Lorain City (part 23 of 77)

The principal stream within the limits of the township is the west branch of Black river, which, entering the territory at the southern line, midway between tiie eastern and western boundaries, winds a tortuous course toward the extreme eastern corner. Wellington creek flows from south to north along the eastern boundary of the township, and several small brooks diversify the western half of the town.

The original owners of Pittsfield, with the number of lots they possessed, were the following: Elisha Tracey, seventy-five lots; Lewis Devotion, twenty lots; Joseph Barnham, nine lots; Richard MeCurdy, twenty-one lots; Samuel Dorrence, twelve lots, Wm. Perkins, thirteen lots; John McClellan, four lots; and J. Ward, six lots - whole number of lots in the township, one hundred and sixty.

J. Ward probably sold out to Simon Perkins, and Perkins sold or gave the tract to the Western Reserve College. Milton Whitney bought the Dorrance tract of one Keeler.

The first white men ever known to have been inhabitants of this township were a man by the name of Baker, and his two sons. As early as 1812 or 181.3, they cleared a small spot of ground on the northeast corner of lot ninety-six, and built a log cabin. They )emained here for some time, but fear of the Indians and the British soldiers, who were at that time scouring the country, induced them to leave. The father is known to have gone into the army of the United States, and whether his sons also entered the militai-y service is a matter of conjecture. They remained in the vicinity some time after his departure. It is not improbable that these men made the original survey of tiie township. A fact pointing to this conclusion was the discovery of a lot of surveyor's instruments in their cabin a number of years after they left. Their names were also mt'ntioned as surveyors in some of the deeds given the first settlers.

In 1819, when the townshi]) was surveyed into lots and divided between the purciiasers, Milton Whitney became a large owner. He came from the east in the following year, made an examination of his land, and induced a couple of enterprising young men to settle upon it. Tiiomas Waite, of New York State, originally settled in Amherst township, but, after a short sta}', removed into Russia. His sons, Jerry and Thomas, were the first men who went into Pittsfield with the intention of permanent residence. Milton Whitnev gave each of them fifty acres of land in lot one hundred and seven, and they took up their abode upon it in the spring of 1821. Jerry Waite died iu early life. Thomas Waite is in his seventy-eiglith year, and resides upon almost the exact site of the rude log cabin which he erected half a century ago.

Henry and Chauncey Remington came into the township from Soutiiwick, Massaeimsetts, in the fall of 1833, each receiving from Mr. AVhitney a farm of fifty acres, as remuneration for cutting twenty acres of timber. Both removed from the township before 1830. Chauncey died in Henrietta in 18(J0. His widow married Lucius Washburn, of Henrietta, with whom she is now living, aged seventy-five years. Henry is in Amherst. About the same time, in all probability, though possibly before, came a man named Smith, and his sons, Charles and Joel, from New York. Joel settled on lot twenty-four with his father, and Charles took up a farm in lot forty-four.

Following tiie Smiths came John Norton, who settled on lot one hundred and twenty-eight, and who, it is said, built the first frame bara in the townsiiip. Norton died some time previous to 1830.

L. D. Boynton, father of Judge W. W. Boynton, became a temporary resident of the township soon after the Smiths and Norton came in. He built a cabin upon lot one hundred and thirty, but made no purchase of land and remained but a short time.

Samuel Ratliburn and two sons, Daniel and George, came from New York State in 1838, the father and younger son settling upon lot sixty-four and Daniel upon lot fifty-seven.

Aljout the year 1830, ^\'nl. I'liillrr and live sons from the Em[iire State, settled on lot thirty-seven, and, in the same year, came Samuel Wightman, who located on lot seventeen, and Petcu- Beam and his son Joseph, who took up their residence on hit twonty-five.

William Mat.cham and his son-in-law, Levi L. WowcU, came to the township in 1831. Sullivan h'dwcll a,nil his sons, .lohu fj., James, C. B. and Levi, came later from Granville, Massachusetts, and settled on lot one hundred and nine. 'I'lie Matchams were fi-iim I'ittsfleld, in the same State. Edward came the year before his fatlier, and settled njion lot one hundred and twenty-tive, on the old State road, about one mile south di the center, where he still resides. He married Abigail 'I'inker, of Rochester townsliip, April 8, 1835.

