Greenfield Township

Greenfield Township

Greenfield township was organized about the year 1815, and then embraced the townships of New Haven, Greenfield, Peru, Norwich and Fairfield, for township purposes, and continued so until each of the above townships contained a sufficient number of inhabitants for separate organization. In the year 1819, the name of this township was changed to Berlin, and continued by that name until 1822, when the name of Greenfield was restored. The reason for giving it the name of Berlin, was owing to there being a Greenfield township in Highland county, with a postoffice of the same name. At the restoration of the original name of the township, the postoffice was called Lafayette, and Joseph Cook was the first postmaster. The office continued to be called Lafayette until 1835, when the name was changed to Steuben.

The surface of the township is generally'undulating. The Huron river enters it about a mile west of the southeast corner, runs a winding, but, generally, northwest course through the township, and leaves it a little less than a mile east of the northwest corner. There are several small tributaries, the largest of which is the west branch, which drains the western part of the town.

The original varieties of timber, east of the river, were principally white wood, black walnut, beech and maple, with some white oak, butternut and basswood. West of the river, white and black oak, hickory, beech and maple were the leading varieties. The soil is a loam of a sandy or gravelly nature, east of the river, and a clay loam west of it.

There is a stone quarry on the east bank of Huron river. It was first opened by Ezra Smith, at an early date. The quarry underlies a considerable tract of land, with a dip to the southeast, extending into Fairfield township, and is sandstone of the newer formation. The stone varies from an inch to twelve inches in thickness, and is largely used for building and flagging.

The history of Greenfield has for several reasons a peculiar interest. The time that has passed since the pioneer first walked into the wilderness by the side of the Huron river is almost four score and ten years. Strange and startling scenes have been enacted upon its brink, before and since then. The first person that came into the township of Greenfield, for the purpose of settlement, was William McKelvey, Jr., who arrived from Trumbull county in the year 1810. He purchased one hundred and six acres of land of Caleb Palmer, of New Haven township, on lot number twenty-five, in the second section of this township, paying for it in work. In 1811, he cleared eleven and a half acres and sowed it to wheat. He had harvested his crop and was putting it in stacks when the news of Hull's surrender reached the settlement. He immediately returned to Trumbull county, where his father and the rest of the family were then living, and joined the army as a volunteer for six months. the spring of 1814 he returned to Greenfield, bringing, with a four-horse team and wagon, his brother-in-law, Truman Gilbert, and his family. His wheat had been burned during his absence, evidently by the Indians. The loss was considerable, as breadstuffs were then high. He afterwards bought fifteen bushe!s of the wheat left in stack by Erastus Smith, on his flight to Trumbull county, for which he paid forty-five dollars, threshing it himself.

The township records prior to the year 1828 have been lost, and the following facts relative to the first election for township officers were furnished by one who was present.

The election was held at the house of Erastus Smith in the spring of 1816. Joseph Cook was elected township clerk; Eli Halladay, Bildad Adams and Nathan Warner, trustees; William McKelvey, constable; Erastus Smith, justice of the peace. Having no use for a treasurer none was elected.

According to the "enumeration of the white male inhabitants of Greenfield above the age of twenty-one years," as returned to the county clerk by Seba Mather, lister, for the year 1819, the number of such inhabitants was one hundred and thirty. Peru was then attached to Greenfield, and is included in the enumeration.

The first marriage was that of William Smith to Miss Lovina Pierce, daughter of Alden Pierce, 1817. Erastus Smith, justice of the peace, performed the ceremony.

The first purchasers of the land derived their titles to their farms, in the first and fourth sections, from Isaac Mills, of Connecticut; in the second section from Abecham D. Baldwin and Walter Bradley, of Connecticut, and Tilley Lynd, of Homer, New York.

Tpe township of Greenfield was surveyed by Caleb Palmer, of Trumbull county, assisted by Cyrus W. Marsh and B. Newcomb, in the year 1811, and before the war with Great Britain.

As stated before, the first house in the township was built by Hanson Reed, in the spring of 1811. This was on section four. The second house was built by Erastus Smith, in November of the same year. The above two families and their hired men, C. W. Marsh and Jacob Rush, were the only white settlers in the township at the time of Hull's surrender. A little later came William McKelvey and his son and son-in-law, Truman Gilbert, came to the township without their families, cleared a few acres and sowed wheat, but did not bring their families until later.

The surrender of Hull exposed the whole northwest to the ravages of the enemy. Tpe frontier settlers had to abandon their homes, or run the risk of being massacred by the savages. The first settlers of this township chose the former, and did not return until peace was assured.

