Lorain City (part 12 of 77)

The Second Congregational church of Oberlin was organized by a council composed of the representatives of several sister churches. May 3, 1860, one hundred persons, dismissed from the First Church for the purpose, uniting in the enterprise. This step seemed necessary from the fact that the congregation had become too large to be accommodated. The October following, the church became connected with the Cleveland conference, and in April, 1805, it was duly incorporated under the laws of the State. The following, fall steps were taken to secure a site for a church edifice, work upon which w"as begun in 1807 and completed in 1870. The whole cost of the building was about thirty thousand dollars. The dedicatory exercises took jslace on the 30th of October, and on the following Sabbath the church transferred its meeting from the college chapel, which it had hitherto occupied, to the new building. The next fall an organ costing five thousand dollars, was purchased. Much of the time since its organization the church has been supplied by members of the faculty acting as pastors. It h;is liad, however, two installed pastors - Rev. M. W. Fairfield from October, 1801, to December, 18G4, and its present pastor, Rev. W. Kincaid, who began his labors in February, 1870, and was installed tlie following April. The number of members given in the manual of the cliurch, published this year, is six hundred and forty-four, < f whom ninety-eight are absent. The number of dilferent j^ersous who have united witli tiie church, is one thousand two hundred and forty.

In the summer of 1800 several Baptist brcthrei and sisters, having held for some time a series ol prayer meetings, resolved to form a church ; and foi this purpose tliey called a council of neighboring churches on the 30th of July, which recognized tlu' brethren and sisters calling the council, as a Baptist church. At a subsequent church meeting forty-fix e brethren and sisters handed in their letters of recon.- mendation, which were read by tlie Rev. J. II. Langille, and tliey were organized into a cliurch, the corporate name of which it was voted should be "the First Regular Baptist Church of Oberlin." From this time the church held meetings in a hall in Exchange block, in Watson's hall, and in Carpenter's hall successively, and had regular preaching. The corner-stone of a new house of worship was laid, with appropriate ceremonies, on a site procured on East Lorain street, September 34, 1807, and in Septembei-. 1871, the building liaving been completed, was formally dedicated. It is a neat and commodious brick building, and cost about fourteen thousand dollars. The present number of members is about one hundred and sixty.

In 1808, funds were collected, and a lot purchased on South Main street, by Rev. Ira Hitchcock, then on Amherst circuit, for a Methodist Episcopal churcli, and the next year Rev. G. A. Reeder was sent to the charge, and labored faithfully to carry out the project of building a church. But he being removed from the work at the end of the year, and there being other adverse causes, the enterprise was finally abandoned. A few years later, the society was disliandcd. and nothing remained but a lot and a note of one hundred dollars from the sale of materials.

The next year, Rev. J. Evans being on the charge, the society decided to make an other effort to erect a house of worship. About twelve hundred dollins were subscribed in and around OI)erlin, and tlie work was begun.

In 1870, Rev. A Holbrook was appointed to tlie charge, and the work was carried forward, as fast as tlie means on hand would allow. Contributions were received from neigliboring places, and also from members of the college faculty, and from many of the members of the Congregational churches of Oberliii.

dedicated December 14th, but not until subscriptions had been taken more than enough to cover the debt. The building is a frame enclosed with brick. Its dimensions are seventy-two by forty-five feet; and its estimated value is about eight thousand dollars. Rev. J. F. Brant is the present ])astor. The number of members is one hundred and sixty-two, and there is in connection with ihe cliurch, a flourishing Sabbath school.

About 1808, Rev. Mathew Goosland, who had been a slave, and had bought his own freedom, began to liold meetings for the colored people in Peck's hall, and members of the college faculty preached occasionally to them.

Subsequent to the formation of tlie First Methodist Episcopal church, a Second Methodist Episcopal church (colored,) was organized. The members of this church, with persevering effort, have erected a chapel edifice on Soutli Water street, and furnished it with a bell. Tlieir building cost them three or four thousand dollars. The number of their members is about forty.

A division occurred in this church, and in August, 1870, the seceding members organized an African Methodist Episcopal church. This is of about the same size as the otlier. They hold their meetings in a house, which they have purchased and fitted up. on East Lorain street.

The first cemetery was on Morgan street between Main and Professor streets. The first burials were made next to the street, but afterwards, when greater retirement was found desiralile, the first graves were removed back. When the town became larger it was thought desirable to have a larger cemetery, outside of the village. A public meeting of the citizens was therefore called .July 9, 1801, to take stejis to form a cemetery association. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws; which being reported at a subsequent meeting, were adojited, and the officers, consisting of six trustees and a clerk, w'cre elected. During the next year twenty-seven and a half acres were purchased of Rev. Henry Safford, in the southwest part of the village, and this lot was converted into a cemetery and called " Westwood." The grounds have since been much improved, and it has become a favorite resort. The remains of between two and three hundred have been removed from the old to the new cemetery. Tlie whole number of interments, not including removals, from 1803 to January 1, 1878, was six hundred and forty, an annual average of about forty-two.

The principal settlements in Oberlin were first made on the east side of Main street opposite the college square, and south on the same street. Mr. Shipherd's house was north of the square, the back part of the house now owned by Mr. Hulburd; and he afterjvard built the house now occupied by Mr. Jewell. Mr. Pringle Hamilton's house, a mile south of the village, was built in 1834, and was then far in the woods. East College and East Lorain streets began to be settled next in order. There were bxiildings there in 1834. In 1835 there were two houses built on Professor street, Professor Finney's and President Mahan's, and that street was not opened north of Lorain and south of College street. The house of Chauncey T. Canier, the college farmer, the one now owned by President Fairchild, was built in 1838 or '39, but was then in the lot. North Professor was not opened till sometime later, and West College was simjily a pocket, having uo outlet. Then West street was laid out, giving a passage across to Lorain, and it was called West street because it was supposed it was the last j street that would be needed toward the west.

Pleasant street, between Lorain and College, was opened very early, liut its extension north and south has been quite recent. West Lorain was opened at the beginning, but was not built up much till one got into the country. It was the only road opened to the west out of town, and made its connections with Henrietta, Brownhelm, etc. Thus, all there was of the town for a great many years, was found on four streets. The town did not extend much south of the creek, the tendency to build in that direction coming with the advent of the railroad.

The first steam mill, owned by Oberlin College, was sold to Isaac Chamberlain. Mr. Chamberlain sold the mill to Henry Wilcox, who ran it for some time. It was owned by Beebe and Horton when it was burned in 1810 or '47.

In 1841, a saw mill was built on the east side of Water street by Ellis, Wilder and Reed. It was run a short time before it was given uj). L. M. Hall built a flouring mill a short distance north of it, using the old boiler to furnish steam for the engine. Before there was any mill, I\[r. Hall ran a team to bring flour from Ashland. About the year 1846, Lewis Holtslauder built a grist mill on the west side of Water street, and south of Hall's mill, P. P. Stewart putting in the engine. This was only run a year or two, and is now owned by Hervey Leonard.

In 1863-3, Mr. Jenkins built a saw mill on the south side of Mill street, which Samuel Plumb bought in 1863, and sold it in the fall of the same year to Reuben Haynes and H. 0. Swift. After the death of yir. Haynes, Reuben Stone bought his interest.

The building on South Main street now occupied by L. S. Colburn as a planing mill, was built in 1838 by three students, James A. Preston and William H. Evarts, who became missionaries to Jamaica, and Cephas Foster, who settled in Cxalena. President J. II. Fairchild, then a senior in college, took the job of making the window frames for fifty cents apiece, and made them, twenty in number, in five days. The building was erected to aid students depending on manual labor for support. Seth B. Ellis, who owned the shop alone, or with others, for twenty-five years, purchased the first planer and matching machine for it, and the first shingle machine. About the year 1848, a carding and cloth-dressing machine was put in, and

In 1834, before there was any post-office in town, Harvey (iibbs used to carry the mail between Oberlin and South Amherst, in a leather bag which would hold about half a peck. He was the first post-master, the post-office then being in the first building north of the site of the town hall. In 1841 T. Dwight Eells was appointed post-master. Mr. Eells was succeeded by Mr. Munson, who kept the office until 1840, and filled it again from 1853 until 1861, when G. F. H. Stevens was appointed. J. F. Harmon was appointed in 1865, and was succeeded by the present post-master. Will. Allen, in 1874.

The First National Bank of Oberlin opened for business at No. 13, West College street, in September, 1863. Samuel Plumb was its president until November, 1869, then I. M. Johnson for two months, after that A. H. Johnson until January, 1873, when I. M. Johnson was chosen, and was succeeded in January, 1874, by Hiram Hulburd, the present president. The bank was removed to its i^resent location in Viets's block, on East College street, in 1870.

Professor Dascomb practiced somewhat as a physician for a short time. In 1835 or 1836, Dr. Alexander Steele was invited and came to Oberlin, and had all the practice. Dr. Otis Boise was afterward associated with Dr. Steele for a few years. In 1846, Dr. Homer Johnson came from Birmingham, where he had been practicing medicine for about ten years, to Oberlin, where he was associated with Dr. Steele, till 1859. They had a large practice, as well in the surrounding country as iu the village. Dr. Steele died in April, 1872.

The colored people, who now form about one-sixth of the whole jiopulation of the place, did not come in much at au early day. Some of the first families were those of Mr. Farris, Mrs. Crabbe, and Mr. Smith.