Teter McRoberts was the first arrival after the organization of the town. About this time settlers came in quite fiist, and it is impossible even to name them all. There arc in Pittsfield three families of Whitneys, and a circumstance that seems somewhat singular, is that they bear no relationslii[) to each other. Milton Whitney came from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 18"^(t, the year after the survey had been made, and, after making arrangements for the Waites to settle, as has previously been related, returned to his home in tiie east, lie took uj) his permanent residence in this townshiji in 1834. He had five sons, S. D., Oliver W., Asa W., Jlenry and Frederick, and two daughters; the first-named son now lives upon lot one hundred and sixteen. Josepii Whitney, the head of another distinct family, came about the year 1833. His sons, Ira E., Cepha, Mark and Augustine, live in Pittsfield, and Loren and Aaron T. in Oberlin, and Norman iu Florida. Nathan Whitney, the third original settler bearing the same name, but no relation to the other two, came into the township about the same time, and is represented by his son Ira, who lives upon lot seventy-two; another son, Abram, is in Olierlin.

(Cornelius Gilford and sons, John Nye, Cornelius F. and Sidney, came about the year 183.5. .John Nye had one son and three daughters by his wife, Roxy Messenger, of Windham. Cornelius Gitford had also foui- (laughtei's, the youngest of whom is the wife of JMark Whitney. Daniel and Sally Wilder came in 1835 from Vermont. Jesse Bradley came about the same time, and settled upon the center road toward the southern part of the township, afterwards selling out to Bethuel Phelps who is the oldest man in the township at this writing, (1878) being in his ninety-second year. William Lucas and sons, William, Ira and David, and his son-in-law, Hiram Welch, came about the same time as the above. David W. Davis came in about the year 1834, and in the following year John Ives moved from Portage county, where he had emigrated in 1815, and settled upon lot fiftyeight. James R. Ward came iu 183G from Vermont, and settled upon a farm of one hundred acres in lot one hundred and three. His wife is Lucinda, daughter of Ira Smith. The Worcestors, Samuel, his sons .John, James, Frank, Joseph, David and Emerson, were early settlers. Henry is now living on lot seventy-eight, and Horace II., a son of John, on lot seventy-seven. Samuel A. Root came in 1837 with liis father, mother and one brother from Massachusetts. He settled upon lot seventy-nine where he still resides, but owns land, also, in lots eighty-two and eighty-three. Jared Watkins and wife came from Morristown, St. Lawrence county. New York, in 1835, and settled on the State road north of the center. In 1843 came R. S. Sheffield. He lived in Camden a number of years, but has been longest and most prominently identified with Pittsfield township. He married Delia II., a daughter of Jared Watkins. Denis Horton and wife, F. S. Horton, settled, several years later, upon lot ninety-one. Thej' were from Rutland, Vermont. Gaylord Ferris came in 1834. Orlando Hall came in 1835 from Vermont, and settled in the northeastern part of the township. His wife. Lucetta Hall, is still living. The Proberts, James and Sarah, were from England. Their descendants were Eliza, .lohn, George W., James W., David G., Albert B. find Sarah A. (Mrs. Wat-kins, of Pittsfield). (feorge W. Probert also lives in this town ship, lot seventy-three, and owns a farm of about two hundred acres. .James W. is dead, and the other descendants of Jamcj and Sarah live in Oberlin. Lewis Shaw came into the township in 1847, and settled on lot one hundred and fifty-two or one hundred and fifty-three, but now resides near the center. Edward Rogers, a native of England, sixty-two years of age, settled first (1845), in the eastern part of the town, on lot fifty-nine, but removed, several years since, to a comfortable home near the junction of the north and south center and State roads. In 1845 came, also, Joshua West and his sons, Oliver, Washington and Amasa, from Massachusetts. They settled jn Wellington in 1833, but did not remove to Pittsfield until the year first mentioned. Oliver West lives at the center; Mrs. Polly, the widow of Washington, with her son, W. West, on the center road, half a mile west of the center, and Amasa is in Henrietta. Carlos Avery came in 1843, and settled on the State niad (lot one hundred and forty five) soutli of the center. Ephraim K. Avery, a Methodist minister, came from Connecticut in 1851, and from the time of his settlement uj) to his death had much to do with the Methodist church of Pittsfield. His son, Edwin K., and a daughter, Mrs. R. T. Worden, now live in the township, the former upon lot ninety-five, on the north and south road, a short distance south of the center. E. R. Bement, sou of Nathaniel Bement, of

LaGrange, came into the township about 1840. Wm. Billings came in 183G: also L. D. Glynn and F. E. Parsons. Erastus Campbell settled on lot one hundred and eleven, the old Remington farm, in 1857, and though not as old a resident as many others, is deserving of mention, because a representative man of the township.