The first death in the township was that of an infant son of Samuel C. and Nancy Spencer, in the spring of 1816. The child was buried on the farm.

Ruth, daughter of David Lovell, was the first person buried in the cemetery at Greenfield Center. Her death occurred February 17, 1818, at the age of nearly fourteen.

Dr. Moses C. Sanders, of the township of Peru, was one of the earliest physicians that practiced in this township. The first resident physician was Dr. Henry Niles, who began the practice of medicine in this township in the spring of 1831.

The first religious meeting in the township was held at the cabin of Erastus Smith, on the first Sabbath in the spring of 1815, on which occasion the Rev.

In the winter of 1814-15, Hanson Read and Abram Powers built a grist mill on Huron river, in the first section, near where the Phoenix Mills now stand. This was undoubtedly the first grist mill erected in the county as now constituted. The character of the establishment was in keeping with those simple times.

The first sawmill was built in 1819, by Josiah Root, on Huron river. The next was built by Hiram C. Spencer, east of the center of town, on the river, a short distance below the bridge. It was built about the year 1827 or 1828, and did a large business. A few years after, Archibald Easter erected a sawmill, and at about the same time one was built by Dan Lindsey on the west branch of the river.

It is impossible for the young people of the present day to understand the conditions of living in the new settlement. The first settlers in Greenfield were among the first in the county, and they were completely isolated from all the appliances of civilization. The nearest mill, at which grinding was done, was at Owl Creek, a great many miles distant, through an unbroken forest. The grain was ground in the order of its reception at the mill, and sometimes several days would be consumed in going to mill and back. It was customary for one person to take the milling of the entire neighborhood, when going with a team. While there are no instances of suffering from want of necessary food, in the history of this township, provisions were by no means plenty. Wheat was at one time three dollars per bushel, and other articles of food in proportion. William McKelvey on one occasion went to Owl Creek to buy some pork, and could only find some of the "shack" variety, for which he paid forty-four cents per pound. The meat was a poor substitute for that of the domestic hog, being spongy and of ill flavor. For fresh meat the early settlers had venison and other wild game so plenty at times as to become a drug.

In the matter of necessary clothing, the pioneers experienced a greater difficulty. The families, in general, came well furnished with wearing apparel, but a year or two of wear and tear in the woods sadly diminished their stock. Flax could be raised, and summer clothing of tow, butternut-dyed, and bleached linen could be manufactured when a weaver could be found to do 16; for, although every woman was a spinner, only here and there was one weaver, and each family had to await its turn. The old garments were often worn to rags before the new cloth could be put through the loom.

To obtain the material for winter clothing was still more difficult.. The introduction of sheep was attended with much difficulty. They were not safe from wolves, and the new, wet lands proved unhealthy to them. The summer clothing would often have to answer for winter wear, or other expedients be resorted to. Buckskin, either wholly or in part, frequently served as material for winter apparel, but garments made entirely of it were never popular. The pantaloons would frequently be wet to the knees, and when dry would be as stiff and uncomfortable as if made of tin.

The center of the township is two hundred and ninty feet above the lake and the surface of most of the township is covered with irregular, undulating hills of gravel and drift. So many years have now elapsed since the settlement of Greenfield, where our pioneers cleared away the forests, tilled the soil and at last left all to their children and children's children, where today they live in luxury and peace on the farms that are dotted with fine homes attended with prosperity and happiness.

Mr. Seba Mather opened the first public house in the township in the year 1816 which he kept until 1820, when he discontinued and established the mills east of Steuben and carried on an extensive business for thirty years when he retired to his farm and spent the remainder of his life and died at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.

But now, where once were no sounds but those of nature, there has come the hum of industry, the bustling of trade, a hurrying to and fro, the greetings of man with man, the activity impelled by varied human interests, men who were babes when the country was new, grew old and went down to their graves. In the midst of change only the Huron river went on unchanged.

The Steuben cemetery has been greatly improved during the past year. It has been thoroughly graded and leveled, gravel walks and roads have been made through the entire grounds, also an addition of several acres has been added and laid out into lots and numbered.

Steuben has at present two telephone stations. Many farmers through the townships also have the lines in their residences and would not do without them.

We have an electric railway which has been built within the past year, and has increased the value of land in the township from ten to fifteen dollars per acre.

Much might be said by way of improved machinery of all kinds, the bountiful crops, the health of the township, good prices for all kinds of produce which we are blessed with at the present time.