Sabram Cox came from the west, in 1839, as a student, and finally married and settled down, and has ever since been one of the most substantial colored citizens. Campton, Copelaud and the Pattersons came from North Carolina. Anson Jones also came from North Carolina, and was one of the characters of Oberlin. When a slave, he hired his time, and by working at his trade as a blacksmith, bought himself and family at a cost of eight thousand dollars, and then came to Oberlin and put his four sons through college. He worked away at his anvil till he was over eighty 3'ears old. He took a good deal of interest in politics, and took the A^ational Intelligencer and the Charleston Mercurij. On East College street, a mile from the center, Horace Crosby settled at a very early day, and one of the attractions of his place was a flower garden iu the door yard, kept by Mrs. Crosby. The students often took walks in that direction to get a sight of the flowers.

February 17, 1846. The first mayor elected was Lewis Holtslander. By an ordinance ])assed by the town council, in 1853, the name of the town, the limits of which were defined, was to be the "Incorporated Village of Oberlin." In 1861, the limits of the corporation were enlarged, and again in 1870 and 1871.

The running of the railroad through Oberlin was an important event in the history of the town. The trains began to run in the fall of 1853, and the road was then called " The Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad,'* and ran through Grafton instead of Elyria. Before this, students had gone on tlie railroad to Wellington, and had come from there by stage. Before the road was built, students from the east commonly waited for the lake to o])eii in the spring. This coming of the railroad to Oberlin gave both the town and the school a new start. It was soon after the inauguration of the scliolarship endowment, by which the school had been so largely increased, and furnished augmented facilities to the crowds of stu dents in reaching it.

In the fall of 1858, Mr. W. Stephenson undertook to provide the town with gas, and many of the citzens took stock in the enterprise. After laying some of the jiipes, he failed; and the next year Samuel Phimb assumed the undertaking, the citizens who had subscribed stock throwing it np to secure its success.

At the spring election of 1868, a large majority of the qualified electors of Russia township voted for the building of a town hall, and soon after the State legislature passed a special act constituting the townshi]i trustees and the town council a joint board to build such town hall. Acting in accordance with this, the board made an assessment, and afterward issued bonds, and contracted for the construction of the proposed building, which was completed in 1870, at a cost of eighteen or twenty thousand dollars.

Fike Department

The first fire engine in Oberlin was a small hand engine, which was procured about 1844. In 1853, two hand engines were bought in Rochester, New York, called the "Niagara" and "Cataract;"' the latter costing five hundred dollars, and the former two hundred dollars. These machines were used till 1865; and one of them has been fitted up, and is now used by a colored company. The otlier is used in the brickyard formerly owned by L. B. Kinney. In November, 1865, a steamer, - -a third class Silsby engine, - was purchased, costing four thousand dollars. About 1873, a new hose cart was bought.

About 1860, a hook and ladder company was formed. In 1863, at a tournament held in Cleveland, this company won a silver trumpet, valued at one hundred dollars; and the next year, another at Sandusky, of the same value; the latter being afterward presented to M. T. Gaston, as a token of gratitude for his services. This company has won the prize in six tournaments; the prizes being four trumpets, once money, and the last a buck-horn.

The following are the names of the chief engineers, in the order in which they have served: H. C. Taylor, Homer Johnson, David Brokaw, Mr. Peake, M. T. Gaston, H. M. Piatt, M. T. Gaston, again, and now, Levi Whitney.

Many of the more imjiortant of the following facts I have copied from the Town records, as they were collected and recorded by John L. Hunter, in 1855; other interesting facts I have obtained from early settlers, or from the descendants of early settlers.

The township of Russia was owned by Street and Hughes of New Haven, Connecticut, having been bought by them of the State of Connecticut. The first settlements in the township were made in the northwest part, contiguous to the settlements in Amherst. This may have been because of the nearness to settlements already made, and also because of the better quality of the land. The first settlements seem to have been made in 1818. In that year Daniel Rathburn, Israel Cash, Thomas Waite, Jonathan Buck, John Callum and Israel CJamp settled on lots iiumlier one and eleven. In 1823, Walter Buck, Samuel T. Whiteman and Esquire (rreen settled in the same neighborhood, but perhaps not on the same lots. In 1S3:5, John McC'alley settled on lot twelve, and in 1834, Daniel Axtell bought him out. In 1825, Richard Rice settled on lot forty-two; Israel Smith, Slan Butlangh and Abrani Wellman on lot twelve; Stephen Baker on lot three, and Stillman on lot four.

With these inhabitants, who constituted the voters, the township was organized. Early m 1825, a petition was presented to the commissioners of the county for the powers and i)rivilegesof an incorporated township. The petition was granted, and Josiah Harris, Es(]uire, of Amherst was appointed to preside and call the meeting to order for the first election, which was held at the house of Daniel Axtell, on lot twelve. There were sixteen voters in the township, all told, and all were present. Walter Buck, Israel Cash and Stephen Baker were judges of the first election, and Richard Rice one of the clerks, the name of the other being unknown.

In 1836, Lewis Boynton bought on lots tweutj'-two and thirty-two and settled; Rufus Jloore on lot eighty, on the road from Elyria to Wellington; and Thomas Errin, Elias Peabody and George Disbro on lot one.

Between 1S26 and 1829, John, James, Hezekiah and Ray Tift, four brothers, with their mother, settled on the north and south center road, in the north part of the township. This was called "the Tift settlement." This settlement was soon afterward increased by the arrival of Robei't Meeker, George ' Wilcox, and Silas, Mayuai'd and Orson Allen. A little south were George Carley and Clark Warner, and east were Abram Van Houton and his sons, and Jeremiah Bidwell.

Bridgewater, Massachusetts. His son, tlien a hoy and now a respected citizen, lives on the old place. Mr. Orrin Gibson came the same year. He was twenty-six years old, unmarried, and rode all the way on horseback from Tompkins county, New York. Ho afterward married Miss Elizabeth Freeman, whose father settled in the north part of the township in 1829. Both are still living in the same house with their son. About the same time Mr. Lot Parsons bought the Tift i:)lace and settled. This settlement was about a mile in length. There was no wagon in the neighborhood, and no wagon track in the road - only a path in the middle. When they went to mill they hitched two yoke of oxen on a sled.

On the same road, farther south, Alanson A. Piatt, settled in the spring of 1836, on the place now owned by Gillett, Jarvis and Bassett. He came originally from Milford, Connecticut, but had lived three years in Genesee county. New York. He had a family of thirteen children, though all did not come with him. Henry M. Piatt, who has for many, years carried on a photograph gallery in Oberlin, is his youngest son, and was born the fall after his father had removed to Russia.

Silas Gibson moved from Tompkins county. New York, to Henrietta, in May, 1831, and in the following February removed into Russia township, and settled about a mile and a quarter west of the Tift settlement, where he still lives. He bought his jilace of the Thurston brothers, who were bachelors, and with his wife and three children lived the first year in a shanty twelve by seventeen. He has raised a family of twelve children, eight boys and four girls. His next neighbor on the south, who came in soon after he did, was Mr. Messerole, from New Jersey, whose son lives on the old place. Deer were plenty, and they could have as much venison to eat as they wanted. There were also large flocks of wild turkeys; one day he shot five and shared them with his neighbors.

The first school kejit in town was in the winter of 183.5-'26, in a log school house on lot eleven. The teacher was Albert Adams, a man from Wellington, and his wages were twelve dollars per month. This west part of the town constituted district number one. Afterward another district was established east of this, and a log school house was built in the Tift settlement.

Previous to 1839, elections were held, and the township business generally was done in the west school house. In 1829, and thereafter till the jilace of election was changed to the village of Oberlin, elections were held at the school house on the center road. Daniel Axtell was the first Justice of the peace, being commissioned April 22, 1826.

The first religious meeting in the township was held in 1826 by a missionary from Connecticut, who preached in a log school house on lot thirty-one.

York, when he was twenty-two, and was there married and raised a family of ten chihli-en. He first came to Russia in 1833, and bought the whole of lot seventy-two, of Street and Hughes, whirii was then a dense forest. The next year, he removed his family, and purchased of Walter Burk a farm partially improved, on lots thirty-one and thirty-two, where he resided till his death, June 23, 1865, at the age of eighty-two, and where his son, Alonzo Gaston, now lives. He was a strictly temperate man, and was the first man in the part of the town where he resided to put up a building, at the raising of which intoxicating liquoi'S were not used as a treat to the hands; and as a consequence, he was obliged to make two efforts before the raising was completed. He may be said to have been the most prominent member of the Congregational church at South Amherst, of which he was one of the deacons from its organization, in about the year 183-4:, until his death. In 1834 or 1835, he was elected a justice of the ])eace by a strictly party vote on the temperance question, the election being held at the school house near his residence, and the people of Oberlin going out to vote. He served several years in that capacity to the satisfaction ot his fellow citizens.