Of the settlers who may properly be called pioneers, those who came into the township before its organization, only two remain to relate the incidents of their early days - Thomas Waite and Edward Matcham. Death has been, for the past few years, fast thinning the ranks, and a very large number have moved away. Mr. Edward Matcham counts upwards of a hundred and fifty heads of families who were in Pittsfield prior to 18-10, and who are now either dead or removed to other parts of the country.

Early Ixcidents

"The annals of a 'quiet neighborhood' would not be an inappropriate title for the history of Pittsfield township. It has been said that 'all of history, which is not biography, is the recital of deeds of violence and wrong doing, of rapine and ruin, of bloodshed and of war.' Pittsfield truly has no such history as this. He who asks the oldest inhabitant for thrilling anecdotes of adventure with wild man or wild beast, asks in vain. No romance but the everywhere existing romance of live and love, no tragedy but the oft and ever recurring tragedy of death, has been the cause of sensation or of horror. The dramatic is not here. The history savors only of the honest homespun, of simple, sincere, strong characters, who began bravely in the heart of the forest a hard fight for the comforts and conveniences of life. How well the fight was fought is shown by the condition of the community to-day. One has only to think for a moment, to see that a really vast victory has been won wherever city or village has been made, or where the earth has been dotted with human habitations. Every such place has a history which cannot be put into words - the history of man's efl^orts and achievements, and more than all, of his joys and sorrows, glad realizations and bitter disajjpointments - the hidden history of heart and soul.

We have already given the names of those early settlers who bore the brunt of the struggle against the stubborn obstacles to progress which a new country always presents. The duty now remaining to the historian is the presentation of whatever he has been able to glean in regard to early occurrences, and the building up of the social fabric. The pioneers of Pittsfield had but little experience with the Indians, and industrious interviewing fails to elicit description of bear hunt or tale of dangerous adventure with fierce animals.

A few Wyandot and Seneca Indians roamed through the woods, but they had no extensive encampment in the vicinity, and seldom appeared in bands of more than half a dozen.

Mrs. George Rathburn had quite a scare soon after she became a resident of this small community. She was all alone in the cabin, one day, when suddenly the doorway was darkened by the form of an Indian who demanded bread, brandishing a large knife fiercely as he did so, and pointing to the bake-kettle which was upon the fire. The woman made her unwelcome visitor understand that he could have some bread as soon as was it done, and he waited in stoical silence until the steaming loaf was turned oixt; then cutting off a large portion, he gave utterance to the customary grunt of satisfaction, and strode away into the forest as silently as he came.

Thomas Waite once killed a full-grown elk upon the farm of Edward Matcham, which, so far as can be learned, was the only animal of the kind that ever fell victim to an early settler's rifle. He shot the stag several times before he brought him down, and finally drove him into the bed of a small creek, where a well-directed shot finished his life. Mr. Waite, otherwise known as' "Uncle Tommy," had the antlers in his possession many years, and was very fond of the trophy.

Fike Axd Water

The great ordinance of earth and heaven that makes man and woman one, was first celebrated in the year 1823 or 1824. The bridegroom was Jeremiah Waite, and the bride Clara Smith. The ofliciating clergyman was the bride's father, the Rev. Nathan Smith. A hapi^y party assembled upon this occasion and a feast was served, of which potatoes are said to have formed the leading luxury. The wedded life began by this couple, was not of the character that fond lovers are wont to picture as their future, for if popular report is to be accredited, the young wife, when the blissful honeymoon had become only a recollection, applied verbal blister to the soul of Jeremiah. He sought advice and consolation from his father-in-law, who briefly and quietly replied to the husband's complaint: "When your wife throws fire, you must throw water." It was not very long before the practical minded man had an opportunity to act upon the suggestion given him, and as he had interpreted it literally, the result was somewhat startling to the wife. She began one day to pour forth "thoughts that breathe, and words that burn," and the husband immediately seizing two buckets, started for the brook, back of the house, and filled them. As soon as he returned to the cabin, he dashed the ice cold contents of one i^ail over the astonished woman, and then explaining that her father told him he must throw water whenever she threw fire, applied the second bucketful to thoroughly quench the eml^ers of her wrath. Cotemporary chroniclers have failed to note, carefully, the result of this phase of the water cure treatment, and so the value of the experiment is, in a measure, lost to the world.

