed ends, with other inflammable substances, extended from piles of kindlings in the basement to similar combustibles in the store room, and these, in turn, connected with still other deposits upon the upper shelves (concealed by boxes), and these again with like readily ignited substances between the ceiling and the upper floor, and in the rooms above, so that the match once applied, the entire fabric would be almost instantly in flames. Had a fire thus got fairly started, with the limited fire extinguishing appliances Hudson then had, not only Hinckston's three build- - ings would have been burned, but the entire street, including the Mansion House, and the dwelling house of Mr. D. D. Morrell, would undoubtedly have been cleaned out.

ARRESTED ON THE First ATTEMPT. - To say that Hudson was excited and indignant would be drawing it mild, and if "Judge Lynch" had been as popular then as now, even in some portions of order-loving Ohio, it is doubtful if her citizens could have been restrained from inflicting sunmimary vengeance upon the incendiary. The affair coming to the ears of Prosecuting Attorney Henry McKinney, the fire not having actually been set in the case in hand, that officer procured his apprehension on the first attempt using the developments in the latter case as corroborating evidence against him on the charge of arson. The warrant was issued by Justice M. C. Read, who, at the examination, called to his assistance Justices S. H. Pitkin, of Hudson, and M. D. Call, of Stow. The evidence was overwhelmingly conclusive, but the defendant's counsel, A. C. Voris, Esq., took the bold ground that in setting the fire in question, he had violated no provision of the Statutes of Ohio, the law then reading: 'Whoever sets fire to any building, the property of another," etc.,and moved that the accused be discharged. Though Justice Read was favorable to the granting of the motion, his associates inclined to the view that the almost inevitable destruction of the property of others, had his own got fairly started, was sufficient to hold him to answer to the grand jury, and he was so held. Esq. Voris immediately applied to Probate Judge Noah M. Humphrey for a writ of habeas corpus and, after a full examination of the facts in the case, and the law, the defendant was discharged, and though no pecuniary harm came to the people from the carefully planned, but happily frustrated schemes of the fire-bug, Hudson became too hot for longer comfortable sojourn and Hinckston floated off West, and has since deceased. In the following session of the Legislature - 1859, '60 - in which Hon. A.C. Voris was Summit county's representative, and Hon. J. A. Garfield was the State senator from the Summit - Portage district, the law was amended, making the burning of one's own building, for the purpose of defrauding insurance companies, a penitentiary offense.

THE MALONEY-STEPLETON Homicipk. - On the night of the 16th day of June, 1860, the good people of Hudson were thrown into the wildest excitement by the rapidly spreading report that a most wanton and brutal murder had been perpetrated upon one of the public streets of that usually quiet and peaceful village, under the following circumstances:

A young Irishman by the name of John Maloney was in the employ of the Cleveland & Pittsburg railroad, as a track repairer, under track-master Reynolds, of Bedford. Maloney was rather above the medium height, about 24 years of age, with sandy hair and fair complexion, and of mild and pleasant countenance. Michael Stepleton was a young man of the same nationality, in his 21st year, whose parents resided in Holmes county, but who had for some time been at work on the Mahoning Branch of A. & G. W. k'y in Mantua; both young men very frequently visiting

The Deadly Bludgeon

THE BEGINNING OF THE TROUBLE. - These visits, on the part of Maloney, were said to have ripened into such intimate relations with one of his female acquaintances, by the name of Bridget Calnan, that he was fighting a little shy of both the young lady and of the village of Hudson itself. On Saturday, May 12, 1860, while Stepleton was en route from Mantua to Hudson, to spend the Sabbath, he met Maloney at Macedonia, and urged him to "come on down to Hudson where all the fun is," giving him twenty cents to pay his fare with, if he would do so. Maloney asked Stepleton if Bridget was still in Hudson, and was told that she was not. Thereupon he accepted his friend's invitation, and accompanied him to Hudson.

But it appears that Bridget Calnan was still in Hudson, and either she or her friends, taking advantage of Maloney's presence in the village, instituted legal preceedings against him, "with a view to matrimony," or - in case of refusal - to visit upon him the pains and penalties provided by law for "premature fatherhood." The former alternative was submitted to, and the "loving not wisely but too well" couple were accordingly joined in the bonds of holy wedlock by Father M. A. Scanlon, of Akron, pastor of St. Vincent De Paul's Church, on Sunday, May 13, 1860.