Samuel Rossiter came to Russia from Richmond, Massachusetts, in the fall of 1834, and bought of Street and Hughes lot eighty-two. The following February, he was married to Maria Gaston, daughter of Deacon A. Gaston, and in May they moved into a log cabin he had erected on his place, thirteen by sixteen feet within walls, with single roof, and without chamber. In the summer ho built a frame barn, thirty by forty feet; and, not finding sufficient help among his neighbors to raise it, without whisky, was assisted by students and others from Oberlin. A pig-pen that he afterward liuilt between liis luiuse and the road, and larger than his house, was often mistaken for his house, persons first knocking at the door of the pig-pen. His only vehicle for several years, for use on his farm, or for riding for business or pktisvre, was a twn-wheeled cart, ])ropelled by oxen. In this, he and his family attended cliurch at Oberlin, riding over roads made in the following manner: A track about ten feet wide was made through the dense forest two miles, from his jilace to town, by cutting the trees even with the ground Rails were then split, ten feet long, and a continuous bridge made of them on the above surface, then a ditch was dug at the sides, and the clay thrown upon the rails. Over such roads, when the clay settled through the rails, or some of the rails decayed, as they soon did, riding in an ox-cart was anything but delightful. Mr. Rossiter has had a family of eleven children, of whom ten are living. He himself now resides in Tabor, Iowa.

The settlement two miles northeast of Oberlin, know as "New Oberlin," was begun by J. B. Hall, father of Rev. H. B. Hall, now a resident of Oberlin. In the fall of 18^4, he bought laud, and began to clear. He built, a barn in 1836, and a house in 1839. lie was !ui earnest cliristian man, and carried on nieelings in the neighborliood for years.

Omar Bailey built a house in 1837, in which he now lives. Francis Spces, Israel Mattison, Stejilieii Cole, and Talcott Kinney were among the early settlers in tiiat neigliborliood.

was born in Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, August 2'.), 1793. When about two years old his father removed to Oneida county, New York, where, the country being new, the subject of our sketch grew up with scant religious i)rivileges, seldom hearing a sermon. Here he obtained a common school education, and afterward, returning to Now England, attended a high school. He gained some knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and thought of going to Yale college, but did not.

In 1818 he began the study of law in Adams, Jefferson county. New York, where, for the first time in his life, he enjoyed the (ijiportunity of hearing regularly the preaching of an educated minister. At this time also he for the first time owned a Bible, which he read with interest ; and he frequently attended tjie weekly prayer meeting of the church. Coming tinally, tiirough the working of gospel truth on his active mind, under deep conviction, in the fall of 1831 he experienced a remarkal)le change of character and of life, whieli led him immediately to give up the law willi the view of becoming a jireacher of Ihe gospel.

His conversion was the beginning of a revival in Adams, and he entered at once upon christian work with all the zeal of his ardent nature. In his prepai'ation for the ministry, jnirsuing Ihe study of theology under the instruction of his pastor. Rev. George W. Gale, his mind revolted from the old school Calvmistic doctrines, which brought him into frequent discussion with his teacher.

In March, 18"24, he was licensed liy the iiresbytery to preach, and soon after began his labors as a home missionary, in Jefferson county. New York.

-' Having had no regular training for the ministry,"' he says, " I did not expect or desire to labor in large towns or cities, or to minister to cultivated congregations. I intended to go into new settlements and ))reacii in school houses, and tiariis, and groves, as best ] could."

From the llrst he engaged in his work with an intense yet intelligent zeal ; and iis untiring laJjors })roduced, with (iod's blessing, powerful revivals. He was indeed possessed of uncommon natural abilities ; but the real secret of his success, from the beginning to the end of his ministry, is found in the fact that he was a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and of much prayer.

It soon a])peared that his great work was to be, not that of a pastor of a single church, but that of an evangelist, going from place to place and laboring for the awakening of the churches and the conversion of sinners. To this work the first ten years of his ministry were wholly given, during which he preached in the large towns and cities of New York, in Philadelphia, and in the principal cities of New England ; and powerful revivals occurred, resulting in the conversion of large numbers.

In the sjiring of 1832 he went to New York City and became pastor of a new Presbyterian chun'h. Here he delivered a series of lectures on revivals, which were at the time reported and published in tiie New York EiunujeUsf, and being afterward collected in a book, have had a very hirge circulation, not only in this country, liut in England and other countries of Europe.

In the spring of 183.5 he went to Oberlin, and entered upon the work of his remaining life as a professor of theology. To the formation of the characacter of this new enterprise, in its predominant religious and reformatory aspect, lie was to contribute a large share. But he could not be content to be a mere teacher. The gosjiel message was as a fire shut up within, which would continually burst forth. Neither could it be confined to one place.

Till the infirmities of age made it physically im])0ssible, he preached at intervals in many j)laces, with the same fervor and success which had characterized his earlier efforts. Twice he visited England ; the first time in 1819, the second time in 1858 ; and both times extensive revivals, in various jilaces, resulted from his labors.

From 1830 to 1873, he was pastor of the First Con- <rrei;ational C'liurch of Oberlin, and from 1851 to ISUti was president of the college. His sermoi\s were for many years published in the Oberlin Evamjelist, and since his death a selection of them has been made and published in book form.

As a theologian, Mr. Finney is perhaps less widely known than as a preacher; yet in his preaching his theology continually appears. While he was an original and independent thinker, his theological faith belongs to that phase of the evangelical systeni known as the new school. His theological views are embodied in his work on "Systematic Theology," a new edition of which, revised and slightly abridged by President Fairchild, has been recently pulilished. The basis of his system is found in his theory of the foundation of moral obligation, which he identifies with the good of universal being, the willing of .vhich constitutes the true righteousness of a moral agent. The first part of his work on systematic theology consists of a thorough and masterly discussion of this whole suliject, comprising a review of other theories.

Mr. Finney's prciicbing was not an appeal to the feelings; his sermons were always weighty with thought, and produced first and most, - conviction of the Judgment. His appeal to the feelings was through the intellect. In private he was frank and genial. In his preaching, and in personal intercourse, one of his greatest charms was his unaffected sincerity. In his autobiography, pul)lis]ied since his death, he has left a vivid and deeply impressive narrative of his revival labors.

The last two or three years of liis life were spent in comparative rest and quiet. He retained his connection with the theological seminary, and finished a course of lectures to the students but a short time before his death. Concerning this closing period of his life, I'residcnt Fair^'hild writes as follows: "Notwithstanding the abundant and exhausting labors of his long public life, the burden of years seemed to rest lightly u]wn him. He stood erect as a young man, retained his faculties to a remarkable degree, and exhibited to the end the quickness of thought, and feeling, and imagination, which always characterized hiui. His life and character perhaps never seemed richer in the fruits and the beauty of goodness, than in these closing years and months." Taken suddenly ill, after a few hours of suffering, he passed peacefully to his reward, August Ifi, 1875, within two weeks of having completed his eiglity-third year.

Mr. Finney was married three times. His last wife survives him. By his first wife he had five children, of whom four, two sons and two daughters, are now living. Of the two sons, one resides in Califoi-nia, the other in Wisconsin; of the daughters, one is the wife of Hon. J. D. Cox, the other of Hon. James Monroe.

James Harris Fairchild

James Harris Fairchild was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, November 35, 1817. In 1818 hi parents, with their family, removed to Ohio, and settled in Brownhelm, which was then a wilderness. Here, amid the influences, the stimulus, as well as hindrances of a ])ioneer life, he spent his boyhood. Rut liis prevailing inclinations were to study; and happily an academy was started in his own town, at which, and at the high school in Klyiia, he prei)are(l for college. And when he was ready for college his college was ready for him. The school at Oberlin was first liegun in December, 1833. In May, 1834, the appointed teachers came on from the east, and the school was then first regularly oi-ganized; and it was at this time that the subject of our sketch found his way to Olierlin. The following October, the first freshman class was organized, comprising at that tinie the two Fairchilds, James and his brother Henry, next older, now president of Berea College, Kentucky, and two others.

Pursuing his course steadily, he graduated from college in 183§; after which he entered at once ujutn a theological course, which he completed in 1841. In 1839, while studying theology, he was appointed tutor in Latin and Greek in the college; and on the completion of his course in theology in 1841, he was elected professor of Latin and Greek. In November, 1841, he was married to Miss Mary F. Kellogg, of Minden, Louisiana. In 1847 he was transferred to the chair of mathematics and nalural philosojihy, and in 1858 he received the appointment of professor of moral philosophy and systematic theology. In 1866 President Finney resigned his position, and Professor Fairchild was apiiointed his successor, a position he has held until the present time.

Thus it appears that from its beginning President Fairchild has been identified with Oberlin. His connection with it, beginning in his youth, has been continued to the maturity of his manhood. This connection has been uninterrupted, save by a single year of foreign travel. Early fashioned in mind and character by the positive and potent ideas, - theological, jihilosophical and reformatory, - which have given Olierlin its distinctive character, he has been thus well fitted to become, in his time, one of Oberlin's representative men. His life has not been eventful, but it has been a busy one. It has been a quiet, yet a progressive life.

As a public speaker he is quiet and self-contained, and though impressive, would not be called oratorical. Yet, so fraught are his productions with elevated and original thought, clothed in a style clear and terse, that corresponding thoughts are awakened in his auditors, which do not jiass away with the hearing. His public addresses on special occasions have uniformly possessed so high a degree of excellence that, almost without exception, they have been requested for publication.

That which best expresses and explains his life is, fidelity to duty. He has not been ambitious, or eager for distinction; but he has risen to a high position in the esteem, respect and admiration of a large number. He has given himself to his work with a devotion which has known no abatement.

There is found in him, in no ordinary degree, both the speculative and the practical. His mind grapples resolutely, and works actively and intensely on tlie great subjects of thought; but high thoughts do not so absorb his attention as to make him neglectful of the necessary details of practical affairs. He is wise in little things as in great.