The first life given, and the first life taken away, must in any household, be incidents fraught with the fullest intensity of joy and grief, respectiveh", that the humiin heart cau appreciate. And these events occuring in tlie midst of a small community, newly grown, in a strange and lonely forest country, where iiulividual lines are more closely knit together by the chords of sympathy, than they are in the bustling, selfish, sordid city, Ining hapi)iness and sorrow to all, friend, neighbor and kindred. When we mention hero the date of the first death tiiat occured in Pittsfield, we place our finger upon a day in a calender more than lialf a century old, which brought a vast burden of sad and solemn feeling to every person then in tlie scattered little settlement. Mary, wife of Chauncey Remington, died August 18, 182-2. Her remains were laid in lot one hundred and eleven, the second farm cleared in the townshiii, and had their resting place there for many years, but were finally removed.

The first log house was the cabin built by the Bakers, - father and sons, - spoken of as the first white men ever known to have come into the township. Thomas Waite built the second. The first framed house was built by a man named Terry, in 1833, on lot ninety-five, and is still standing. The present residence of Edward Matcham is the second framed house still remaining. The first brick house was built in 1851, by Harris R. Sheldon.

The first tavern was presided over by John Sibley. It was upon lot forty-four, upon the old State road. The date of its erection was probably 1832. Horatio Harmon built a tavern not long after, on lot thirtyseven. David H. Ranney kept the first store, in connection with a hotel, south of the center.

Lewis Barnard received the first postmaster's commission, and kept the post office half a mile east of the center. The present postmistress is Mrs. Olimena Kingsbury.

The first cemetery laid out is now the resting ]ilace of many of the early settlers of tlie township. It is a well fenced and well kept enclosure, about a quarter of a mile east of the center, and belongs to tlie town. There is a small cemetery at the junction of the north and south center and State roads, owned by a private corporation, and still another in the northeast corner of the townsjiiji.

There was a branch of the underground railroad " through Pittsfield. Here, as elsewhere, obstructions were occasionally placed upon the track, for the purpose of stopping trains. We liave not the date, and it makes but little difference in the relation of the incident, but any way, during the days when the road was doing its largest business, two fugitive slaves, - a man and a woman, - were arrested in Pittsfield, by persons of pro-slavery feelings, and bronght before the bar of justice, which, in this case, was the bar of Squire Asa W. Whitney, and also, it may be said, the bar of Harmon's small but quite popular tavern. A question arose as to whether a justice court was :t court of record, the squire having no right to hold the fugitives, if it was not. Squire Clark, an eccentric character, desiring to have the runaway slaves held, and at the same time to have a little amusement, said in answer to Justice Whitney's anxious; query, "Is my court a court of record?" "Why, Squire, you keep a record, don't you? What more da you want to make a court of record? "' But the proof that he had power to hold the fugitives was not strong; enough to thoroughly convince the justice, and the captives were finally, after considerable discussion, sent to Elyria, where they were placed in the jail, from which they soon after made their escape, much to the joy of their abolition friends, and discomfiture of the sympathizers with slavery. There were in Pittsfield (piite a nunil)cr who held stock in the "underground railroad."