While it does not appear that Mr. and Mrs. Maloney, were living otherwise than happily together, he charged Stepleton with having "betrayed him" him, and became bitterly incensed against him, and had given utterance to sundry threats of vengeance, though it was claimed by Stepleton, that he was unaware of the peculiar nature of Maloney's aversion to meeting Bridget, when he falsely told him she was not in Hudson. This was the status of the existing feeling between the hitherto warm friends, when they next met, on Saturday, June 16, just exactly five weeks after the occurrences above detailed. Stepleton had come to Hudson, to. have a good time among the young people of that classic village, over the Sabbath, while Maloney, for reasons not clearly apparent, leaving his youthful bride at their home in Macedonia, was in town also.

On meeting, Maloney began to upbraid Stepleton for his perfidy, but the latter, assuring him that he had no suspicion as to how matters stood between him and Bridget, and that he never dreamed of drawing him into the trap that had been set for him, Maloney professed to be satisfied, shook hands with him, and taking a drink together, spent the afternoon and evening with mutual friends, in conyivial and social converse, on apparently as friendly terms as of yore.

STRIKING THE FatTAL Biow.--Thus were they in each other's . company all of the afternoon and evening, and, with other boon companions, visited the drinking places of the village, though neither of them appeared to be particularly intoxicated. About eight o'clock in the evening Maloney left the company, saying that he was going to stay over night in Hudson at the house of Mr. Thomas Hurley, on leaving, cordially shaking hands with the crowd, Stepleton included, and pleasantly bidding them all "good bye."

About nine o'clock, Stepleton and a companion by the name of John Jones, meeting Ellen Ryan, Ann Morris, Julia Calnan and - Kate Fitzgerald, joined them for a walk, and as escorts to their several homes. Having left the two other girls at their respective gates, the two young men, with Ellen Ryan and Ann Morris, about 10 o'clock reached the gate of President George E. Pierce, of the Western Reserve College, in whose family Ellen Ryan lived. While standing there, merrily talking and laughing, a man suddenly approached, and exclaiming "You are there yet!" raised a club, and, with both hands, struck Stepleton a fearful blow on the head, instantly felling him to the ground, and followed it up with two or more other heavy blows; the assailant being recognized by his voice as John Maloney. od

PLucky ELLEN Ryan. - Even before the first blow was struck, John Jones started upon a run towards his own home, while Ann Morris ran towards the house of President Pierce, but Ellen Ryan pluckily stood her ground, and endeavored to prevent further injury to her prostrate companion, by twice pulling his assailant away from him as he was wielding his club, and who in his fury exclaimed, 'Ellen Ryan, let go of me! he has betrayed me!" The assailant then threw away his club and started on the run, towards the road leading to Macedonia, while Ellen Ryan, calling upon Ann Morris to come back to assist her, took hold of and tried to raise Stepleton, who was groaning, to his feet, but finding him helpless and unconscious, laid his head upon the step, and then went for help. M. C. Read, Esq., with Doctor George P. Ashmun were soon upon the spot, with others of the neighbors, but by this time life was found to be extinct.

ARREST OF THE MURDERER. - The news of the homicide spread from house to house with great rapidity, and, as might have been expected, caused the most intense excitement among the staid and peaceful denizens of Hudson. The murderer was almost immediately followed to Macedonia, where he was found in bed with his young wife, as calm as though nothing extraordinary had occurred. He was taken into custody and conveyed to Hudson the same night, where he was kept, closely guarded, until Monday morning, when, on preliminary examination before Justice Harry C. Thompson, he was held to answer for the crime of murder and duly committed to jail.

INDICTMENT, TRIAL, SENTENCE, Etc. - Though the May term of the Court was still in session, Prosecuting Attorney McKinney did not deem it advisable to impanel a special grand jury, and the trial was consequently postponed until the November term. At that term an indictment was returned, charging the defendant with wilful and premeditated murder, to which charge on being arraigned, Maloney entered a plea of "Not Guilty." Monday, November 26, was designated as the time for the trial to begin, 36 jurors having been summoned to appear on that day, from which to select the necessary number to try the case.

The case was conducted on the part of the State by Prosecuting Attorney Henry McKinney, assisted by William H. Upson and Matthew C. Read, and on the part of the defense by Judge Van R. Humphrey and General Lucius V. Bierce. The trial occupied the time of the court, including the impaneling of the jury, the examination of witnesses, the arguments of counsel, the charge of the judge and the deliberations of the jury, seven full days. The arguments, covering two entire days, were all very able, and the charge of Judge Carpenter, occupying a full hour in its delivery, was able, clear and impartial. The jury were out about six hours, and at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, December 4, 1860, returned a verdict of Murder in the Second Degree. The penalty for this degree of homicide being imprisonment for life, sentence to that effect was duly pronounced by Judge Carpenter, in appropriate and impressive terms, a few days after the rendition of the verdict as above stated.