The prevailing bent of his mind is unquestionably ethical. Though his mind is too comprehensive to allow him to be a mere specialist, yet his favorite study is ethics. On this summit of human thought he has long dwelt; and the result of his thinking and teaching he has embodied in his treatise on moral philosophy. This is an admirable exposition of the moral law of love or benevolence; first, in its philosophy or reason; and, secondly, in its practical appli-

Under his wise and discreet management, Oberlin college has undergone a gradual and continual imj)r()vement. This improvement is, indeed, its natural growth; yet it is not spontaneous, but must be jn-omoted by intelligent effort, in which many co-operate. This growth consists in the enlargement and perfecting of the course of stndy, so as to furnish a culture broader and higher; and, as a necessary material basis for this, an ade(inate college endowment.

The name of "Father Keep" is a bouseliold word in some parts of the land, and is not unfamiliar in others to those who have known little of his work and his life.

John Keep was born in Longmeadow, Hampden county, Massachusetts, April 20, 1781. His father, Samuel Keep, was of the fourth generation from John Keep, who was one of the earliest settlers of Longmeadow, and the ancestor of all of the name of Keep who have bad a residence in New England. His mother was Sabina Cooley, daughter of Josiab Cooley, of Longmeadow. He was the seventh of nine children, all but one of whom reached nearly seventy years of age. His father died at eigbty-fonr, and bis paternal grandmother at ninety-two.

The father, Samuel Keep, was a thriving farmer, of robust frame and vigorous mind, a leading christian man, much regarded in the community for his practical sagacity, and the wisdom of his counsels in all matters of business.

John was thoroughly trained in farm work until seventeen yeai's of age, when he entered Yale College and passed regularly through the course, graduating in 1803 with a class of sixty members, all of whom he outlived. A portion of the time in college he paid his board by dining-room work in the college commons, returning to the farm in vacations to do good service there. After a year's teaching, he entered upon special study, in preparation for the ministry, under the private instruction of Rev. Asahel Hooker, of Goshen, Connecticut. June 11, 180.5, he was approved, by the Litchfield North Association, as a candidate for the ministry, having already received an invitation to preach from the society in Blandford. Massachusetts.

While pursuing theological studies in (Josben, be was a boarder in the family of Judge Nathan Hale, where he became acquainted with Miss Lydia Hale, whom he married soon after entering upon his work at Blandford.

wishes to Miss Lydia, asking her to consider his proposal a week and then give him a definite reply. Before the week closed, she put into his hand a pa])er, mostly blank, with her name near the bottom of the page, and the following postscript: "I accept your proposal, and, that you may make your arrangements unembarrassed, you may put above my name any words you may choose expressive of my affection for you, and I will redeem the pledge." That pledge was redeemed, by rare fidelity and devotion, through almost sixty years of married life. Mr. Keep's own testimony to her worth will not be regarded, by those who knew her best, as an overstatement: " To her I owe much, yea, it verily seems to me all, of what success I have had in my ministerial labors. In this sphere she was always a reliable guide. Her counsels, deliberate, never obtrusive, always given in a kind spirit, yet clear and firm, became to me laio, so fully did they bear the proof that she had the mind of Christ. The duties of her home circle and pastoral life were her pastime; yet she quietly bore the privations, often severe to one of her quiet, retiring temperament, inseparable from the itinerancy of her husband as an agent and a lecturer, never holding him back from any consideration merely affecting herself. Such a helper, such a comi)anion and coworkt'r, (iod gave mc for fifty-nine years and four months."

The church and society at Blandford, where Mr. Keep began his ministry, were in a distracted condition, unable to harinoni/.e in the calling of a itastor. Tiie first .settlers of the ])lace were of Scotch-Irish origin, possessing much native vigor of body and mind, Imt not much of the grace of gentleness and conciliation. Conflicts on the affairs of the parish had characterized the town meetings for a generation, and, one Saljbath morning, the preacher had been borne to the jiulpit by the triumphant party, after a vigorous fight at the church door and in the aisles.

When the invitation was extended to Mr. Keep to come and preach as a candidate, the church had become discouraged in the effort to harmonize with the society, and had ceased to co-operate. Mr. Keep was invited by the trustees of the society alone, and the members of the church came to the meeting on the appointed Sabbath with sad hearts to hear the society's minister, without any expectation of being able to api)rove.

He preached bis first sermon to this distracted congregation. Both parties were delighted, but each expected that the other would reject the candidate. The final call for his ordination was unanimous, and when, after sixteen years of labor, he decided to leave, there was a unanimous vote urging him to remain, and pledging continued and liberal supj)ort.

The i)arisli would not seem an inviting one for a young minister seeking ease, or opportunity for self- , culture. It was a rough, mountainous region, and i f.he iieoplc were nuieli like the conntry, scattered over an area seven by nine miles in extent. Tlio average annual sale of intoxicating drinks in the town at the time of Mr. Keep's ordination, "is put by one authority at fifty hogsheads, by another as low as twenty-five,'' and this in a population of only one thousand five hundred. Intemperance, of course, diminished as the people made progress in intelligence and refinement. In this good work the pulpit gave no uncertain sound, but announced the doctrines of the temperance reformation twelve years before the general movement on this subject in New England. When Mr. Keep went to Blandford, he found a resolution on the records of the town meeting in these words: "Resolved, That wo will not allow any preacher the use of the pulpit to solicit money in support of missionaries." When he left, the cause of missions was cherished with interest and received a liberal support. All this was not effected without earnest and thorough labor. One who was at that time a youth in Blandford writes of these efforts:

"With great plainness he unfolded to his people their obligations to the nnevangelized abroad, and to the waste places of our own land. In different aspects and with varying application, he held up the Saviour's last command, and showed the insufficiency and hollowness of a piety that consisted of profession alone and did not ii'ork l)y love. These now self-evident truths sounded strangely then, and their utterance excited great opposition. I distinctly recall the tones of injured innocence in which one of his parishioners complained of the pain which those appeals occasioned him: 'Last Sunday afternoon,' said lie, 'I sweat my shirt through while Mr. Keep was begging for the heathen.' "

In May, 1821, Mr. Keep, in response to an invitation from the Congregational church in Homer, New Yoi-k, decided to "remove to the West." He had at the same time a call from the church in Brunswick, Maine, with the added responsibilities proposed of " teacher of moral philosophy and preacher in the college.''

The parish in Homer ojiened a wider field than that from which he retired. The church had four hundred names uj)on its record, and the Sabliath congregation averaged six hundred. There was a flourishing academy in the place, of which Mr. Keep was elected a trustee soon after his settlement. He entered upon this field when ho was forty-one years of age, in full vigor of body and mind, with an experience of sixteen years in the pastoral relation, and all his resources were brought to bear upon the work before him. An extract from a written statement made by one of his parishioners, will afford some apprehension of his labors there.

"He was now in the full possession of his mental and physical manhood, in the enjoyment of good health, and he entered upon the duties of this new charge with all the zeal, industry, and energy of his ardent temperament. His congregation, mingled in a population of six thousand souls, spread over an area of ten miles square, wore to be full-fed on the Sabbath, to be nursed in their families, to be bathed in his sympathies when sick, and to be tenderly sustained at the burial of their dead, requiring religious visits, many weekly lectures and a perpetual succession of funeral sermons. His pulpit discourses were uniformly well prepared and attractive ; his various and exceedingly multiplied duties out of the pulpit were punctually performed, and to the satisfaction of the community. Through his influence as president of the board of trustees of the academy, a ladies' department was inaugurated, more teachers were employed, the attendance of pupils increased, and the institution was at once placed on a basis which led it on and ujjward to a position of one of the most popular and useful educational agencies in central New York.

" Mr. Keep was remarkable for the interest he manifested in all the business, social, and religious affairs of the community. No one knew so much as he of all that was going on in the community. For the aged he ever had a pertinent thought, a word of consolation and cheerful advice. To the middle-aged business men, he was ever ready to address words of encouragement and wise counsels. For the young he invariably had a word of cheerful greeting and a hearty welcome. No child, ever so young, escaped his notice. He thus became a great favorite with the youth and children in our vicinity. The admission to the church, during his twelve years' labor among us, of five hundred members, is the reliable testimony that the blessing of God attended his ministration.

" During the five years before his removal from us, he maintained weekly five Bible classes, in as many diflierent districts, and such was his punctuality in fulfilling his appointments, that only in one instance did he fail of being present with his class. Many members of the church received their first religious impressions under his faithful j^resentatious of truth in these Bible recitations.

"His ardent temperament, with his talent for leading the community, placed him in the front rank in all measures necessary for a healthful public sentiment, the prosperity of the church, and the strength and adornment of a christiaii commonwealth ; yet in all this he was never captious or dogmatical, but at all times ready to listen to the opinions of others, and to profit by their suggestions, never allowing expediency to take the precedence of principle."

A man so ardent and progressive would inevitably find some tendency to reaction in his church, and the apprehension that this might at length result in dissension and party division induced him to tender his resignation, and thus avert the danger. Many were grieved at his decision, but he never regretted the step.

Two calls were then before him - one to an agency in New England in behalf of the American Colonization Society, the other to the care of a church in Cleveland, Ohio.

Uutil about tliis time, most of the pnieticul aiitislavery feeling of the country had gathered ahout the colonization society - an organization tlie design of which was to send free colored people and liberated slaves to Africa, where it was supposed they belonged. Mr. Keep was a colonizationist ; and with tliis call in his pocket he came on to Cleveland.