Kaisixgs Axd Whisky

About the only thing that the earlv settlers of the Western Reserve regarded as impossible, was raising^ a barn or building of any kind without whisky enough to more or less stimulate the muscles that managed to do all other kinds of work without its aid. So general was the belief that a man must drink liquor when engaged in a "rasin' bee," and sonearly universal was the custom of providing it on such occasions that it was almost a literal impossibility to get a building erected without conforming to the popular prejudice and throwing away principle for policy's sake. There was only one among fifty men, perhaps, upon the average, who had any decided aversion to whisky thirty or forty years ago, but when the majority tried te bend down that man's will, they generally found it too stiff to yield a hair's breadth, though the refusal might cause him a large inconvenience. Edward Matcham was, and is a strong temperance man, and when he built his barn, there were not enough temperance or total absistence men in the crowd which assembled, to raise the frame. He refused to furnish the necessary spirits, and finding him resolute in his refusal, the men dispersed, after partaking of other refreslunents. Soon after a neighbor - Ebenezer Parsons - had a raising, the liquor being duly brought forth. The building went up quickly, and then the owner standing upon a beam, made a brief address to his assistants, of which (as the newspapers say) the following is a verbatim report: "Men, I tell you what it is; we all acted like a lot of fools over at Matcham's the other day, and now I'm going over there for one, and I want all of you that's willing to raise that barn whisky or no whisky to follow me." He started, and one by one the good-natuved farmers followed after, strung out in a procession ten rods long. They started slowly, then walked faster to keep up witli their leader, and arrived at Mr. Matcham's upon a double-ijuick, took hold of the work with a will, tugged and i)ushed, and pulled and lifted with all of their

Just here it is not inaiiju-oiu-iate to say that I'ittstiekl is to-day the equal of any of its sister to\vnshii)s in point of tenii)erance and general morality. U'here is not at present, nor has there been for the past thirty years any saloon or place for the sale of lifjunrs. ale or beer within the town limits.

The town was early annexed to Wellington for townsiiip purposes, and later to other townships for military purposes. In 1831 it was detached upon the petition of its inhabitants, and incorporated as a separate and independent township, the name of Pittsfield being bestowed by Asa Whitney, who, with many other settlers, was from the town of Pittstield, Massachusetts.

Judges and clerks were appointed or chosen m December, 1831 - so the record states - and in April. 1833, the organization of the township was completed by the election of officers. Thirteen ballots were cast, and ten officers elected. Neither of the clerks was qualified for his position. One was a legal nonresident of the State ; the other not arrived at his majority. Their names were Asa W. Whitney and Edward Matcham. The Judges were George Rathburn, Lewis Barnard and Charles Smith. Following are the officers elected : clerk, George Rathburn : trustees, Joseph Terry, Samuel Wightman, John Sibley; supervisors, Charles Smith, Thomas Waite: overseer of the poor, Charles Smith; constable, Isaac Butler; fence viewer, George Rathburn; treasurer, Peter Beam. The officers elected in 1878 are the following: clerk, C. A. West; treasurer, Lewis Shaw; trustees, Mark Whitney, E. Campbell, Delos Sanders; assessor, James C. Clarke; justices of the peace, Richard Mills, Henry McRoberts ; constables, Adam Hanmer, William J. Rogers.

Religious Development

A Methodist class was formed in Pittsfield as early as 182-1 or the succeeding year, through the efforts of the Rev. Nathan Smith. Meetings were held regularly and irregularly, and the interest so increased that in the winter of 1831 two services were held once a month by a circuit preacher - the Rev. William Runnels. Rev. Mr. Smith left property, which, upon certain prescribed conditions, was to aid in the erection of a church edifice, but the society did not comply with the conditions, and so lost the benefit of the funds. It was not until many years afterward that this denomination had a house of worship in the town of Pittsfield, and in fact it was not until 184.5 that the present Methodist church was ushered into organic being and entered the arena as a part of the sacramental host of God. To the Congregationalists belongs the credit of founding the first of the two churches at present existing.

was organized April 25, 1830, under the name of the Evangelical Union Church of Christ. This church owes its being to Deacon William Lucas, a goodly and godly man, who, from the first, was unsparing in his efforts to promote the interests of morality and religion, lie rode tljrough the then sparsely settled township and personally interviewed the j)eople, to discover how many were favorable to the establishment of the church, and influenced, at one time and another, many men and women to identify themselves with the organization after it had been completed. The Rev. John J. Shi])herd, the founder of Oberlin, officiated at the organization of this church, assisted by the Rev. John Ingersoll. There were only nine constituent members, as follows: William Lucas, William W. Lucas, Sarah Lucas, Ann Lucas, Daniel Wilder, Sally Wilder, Joel Wilder, Mary Matcham and Mary Welch. William Lucas was the first deacon of the church, and Joel Wilder was clerk. The Eev. Ira Smith became pastor in 1842 or 1843, and three or four years after the present church building was erected. Previous to that time the society worshipped in various private houses, in school houses and in new barns. Barns were preferred to dwellings or school houses, because larger, and nearly every barn built in the township, prior to cne construction of the first church, has, at some time, sheltered a devout but small congregation, and echoed the earnest voice of the itinerant preacher as it rose in praise or was lowered in supplication. During most of the years intervening between the organization and the time when the first pastor was settled, there was stated preaching, and though the roads were often in an almost impassable condition, and the farmers had a long distance to come, the congregations were almost alw'ays larger in proportion to the population than those that now-a-days assemble to hear popular preaching. The Congregational church has, at this writing, a membership of sixtyeight persons. The pastor is Rev. C. C. Baldwin; the deacons, Oliver West and R. T. Werden; Miss Franc E. Y'oung is the clerk and treasurer. Of the nine original members of this church, only three or four are now living, and only one resides in the township - Miss Sally Wilder, nearly ninety-nine years old, but still retaining her faculties to a remarkable degree - as bright and cheerful an old lady as can be found in the county, or, for that matter, in the State.

About the same time that the Congregational chm'ch was organized, the close-communion Baptist and the free-will Baptist churches came into being. The former had a very small membership, and the latter numbered nearly as many members as the Congregational church. Both are now e.xtinct. The U^niversalists also had, for some time, a considerable

The present Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1845, Rev. Hugh L. Parrish officiating. The original members were R. Mills. Edward Rogers, Ann Rogers, John Wilton, Eunice Staples, Cynthia Sheldon, Susanna Stone, Abigail Avery, Eliza McRoberts, Mary Brandyburg, J. Whetan, Jo]in Wright. Ann Wilton and Mary A. McClelland. R. ilills was class leader. The first four mentioned in the foregoing list, and also Cynthia Sheldon, are still living and members of the church. The church received several accessions in 1820, and there was a general revival in the winter of 1859, under the preaching of Rev. G. A. Reeder, the then pastor. Many young people, together with the heads of families, were converted. Over sixty persons united with the churcli at one time, upon a beautiful Sunday morning, the service being held in the maple grove upon the farm of R. T. Werden. Of the old members, some ha\'e removed to distant states, some lost their lives in the service of their country, and some - man}' - have died in the service of their chosen Master, and gone to receive the promised welcome, " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'" At present the church has fifty-four members. Following is a list of the officers of 18T8: trustees of the church, R. Mills, E. Rogers, H. A. Cole. G. D. Matcham, Wm. Daniels, J. Newcomb, S. Jordan; class leaders, R. Mills, H. A. Cole; stewards, D. G. Matcham (recording steward). J. Jordan, E. Rogers.

The first school in Pittsfield was located ou lot one hundred and thirteen, and was held in a small log cabin built for tke purpose. Miss Minerva Lovelaud was the first teacher. Edward Matcham began teaching in 1831 or 1832 and continued ten seasons, passing at thi.<! vocation, as he says, some of the most pleasant and profitable years of his life. His wife, Abigail Tinker, taught in 1833, receiving for her services, the then very fair sum of one dollar per week. Mr. Matcham had ten dollars per month.

There are at present eighi regular school districts, and a special district at the center. A handsome brick house was built here in the fall of 1878, and furnished with the latest and most approved styles of desks and seats. The directors who constitute the board in this special district, are David W. Davis. ]\Iark Whitney, and Bradford Blackmer. Mark Whitney is president: David W. Davis, clerk: and Richard ^lills, treasurer. The teacher emjiloyed in 1878 was Miss Mary Whitney.

Physici.Vxs

Dr. Daniel Howard was the pioneer physician of Pittsfield. He came into the township in the year 1835, and remained for a number of years, having quite a large practice. Previous to his taking up his residence here, the people made Dr. Eber W. Hubbard, of La Grange, their main reliance, in case the services of a physician were needed. Dr. Evans had a short experience of practice in the township, and was followed by Dr. D. M. Young, wlio commenced practice in 1845, and continued until his death, in 1870, winning the very general esteem of the peoi)le, alike by professional good qualities and his fine traits as a man and citizen.

Dr. C. H. Beech, the resident physician in 1878, was born in New Jersey, in 1812, and came to Ohio in 183(5, having graduated at the Jefferson medical college of Philadelphia. He first located in Wellington, where he remained until 1860, when he left, and spent ten years in various parts of the L^nited States, as widely removed as New Orleans and Long Island. In 1870 he returned to Ohio, and began to practice in Pittsfield, which has been very satisfactory both to people and physician. Nothing further need he said.