The doctrine of immediate emancipation on the soil had just been broached by Garrison and others, and the colonization society had been assailed as selfish and cruel.

Pondering these questions on his journey, he came out an unconditional emancipationist, and hence declined the call to the agency ; not that he was more opposed to slavery than before, but he had obtained new light as to the jiractical treatment of it.

Cleveland, in 1833, was a village of three or four thousand inhabitants, and here Mr. Keep spent a year as pastor of the Stone Church, - now the First Presbyterian Church. Then with a colony from this church he organized a church in Ohio City, - now tlic First Congregational Church, West Side. - and became its pastor.

The work at Oberlin was commenced in 1833. In the spring of 1834 the permanent teachers came upon the ground, and in the autumn of that year Father Keep was elected a trustee and president of the board. From this time he began to be known as Father Keep, not so much on account of his age, which was fiftythree years, as for his benignant, fatherl}' character.

One of the first questions before the board after his election, was that of opening the doors of the college to colored pupils. Several meetings were held; the discussions were long and earnest; there was much excitement in the new "colony;" and when the vote was taken in the final meeting, there was a tie. Father Keep, as president, gave the casting vote, and determined the position of the college and of the community on the side of the colored people. The position was taken with hesitation, but courage grew with the conflicts which followed. From tliat hour Father Keep took Oberlin on his heart, and never laid it otf until he laid off all earthly thought and eare. During the feebleness of the last day of his life, lie referred to a letter which he was writing in the interests of the college, saying that he would finish it tomorrow.

In 1836, he resigned his pastorate in Cleveland, and accepted a financial agency for the college. This work he prosecuted for a year with excellent success; but the financial crash of 1837 came on, and only a few of, the pledges secured were redeemed - his own, of one thousand dollars, being one of the few. The times were unpropitious for such an effort, and he resigned his agency to return to pastoral work.

But there were few pulpits, in those days, open to a minister connected with the unpopular cause of abolitionism, and the unpopular college of Oberlin. He preached a few months in Wooster, Oliio, and afterward in Lockjjort and Albion, New York.

Then, in view of the pressing wants of the college, especially of a debt which was truly formidable, and the imjiossihility of raising money in this country, in the spring of 1839, in connection with Mr. William Dawes, a trustee of the college, he undertook a mission to England for its relief. Mr. Dawes was the leader in the enterprise, and Father Keep was his ardent supporter and co-laborer. It was a bold undertaking, but successfully accomplished, giving a net result of thirty thousand dollars in aid of the college, and furnishing relief which was vital to the success of the enterprise at Oberlin. This sum was collected by personal ajiplication, and in small amounts, mostly under fifty dollars each, involving a great expenditure of labor and patience, continued through a year and a half. Mr. Dawes and Father Keep gave themselves to the work without reservation, not even taking a day for recreation or sight-seeing, passing St. Paul's daily, for weeks together, without turning aside to visit it. It was not because Father Keep lacked aj)- preciatioii of such objects of interest, or had no desire to see, but because he had given himself to a great work, and it engrossed the energies of his soul. This arduous and self-denying labor he ]ierfi)rmed almost without compensation.

For the next ten years, he gave himself to the work of preaching, having charge of churches in Mansfield and Hartford, Ohio, and preaching in Arcade, New York, and Litchfield, Ohio.

In 1850, having nearly reached his th reescore years and ten, he removed his family to Oberlin, put on the harness again, and aided in raising an endowment of one hundred thousand dollars by the sale of scholsliips. Here he passed the remainder of his years; but they were not years of idleness, or the quiet enjoyment of the fruit of his labors. He filled them all to the very last with a ceaseless activity; looking after the interests of the college and the place; going out upon an occasional agency; writing letters to friends and acquaintances to enlist their sympathy and aid; preaching without compensation from place to place on the great themes of the gospel and the jiressing questions of the times, the doctrine of human rights, and tlie true idea of a ''christian commonwealth;" aiding in every public enterprise of the town, as church l)uilding and the schools; looking after the poor and the stranger; showing an intense interest in all that concerned the welfare of the families and the place; attending diligently all meetings of the trustees of the college, and cheering on every eilort for improvement, often electrifying the whole body of trustees and faculty with the impulse of his ardor and his energy and faith. Others might be discouraged; he never was. His personal contributions to the college in money and services, estimated at the lowest standard at the time when rendered, exceed four thousand dollars; and all this at great self-denial, most of the time without any income, shut out from f)astoral work by his labors for the college.

ous constitution, and during his long life enjoyed almost unintcrrujited health. He was never confined to his Ijed a single day, save the last one of his life. Perhaps the best ^xplauation of this fact is, that "a cheerful heart doeth good like a medicine." For a few weeks before liis death, he was more feeble than usual, and felt that his end was near. He spoke of liis decease and made arrangements for it with as much freedom and cheerfulness as if it had been a journey or a change of residence.

February 11, 1870, his long journey was finished. He died, not because he was overcome by disease, But because he had lived life out. He closed his eyes as calmly as a child to sleep, holding the hands of his daughter, and putting his last breath into a farewell kiss. At last he rested from his labors.

Some of the prominent traits of Father Keep's character are well exhibited in the following communication from Rev. Albert II. PUimb, Boston, Massachusetts, who knew him in his best days:

"The visits of my uncle, Rev. .John Keep, to my father's house in my cnildhood, are remembered with great interest. His cheery ways, his quaint and pithy sayings, his kind interest in each member of the family, made his coming a breezy, sunny time.

"He seemed to have a rare faculty of comprehending at once the entire situation of the jiarties, of discerning just the topics which a wise regard for the interests of the families would bring up for conference; and passing quickly by all the little nothings which too often engross the thoughts when friends meet, occasioning regret afterwards that needful things were left unsaid, he promptly seized hold of each important subject in its order, so that when he left our roof we all felt like saying, ' what a satisfactory visit! how much was accomplished!' His life often i-eminded me of one of his own aphorisms: 'Duty done gilds the future.'

-'He must have early formed, for he long maintained, a habit of looking with real interest ujion every person he met, and of giving to almost every one some inspiring word bearing on his vital interests. These vigorous sayings often carried so much concentrated wisdom that they were treasured as mottoes for life.

" He was endued with remarkable foresight, so that his age was not embittered by the overthrow of his plans, and the disappointment of his hopes, through the changes of the times. On the contrary, he enjoyed, as few are privileged to do, the realization of his fondest hopes, the triumphs of his most sacrificing toils.

"As a friend, Mr. Keep was beyond praise. How quickly jiersonal grief melted away in the warm sunlight of his jiresence; for, in his high consecration to great and worthy ends, he thought little about himself - his frames or moods, his burdens or cares. His friendship was wise, far-sighted, and it held on. Look at his married life - one long, peaceful, cloudless summer day! And when, at length, husband and wife

In noticing further the character exhibited in the life of Father Keep, we are struck with his permanent and ever fresh interest in life and its work. He was never disposed to live in the past, or imagine the former times better than these. He congratulated those who wei'e younger, that they were permitted to live and act in these better days, and no admonition to his younger brethren was more often on his lips, than that they should appreciate the privilege of living at such a time as this, and not fall behind the age.

Hence, he was naturally a progressive, and never a conservative. He had no veneration for anything merely because it was of long standing. He was always looking for something bettei-, and ready to enlist in any reform that promised any good. And this trait was (juite as ^jrominent when he had passed liis fourscore years as in his early manhood; out of this, and his abiding faith in God, sprung his great hopefulness and his never-failing confidence in results.

This hopefulness and faith were perhaps the source of atiother trait - his courage and fidelity in maintaining his convictions of unpopular truth. Few, at this later day, can appreciate the courage which it required, in his early manhood, to esj)ouse as he did the cause of the colored man, and to identify himself with the friends of abolitionism so thoroughly.

lie had a plan for everything. Nothing was ever done at random, or by accident. He was not drifted along by circumstances, but subjected circumstances to his purpose. His mind was fertile in devising, and persevering and inflexible in execution. This appears in his early pastorates, and is the secret of the great amount of work which he was able to accomplish. His plans took in all the interests of every family in his wide parish, - and were laboriously and faithfully carried out in all their details.

This habit carried into his business, explains how he was able to live upon his slender means, almost without income, and yet give to benevolent causes more than most persons who had tenfold his resources. Nothing but rigid economy, and the most systematic conduct of his affairs, could have accomplished such results. Many a minister of later daj^s might learn wisdom from him m this particular.

Finally, Father Keep was a man of disinterested and abounding love. His self-forgetfulness was most remarkable, and he manifested it everywhere. He lived to do good, and his lovS embraced all classes. His mind was occupied with plans for others, seldom for himself. His reflections and private meditations did not pertain to his own state. He sometimes regretted that he had not more of an experience, and depreciated his own subjective life and character in comparison with what seemed to him the higher experience of his friends. But he held on his way in simple and transparent faith and obedience, and to the end testified of the sufficiency of Christ and his salvation. His faith was as striking as his good-will to men.

He never had any sympatiiy with the spirit of reformers who showed disrespect for tlie Bil)le and the church. It was his great aim to apply the principles of the gospel to all the relations and affairs of man. To this agency, under the blessing of God, he ascribed all iniprovevements iu the condition of the world. And so, in quiet trust and earnest consecration, he waited the call of his Master, ^nd when the summons came, went home in peace.