The cheese factory and creamery now owned by William Crozier, was built in 18fi9. by J. W. Worcester. It is located upon lot number eighty-three, about one and one-third miles east of the center. It was first operated by E. L. Tucker, and afterward by W. D. Fuller, of whom Mr. Crosier purchased in the latter part of July 1877. The factory has taken, most of the time, the milk of about four hundred cows, and has turned out from five to thirty cheeses per diem, beside a large quantity of butter. The amount of milk received per day has varied from fifteen hundred to ten thousand pounds. The cheese is manufactured for the farmers who furnish the milk, and is sold for them by Crosier & Sheldon, of Wellington.

Saw Mills

The first saw mill was built by Parsons & Whitney, on lot number one hnndred and thirty-five, as early as 1835 or 183C, and continued in operation for some time. su]iplying the neighborhood with lumber. There are at present two mills: one, the property of Ira Whitney, on the center road, two miles west, and the other, owned by Ebenezer Parsons, on lot one hundred and twenty-four. Whitney's mill has been running for about twenty-five years.

According to the statement of an old resident, the earliest roads in the township were railroads. It should be explained that by railroad is here meant the old fashioned necessary evil of corduroy road, made of split rails and small logs laid side by side, like the ties of a railway, but close together. These roadways were anything but pleasant to travel over, but were made because travel in any kind of vehicle would have been almost, if not cjuite, an absolute impossil)ility without them. In 1832, there were but three roads in the township. The State road, from Elyria to Wellington, crossed the township almost directly from north to south, and was the road most iu use. There was a rude, rough road from Russia township, down through Pittsfield, al)out jialf a mile from the western boundary: and a roadway was eho]iped out, but unfinished, from this to the State road, about a mile south of the center. It was upon this road that most of the early comers to the township toiled, to j)ay their property and poll taxes.

Source changes here: from History of Lorain County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pionners, by Various, published 1879; 352,020 words in this source stream.

Williams Brothers

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Prefatory Note

N the preparation of this History, accuracy has been the aim of the publishers. They have | endeavored to confine themselves within the limits of ascertained facts and reliable data, and while they have not published every item of history belonging to the county of Lorain, all that is really important is given, and that which is published may be regarded as authentic.

Gentlemen of experience, as writers, have assisted the author in the production of this book; and it is believed that the subjects, which each writer has severally dealt with, have been treated with care and thoroughness. In the general history department, A. G. Rrpprz, of Washington, D. C., contributed the chapter on "Pioneer Life;" Jay Turre.u, the "Geology" and "Fossil Fishes;" P. H. Boynton, the "Bar of Lorain County;" Groran G. Wasupury, the "Press of Lorain County ;" R. Baker, the "Lorain Agricultural Society." The history of "Elyria" was mainly prepared by Dr. L. D. Griswonp; that of " Russia," including "Oberlin,' by Rev. Henry Matson; that of "Wellington," by Hon. J. H. Dickson, while Mrs. Nesperr contributed the greater part of "Grafton." To the pen of President Farrcuitp, the publishers are indebted, in the main, for the history of «" Brownhelm," and the biography of "Father Keep." They are also under obligations to many others who have aided them greatly in collecting and furnishing data for this history.

The publishers feel that they have done the work, they undertook to do, faithfully; and while the book may not be found entirely free from blemishes, they are confident that none of a serious charagter will be discovered.

. Hitherto the publishers have had their county histories published in Philadelphia, by J. B. Lippincott & Co., but this volume is from the press of the Leaper Printine Company, Cleveland, who have done themselves credit by the high degree of typographical excellence shown in the printing of this book. Every inhabitant of the Western Reserve has cause for congratulation in the fact, - of which this History of Lorain County is proof, - that Cleveland is able to maintain successful rivalry with Philadelphia, New York and Boston, in the publication of books whose beauty of typography is of the highest standard attained by the "art preservative."