Samuel Matthews

Wlien a truly good man passes away, the community in which liis noble qualities were known ai]d a})preciated stand in awe at tlie divine disjicnsation, and are naturally led to wonder why Providence should select one wlio, by the very excellence of his life and character, could be so much more benefit to mankind in general than many others. But His ways are inscrutable, lience tlie seeming inconsistency of events, as viewed from a mortal's standpoint. The above thoughts are called forth by reference to the obiturary notice of the deatli of the late Samuel Matthews, who departed tliis life May 8, 1877, and of wliom it can be truly said, no better man ever lived within tlie limits of Russia townsliip.

Samuel Matthews was born in Addison county, Vermont, September 19, 1817. His ancestors liad been prominent citizens of tluxt State for many years, and we find his father, Lucius Tuttle Matthews, and his grand-fatlicr, Darius Matthews, residents of Cornwall, the latter living there in 1788, and the former born there in 179.3. They were a hardy, honest and practical class of citizens, just tlie kind, in fact, to be the progenitors of pioneers.

When Samuel was a boy, liis fatiier emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Thompson, Ceauga county. In tlio year 1837, at the age of nineteen, he (Samuel,) struck out for liimself, came to Russia township, and contracted for one liundred acres of land, upon wliich his widow and daugliters now reside. He made his home with his uncle, Deacon Daniel B. Kinney, while making a start upon his new farm. With but little capital, except a strong constitution, a brave lieart and willing hands, lie commenced making an opening in the wilderness, got out timber for a barn, erected a log house, and brouglit liis father and mother on to sliare his home. Here they all lived together until 1849, when, on the 19th of September of that year, he married Lomanda, daughter of Enoch Barnum. Siie was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, March 13, 1816. Her father was a soldier of the war of 1812, during which he was severely wounded, and on that account was a pensioner. There were born to them two daughters, Emma Augusta, born February 1-1, 1851;

As showing how difficult a matter it was, in early days, to obtain money, and what slow work it was to pay for his farm, he used to raise oats and sell them for one shilling per bushel, and when he had thus gathered a few dollars, he would go to Amherst, the home of the agent, on foot, after a liard day's work, and pay it on his article, and so persevered, paying little by little, until his farm was all jiaid for.

His parents were christians of the old puritan Congregational school, and being naturally sober and thoughtful, lie early made a profession of religion, and soon after arriving in IJussia united with the Congregational church of Oberlin. At the division of the society, he was one of the number that witlidrew from the old church and formed what is now known as the Second Cliurcli. His heart was enlisted in the work of erecting a churcli edifice, and he voluntarily pledged two hundred dollars to this object to be paid in installments, but realizing the immediate need of funds, he borrowed the money, at ten jKu- cent, interest, and paid it all at once. He and his excellent wife, who joined him in every good work, afterward took one hundred dollars in the building fund, which they soon after paid. He was never forward or ostentations, never seeking notoriety, but in his quiet, retiring way; was ever a steady, earnest, consistent christian. His deeds of charity were numerous and constant; many were the acts of kindness which he performed without any liope of reward, and which will live in the hearts of his neighbors long after his mortal remains shall have mouldered to dust. His home was a constant hospital for the needy and suffering. After his marriage liis fatlier and mother went to Iowa, to live with children there, but at the death of his mother, his father returned to finish his days with his son Samuel. The father and mother of Mrs. Matthews also found a home in his house, and in their declining years were cared for with generous kindness until removed by death.

Mr. Matthews was a man whom to know was to love, and whose name from the first to the last continued a synonym for all that w;'.s benevolent, generous and good. His character for personal integrity was above reproach. In the exalted relations of husband and father he was kind and affectionate, a good jjiovider, but reasonably exacting iu family discipline and obedience. In fine, he was a man whose life in general constituted a wortliy example of practical usefulness.

Charles Bassett

Among the families whose general worth has made them conspicuous in the history, not only of the community in which some members of them now reside, but also in the eastern States where for more than two centuries their ancestors have resided, that of the Bassetts liold an exalted and prominent position. The progenitors of him whose name lieads this sketcli, settled in Massachusetts contemporary with the pilgrim fathers, while those of his mother actually came to America on the ^'Mayflower'" in 1G20, she being a lineal descendant of Miles Standisli, the warrior pilarim. Each successive generation from this historic stock have by industrious and straightforward lives done honor to their exalted ancestry.

Charles Bassett was born in the town of Chili, Monroe county, New York, March 10, 1820, and we write this sketch of him on the fifty-ninth anniversary of his birth-day. He was the youngest child and second son of Nathan Bassett and Sarah Standish, the former of whom was born August 13, 17C3, the latter, December 10, 1775, both at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They were married April 4, 1793, and lived together sixty years, the husband and father dying in 1853, the wife and mother in 1854. Tiieir children numbered nine, and were born in the order named: Thomas, Phebe, Sarah, Naomi, Betsey, Freelove, Amanda, Emily and Charles. In 1813 they removed to Chili, Monroe county. New York, and to Russia township in 1834. They settled on the farm now occupied by their son, Charles, and for two years lived in a log cabin, 14 by 16 feet, an illustration of which appears in the sky margin of the view of the homestead on another page of this volume. In 183G he erected a frame house, which is still standing in the rear of the present residence. Nathan Bassett was a man of extraordinary vitality, and possessed mental capabilities al)ove the average. He was of a sunny temperament, of a jocular disposition, and had an extended knowledge of human nature. In his younger days he had been a great traveler, having spent seven years on the ocean, in the service of the West India Company. As a sample of his indomitable will and conrage we mention the fact that he had reached his "three score years and ten" when he penetrated the wilderness, purchasing sixty-seven acres of land, and made a home for himself and wife in Russia township.

Towards the close of the revolutionary war, he volunteered, and went with his regiment to Rhode Island, where the British were expected to land, lie also served in the war of 1812, at Buffalo, New York, where he was wounded. He lived to the age of ninety years, and to within a few months of his death was as active as most men at sixty. On the Christmas day preceding his decease he was jirostrated by a jiaralytic shock, the effects of which, four months later, ended his remarkable life. He enjoyed the respect and esteem of all by whom he was known, and his memory to-day is green in the hearts of those who knew him best. In politics he was an old line whig. He held several offices in the township government, notably that of school examiner. His last days were rendered as comfortable as possible, and the filial affection of his children, and the long-tried love of his devoted

Charles Bassett, son of the above, follows in his father's footsteps, and like him enjoys a deserved respectability and jd'ominenee iu the community of which for forty-five years he has been an honored citizen. The peo])le of the township, reposing confidence in his integrity, elected him a number of times township trustee, and two terms a justice of the peace, besides to other minor offices, especially to that of school director, which office he has held nearly every year since he attained his majority.

Ou the 7th of September, 184G, he married Emma, daughter of John and Ann Parsons, and sister of Lott Parsons of Russia township. She was born at Noil, England, July 28, 1819. They have five children, namely: Emma, born April 20, 1847, married Frederick E. Griffin of Amherst; Charles Henry, born April 2G, 1850; Miles Standish, born December 1, 1851; Helen, born January 20, 1857; Harvey Lewis, born July 3, 1859. All except IlnHna reside at home with their jjarents, the sons conducting the business of the farm under the direction of their father. Mr. Bassett has been a farmer all his life, and now has two hundred and thirty-five acres of well improved land, including the original sixty-seven acres purchased by his father in 1834. He is a good practical farmer; a man of domestic tastes; economical and independent in the management of his affairs; a good husband and father, and an honest trustworthy citizen.

Lott Parsons

Among the self-made and self-educated men of Lorain county, whose personal exertions have led to a successful issue, none deserve more general credit than he of whom we write. Leaving his native land when a child, and soon after settling in the then wilds of Lorain county, ]>resently losing his father, his early career was a peculiarly difficult one. At his father's death, a large share of the supjioi-t of his widowed mother fell Uiion him; and though but a lad in his teens, he acce])ted the duty with a fortitude worthy of riper years, and with a commendable determination, fulfilled the same faithfully and well. Such conduct, and the early developement of similar good qualities, laid the foundation to his subsequent success in life, as will be set forth in the subjoined brief narrative of the most salient features of his life and character.

Lott Parsons was born in Wilkshire, England, on the 9th of January, 1821. He is the son of John and Ann (Yetman) Parsons, who were also natives of the same shire. In Mai-ch, 1833, the family embarked at Bristol for New York, arriving at the latter i)lace in the following May. They proceeded thence to Mentor, Lake county, Ohio, where they remained during the ensuing summer. In the following fall, John

Parsons ciinie on to Russia townsliip, and in conjunction witli a cousin, purchased, by contract, a quarter of section of land, but the hind agent afterward ignored the stipulated agreement, and the bargain fell througli.

During tlio next year (1833), Jlr. Parsons and his family settled permanently in Russia township, upon a part of the farm now occupied by Lott Parsons, his son. .John Parsons died the same fall, his untimely death casting a gloom over his family, wliicii it took many subsequent years to efface. But his widow and her children possessed the sterling (jualities that have nuide thcii' native land famous in the ages of the ])ast, - fortitude and a hardihood that defy reverses. They brought the requisite amount of industry and stern practical economy to bear upon their unfortunate situation, and succeeded in establishing a comfortable home, where the head of the family had cast their lot.

On the 18th of October, 184-1, Mrs. Parsons died, but not before she had seen the fruits of her own and her children's battle with adversity, with the apparent assurance of victory.

On the a5th of December, l.s.51, Lott Parsons and Catharine E. Kendeigh were united in marriage. She was born in Amherst, .Tanuary 5, 183(!. They have had six chiidi-en, nanu'ly: Fi'ank S., born November 1, is.j^j, married Coi'nelia .Sherman, of Henrietta, now resides in North Amherst: Mary A., born .)uly 1. 1851, (deceaseil); Willie E., l)oi-n .January l'.». 1858; Viola E.. born May 1, 1860; .John (!., born January 1, 1863; Henry C, born April 17, 1870.

It can be truly said of Mr. Parsons, that he has done as much toward the nuiterial devolopmetit of Russia townshii) as any num now residing therein. He has cleared as much of its wild land as any, and in the way of scientific investigation and utilization of its resources, stands pre-eminently ahead of all. About ten years ago, he put to practical uses the gas that exists in large quantities on his farm, particularly showing itself iu a well that he sunk years ago. He now has gas all over his house, and in the summer, his good wil'e uses it for cooking and other household pur])oses. His sitting room is heated by it, through the medium of an ingeniously contrived ^ stove, of his own invention.

A remarkable feature about Mr. Parsons, when we consider the fact that he never received even the rudiments of au education, is his general and varied knowledge, especially of the science of geology. In this particular i)raaeh of learning, he excels almost any man, not of classical and scientific education. While a youth, toiliugfor his daily bread, and for the maintenance of his widowed mother, at ten dollars per month, he would borrow books, and in the quiet of the night, while others slumbered, ho would study.

His farm buildings, - of which an illustration, together with portraits of himself and wife, appears on another jiage of this volume, - show how, little by little, he has added thereto. He now owns, in all, one hundred and fifty acres of laud, and is considered one of the substantial practical farmers of his township. His i)erseverance and industry, coupled with an nniliuching personal honesty, are chief characteristics, and the main factors to his success.

Luther Freeman

The Freeman family, father and son, very fairly represents the pioneer element of Russia township, and, indeed, of other parts of the State as well. At an early day in the history of Wayne county, Ohio, we find Luther Freeman, the subject of this sketch, one of its earliest settlers. He was born in Connecticut, on the 3d of June, 1703. AVhen three years of age, his parents moved to Massachusetts, and, four years later, to Vermont. In 1817, they removed to Ohio and settled in Wayne county. From there they removed to Strongsville, Cuyahoga county, in 1829, and, one year afterwards, in January, 1830, to Russia township, and located on the farm at present occupied by his son, Calvin. Luther Freeman married Anna Baird, who was born at Granville, New York, January 11, 1795. They had seven children, as follows: Anna E., Phanclia, Clarissa, Calvin L., Walter, Lucy 0., and Adeline, all of whom survive exceirt Phanelia, who died in April, 1875.

Soon after arriving in Russia township, Mr. Freeman erected a log house, doing most of the work himself. An illustration of this old home appears in the sky margin of the view of the present residence, on another page of this work. Mr. Freeman was a man who enjoyed an excellent character for industry and probity. He was a hero of the war of 1812, and, after having been once honorably discharged, he volunteered again, and participated iu the battle of Plattsburg, New York. He died January 30, 1863, and his good wife followed him to the grave on the 13th of July, 1867. This worthy couple were married in 1815, and lived together forty-eight years.

Calvin L. Freeman was born in Mohecan township, Wayne county, Ohio, December 3, 1825. He was brought up on the farm, and has followed agricultural pursuits all his life. On the 19th of June, 1850, he was married to Eliza A., daughter of James and Sarah (deceased) Probert, of Grosmont, Monmouthshire, England. They emigrated to America in 1833, and first temporarily settled at Cleveland, Ohio. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman resulted in two sons, Franklin C, born October 2, 1858, and Marston S., born July 13, 1861. They both reside at home, and attend Oberlin College.

The present residence of Mr. Freeman was erected in 1845, and he has occupied it ever since. He did most of the work upon it, his father being unwell at the time of its erection. Himself and his excellent wife are, in every sense, a worthy couple, enjoying very generally the esteem and respect of a large circle of acquaintances and friends, and of the community in which they reside.

This is town five, range sixteen. The original proprietors were Daniel Holbrook, Caleb Atwater, Turlumd Kirtland and ten others. To equalize it with the selected townsliips there was annexed tract one, gore fonr, in range eleven. Until December 3, 1823, the date of its organization, it was called " Holbrook," after one of its principal owners, Daniel ITolbrook.

The surface is generally monot(jnously level, with a prevailing clay soil, modified by sand and gravel along Butternut and Chestnut ridges, which cross the northwest corner of the township, about half a mile distant from, and nearly i)arallel with each other. North, and for some distance south of these ridges, the soil is a clay combined with a black loam, strong and fertile. Besides the east branch of Black river, which crosses merely the southwest corner of Eaton, two other unnamed tributaries of that stream comprise the only water courses of the township worthy of mention. One of these I'ises in Grafton and drainthe southern ludf of the town. The other rising east of the center, with a northern branch with which it unites on lot eighty-eight, and flows thence southwesterly into Black river west of lot ninety-four. There were formerly several swamps in Katon, the largest of which was the llance swamp, in the southeast part, and one embracing within its extent some seventy-five acres, in the northern part. With cultivation and drainage these formerly unsightly marshes have become the most fertile portions of the township - the soil a deep, black muck, rich, mellow and enduring. Eaton was originally covered with a magnificent growth of timber, differing in variety not materially from that of adjoining towns. On Butternut and Chestnut ridges those kinds of timber were respectively found in abundance, from wliich circumstance the ridges derived their names. Whitewood, walnut, beech and hard maple were also native to this portion of the township. In the less elevated portions, beech, hard and soft maple, hickory, blackash, basswood and elm were among the leading varieties.

The First Location

was made in the fall of 1810, by Silas Wilmot, Asa Morgan and Ira B. Morgan. Tiiey were from Waterbury, Connecticut, and all unmarried at the time of their arrival in the township. They erected a cabin on Butternut ridge - lot eighty-nine - which for a time they jointly occupied. The next summer Wilmot married Chloe Hubbard, of Ashtabula county, and began married life in the log cabin on the ridge, which by consent had become his property, and he has the honor of being the first settler in the township. This pioneer cou])le had, as all pioneers ought to have, a large family of children. Tlie number was fourteen, and all lived to mature age. Eight are now (fall of 1878) living, and four are residents of the county, as follows : Mrs. J. L. Tucker in Eaton, Artemas iu Carlisle, Jeannette - unmarried - and Norris in LaGrauge. A son - Don Carlos - now residing in the west, was the first white child born in the town. Wilmot lived on his original location until his death, in 1855.

In the spring of 1813, Ira B. Morgan married Louisa Bronson, daughter of Levi Bronson of Columbia, and took up his abode on Butternut ridge, lot seventy-two. The land is now owned by Barney Jackson. He was the second son of Asahel Morgan, who settled in Ridgeville in the fall of 1813. He came to Columbia iu the spring of 1810, with a party of some twelve or thirteen men, most of whom settled in Ridgeville. He was a surveyor, and surveyed much of the territory through this section.

Asa, an older brother, came into tlie country with Tillotson Terrell and family, who were the first settlers in Ridgeville. He afterwards married a daughter of David Beebe of Ridgeville, and located just west of Wilmot.

Sylvester Morgan, another brother, married a daughter of Borden Beebe of Ridgeville, and settled, in 1817, on the same lot on which Ira B. had settled. He afterwards sold his place and moved into Ridgeville, settling on Chestnut ridge, and later on Center ridge. He finally sold and removed to Portage county, where he died.

Thurot F. Chapman, also from Connecticut, removed to Chenango county. New York, in 1808. In 1811, he married Lydia Andress, and, in 1817, emigrated to Ohio. At Ashtabula his money was entirely gone, and he was compelled to remain there two weeks. He located first in Ridgeville, where he arrived July 3d of the above year. In the fall of the same year he moved into Eaton. He erected his house where Mr. Varsey's now stands; but, on discovering subsequently that he was on the wrong lot, he vacated, moving into a house then owned by Levi Mills. In March, 1831, while the family were absent, the house burned to the ground with its contents, leaving the family very destitute. They received some assistance from friends, and were enabled to commeuce housekeeping again, but, for a long time afterward, were without many articles of household necessity. The first }'ear they liad neither a table nor a chair in the house, and two cups and saucers, two knives and forks each, and two plates, comprised their entire stock of crockery.

Mr. Chapman worked at chopping and clearing by the job for a number of years after settlement. He cleared and fenced for others over two hundred acres, besides about seventy-five acres for himself. He was in tiie war of 1813, and was made a prisoner at Queenstown. He died, at the age of seventy-one, December 16, 1800. Three children are living, Alonzo A. in Henry county, Emily in Oberlin, and Harlan in La Porte.

Indian Incident

For a few years succeeding the war of 1813, the forests of Eaton were a favorite resort of a band of Indians, who came every winter from Sandusky, and remained until spring. One winter, they had an encampment of fifteen families on Butternut ridge, near the swamp. The names of some of them were Good Flint, Tobago, Silver Heels, Yellow Jacket, Bill Harris, Seneca John, Joe Seneca and Little Billy. Of their suljsequcnt history, nothing is known with the exception of Seneca John and Bill Harris, the former of whom was executed for alleged witchcraft. Chapman on one occasion saved the life of the latter, and the Indian always afterward manifested the warmest gratitude toward his deliverer. When the report of the destruction by fire of Cliaimian's house reached Harris, he hastened to Elyria, and incjuired of Levi Mills, who was then carrying on a distillery there, if it was true that his "good friend's house was burned." Mills answered in the affirmative, and jokingly added that Chapman suspected liiin of setting it on fire, and that he had better keep out of the way or Chapman would shoot him. The Indian believed the cruel joke and disappeared. Chapman, in endeavoring to ascertain his whereabouts that he might undeceive him. learned that he went to Sandusky, crossed over into Canada, and there died a few months after.*

During the next few years, the following named persons became settlers of Eaton: Sylvester Morgan, A. M. Dowd, Levi Mills, Seneca Audress, Merrit Osborn, Dennis Palmer, Erastus Case, Borden Handley, James Field, Archibald Harper and others. Of the most of these there are at present no descendants in the township, and we are unable to give particulars as to their settlement. Mills took up his residence near the west lino of the township, on lot ninety-two. The farm is now owned by J. O. Humphrey. He subsequently removed to Illinois. Samuel Finch located on lot seventy, on land now owned by W. H. Phillips. Fields settled on lot eighty-eight. His son Gilbert now occupies the place. Jeremiah Finch arrived a few years after his brother Samuel, and settled east of him. Jeremiah Hance, a shoemaker by trade, was the first settler in the town south of Butternut ridge. With his son Hiram, then a lad some fourteen years of age, he left Cranberry, Niagara county. New York, for the woods of Eaton, February 1, 1824, having previously exchanged his farm there for one hundred and fifteen acres, on lot twenty-two here. Tiie journey was made with a single horse and a sled, with which some bedding and provisions were brought. lie drove on the ice for two days after leaving Buffalo, and with other emigrants, who subsequently joined him, experienced many dangers - the ice in many places breaking, at one time when the party were several miles from shore. Afterwards, the snow disappearing, the sled was abandoned, the bedding placed upon the horse, and father and son footed it. They arrived at their journey's end about the 1st of March, having been about a month on the way. A mere pole shanty was provided for their immediate necessities. This was then the only habitation between the center of Columbia and La Porte. The settlers on Butternut ridge were five or six miles away; there were no roads, and several swamjis to traverse in order to reach them: consequently but little intercourse was iiad with them.

Mr. Hance found his nearest neighbors in Grafton, one and a half miles distant. The father and son kept bachelors' hall through the summer, working Samuel Curtis' sugar bush on shares. They next underbrushed and cleai-ed out a road from North street to their land, after which preparations were made for the erection of a log house, in which their Grafton neighbors assisted. Indians from Sandusky frequently visited this region at that time, the same, / probably, as previously mentioned, having camjied on Butternut ridge. After clearing a piece of land ready for logging, Mr. Hance went to Cleveland and worked at his trade until the arrival of his family, wlio had been jareviously sent for. They reached 1 Eaton late in the fall. Many events in the life of this hardy jjioneer could be given, illustrative of the hardships endured by early settler.s, but want of space forbids. Mr. Hance died a few years ago at the advanced age of ninety-seven, and a few years after his widow followed, aged ninety-four. The son Hiram oc(;upies the old homestead, himself quite advanced in life.

In 182C, Henry J. Phillips joined the settlement, locating on lot fifty-one. He came from Tompkins ' county. New York. Phillips made the first wheeled vehicle in town. His son, W. H. Phillips, is a well known resident of Eaton.

On the township records we find the followiiiL; persons, not previously mentioned, elected as township officers between the years 1833 and 1830, who must have settled prior to the latter date: Tyler, Day, Beebe, Burr, Pond. Edson, Whitconib, Boughton, Blain, Nichols.

In IS'.Vi, Alva Brooks and Richard Crowell moved in, coming from Tompkins counter, New York. The former was originally from Vermont, and the latter from New Jersey. Brooks, who was a widower, was accompanied by a little daughter, two years old. Crowell's family consisted of his wife and four children. They both settled at the center, the former ou the farm which he still occupies with his son James, and the latter on that, a part of which is occupied by his son Aaron. He built his house immediately after his arrival, which was the first habitation in this portion of the townshii). Mr. Brooks chopped off twenty acres of his purchase and built his cabin the first year after his arrival. There was at that time no road in this part of the town, except the center road to Columbia, and that was merely cut out. In 1S41, he assisted in cutting out the southern half of the north and south center road. In 1853, he erected the large frame house which he now occupies. Mr. Crowell died in the fall of 1875. His widow and one son reside in Grafton: two sons and a daughter are residents of Eaton.

Edmund Holden, from Waterbury, Connecticut, arrived iii about the year 1833, and settled on lot forty-six. His house was the first frame erection at the centre. He was a man of much public spirit, and did much for the advancement of public interests. He removed to Michigan many years ago, and now resides there. A daughter is the wife of James Brooks.

Oel Durkee, one of the earliest settlers in the southwest quarter of the town, and who continues to reside there in the seventy-second year of his age, moved in from New York in the spring of 1834. He located temporarily on Butternut ridge, remaining there until August following. He then removed to his purchase of one hundred and eleven aci'es on lot eighty-three. A log cabin liad been previously erected on this farm, and was then occui>ied by a tenant, Forrester Ijangdon and family, consisting of wife and six children.

Mr. Durkee moved, with his family of wife and three children, into the house with Langdon, which was about twenty-four feet by eighteen in size, and without a chimnej' or window. There was only one room for the thirteen occupants; but they continued to live thus until the following November, when Langdon moved out.

Among the early settlers of this portion of the town, some of whom arrived previous to Durkee, were the following: Voman Felt, William Burchard, James Johnson, John Shadford, Thomas Moran, Oliver Terrell, William Wallace, Job and William Clark, William Dobsou, John Sayre, John Gamble, William Lawson, William Wilson, Peleg M. Terry, j\Iiehael Montague and others. Harvey Coy came to Eaton in 1834, remaining until 1850, when he removed to Columbia. J. I). Swift and Thomas Sutton were among the earliest settlers on Chestnut ridge. The former now resides in Williams county, Ohio.

Ransom Tyler located on the west part of lot thirtyfive, in 1834. He afterward moved to lot fifty-five, and resided there at the time of his death. His widow now resides in Elyria.

Jacob Tucker, a native of New Hampshire, removed to Vermont when twenty years of age, was married there and aftei-wards became a resident of Buffalo. There he remained until the spring of 1817, when, with his family, which at that time consisted of his wife and five children, he removed to Ohio, by boat, settling in Erie county on land now occupied by the village of Vermillion. In the spring of 1819 he moved to Windham, Portage county. With an ojjen row boat the family jjroceeded by way of the lake to Cleveland, and then up the Cuyahoga about two miles. Here Mr. Tucker left his family while he proceeded on foot to Windham and obtained an ox team with which he returned for wife and children. They resided in Windham until the year 1832 or 1833, when they came to Eaton, ])urchasing of John A. Ferguson the farm on which his son, J. L. Tucker, now resides. He occupied this farm until his death, whicii occurred in 1803. His wife died two years previous. Four of the family are residents of this county and three of this township, as follows : R. F. Tucker, J. L. Tucker, and Hannah, unmarried. The first is a justice of the peace in Eaton. Wm. H. resides in Elyria, where he is engaged in insurance and real estate.

Nicholas Taylor, formerly from Pennsylvania, moved into Eaton from Carlisle, in 1832, and settled east of the center. He now resides in Iowa.

Chilion Sperry, now residing in Mansfield, arrived in 1834, and settled a mile and a half east of the center. Walter Giles came in 1833, and located north of the center, where he now resides.

Thomas Bennington was a native of England. He emigrated to the United States in 1839, landing at Quebec. From there he went to Grafton, and a few months subsequently to Eaton and purchased a farm of fifty acres in the southern part of the towushij). This farm i^ now owned by James Johnson. After erecting his log house he sold his farm and then returned to England, and while there married. The spring following he returned to this country with his bride, remained in Elyria through the summer, and then bought the farm on lot seventy-six, on which his widow now resides at the age of seventy-two. Mr. Bennington died in Sejjtember, 1874.

Ebenezer Abbey, when thirteen years of age, removed from Windham county, Connecticut, to New York, where he resided until the year 1830. ki December of that year he removed with his family, consisting of wife iind eleven children, und a grandchild, to tJiis township, making a tcm})orary location of about two months on Butternut ridge. lie then moved to Carlisle, settlingon theeast line of that town, lie built an ashery the first or second year of his settlement, on the little stream near his house, and for many years was engaged in the manufacture of potash, pcarlash, and saleratus. He became a settler in Eaton in 1833, erecting, a short distance north of the present residence of his son, Lemuel Aliltey, a house which he used jointly as a residence tiud coo]ier-shop. Five years subsequently he built the frame house now occupied by his son Lemuel.

In December, 1830, Mrs. Susanna Wiglit- t.ook up her residence on lot thirty-five, purchasing a i)ortion of that lot, and now resides there with lier sou Harrison, who is uunuirried, and a mathematical genius, hy tlie way. Mrs. Wight was born in Saratoga, New York, April 4, 1793, and was married to Reuben Wight, July 17, 1814. They removed in August, 1834, with their ten children, from Fowler, St. Lawrence county. New York, to llockport, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Mr. Wight died of cholera, the twentieth of that month, and was l)uried at midniglit in the Alger settlement burying ground, a box of rough whitewood boards containing the remains. Mrs. Wight is now in the eighty-sixth year of her age, and reads without the aid of spectacles.