Columbia Russia

Portrait of Sylvester Hart . = - - Homestead of Mrs. R. B. Hart . : = : Portraits of Mrs. Relief B. and Miss E. C. Hart Portrait of John Keep (steel) - :

Residence of Charles Bassett Portraits of Charles Bassett and Wife ' Residence of Lott Parsons . : x é Portraits of Lott Parsons and Wife . <

Page Page

PAGE CHAPTER PAGE Elyria 103 I. - Discovery z ; 9 Columbia 17 II. - The Connecticut Weekes Tediete. 10 Ridgeville . 157 IlI. - The Connecticut Land ecg: 13 Russia 169 IV. - Physical Features . 18 Eaton 199 V. - Fossil Fish, and Where diiey 3 are Sound 30 Black River 207 VI. - The Mound-Builders . 32 Brownhelm 217 VII. - The Indians . 33 Henrietta 236 VIII. - The Moravian Mimiae 37 Carlisle 245 IX. - Pioneer Life . 38 Sheffield 230 X. - Civil Organization 4] Grafton 235 XI. - Civil List 5 = 43 Avon . 271 XII. - The Bar of Lorain Goasty 45 Huntington 278 XIII. - The Press of Lorain County . 55 Rochester 234 XIV. - Lorain Agricultural Society . 6s Camden 2s9 XV. - Lorain in the Rebellion 77 Penfield 293 XVI. - Roster of Soldiers . 90 Lagrange 308 Brighton - 317 Ambherst 325 Wellington . S47 ERRATA . 373 Pittsfield 367 ess tt i AE TOON Ss. PAGE PAGE Scenes in and around Elyria (Frontispiece) facing Title Portraits of M. W. Pond and Wife facing 143 Outline Map of Lorain County . = : : 9 Residence of Martin W. Pond : ey 143 Dentition of Dinichthys Terrelli (Front View) : 30 Portrait of Hon. Stevenson Burke (steel) . 144 ch Solomon Whittlesey, 1924 Portrait of Solomon Whittlesey . Residence of Cyrus L. Whittlesey Portraits of William Sayles and Wife Portrait of Mrs, Sarah C. Sayles (deceased) Residence of William Sayles

Carlisle

CARLISLE. Residence of the Heirs of David Bennett . Portraits of David and Jane Bennett. Residence of Lorenzo Clark Portrait of William Patterson ce Chauncey Prindle

Sheffield

SHEFFIELD. Residence of L, F. Parks '4 Portraits of L. F. Parks and Wife Residence of the late Geo. B. Crehore Portraits of Geo. Crehore and Wife .

Residence of " KS Qrafton, Mich. Portraits of Crispin and Duke Mennell_. Residence of A. W. Nichols (double page) Portraits of A. W. Nichols and Wife . Birthplace of A. W. Nichols, York, N. Y. . Residence of Dr. C. B. Knowlton. ; Portrait of a as eee MSS dae Oe PAGE facing 199 Portraits of William and Lucina Hurst 200 Portrait of Albin Stickney 205 " Joseph Schwartz 205 se E. G. Moon 206 cf Dr. T. B. Dailey HUNTINGTON, facing 208 Residence of Abram Holland of fs 216 Portraits of Abram Holland and Wife ae Elisha and Sally Sheldon Residence of Elisha Sheldon oa the late Beri Andrews . Portraits of Beri and Amy 8. Andrews aa Orrin Starr and Wife Residence of Orrin Starr Ms Street Goodyear as Samuel and Jane Kendeigh Residence of Samuel Kendeigh . Late Residence of Geo. Dudley . Residence of Casper Dute . Portraits of Casper Dute and Wife Residence of Captain E. P. Frink

EE anc illey & un tsa, ali ee ee SerenoD.Bacon. . . AAR A UROMG, su pe ae Abner Loveland, Jr... Curtin Balley, 6) vk cu eee tea ee ae 343 Roswell Smith . ., Joseph and J. J. Rice ee ee - 344 Homer Mason and Family . Lewis Rodman Cook . C " - ' ees, ee James Shelden '" i Guaper Date ne ns een en ee Silas Miller ss : Rept. BP. Weak 2 hy | en te Bert B. Herrick " : Hon. J... Diakson! 2.3 J) ) ae facing 353 Dr. John W. Houghton. Lawton Wadsworth . . . +. between 358,359 Wm. H.H.Sutliff . . Francis 8. Wadsworth §\ si //yjely We ss Sc aD R.J. Robinson. . ,

Chapter Discovery

THE year 986 signalizes the first visitation of white men tothe New World. Then it was that Herjulfson, a Norse navigator, in sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was driven by a storm to the coast of Labrador, or, as some historians claim, to that of Newfoundland. The uninviting character of the coasts of the new land deterred him from landing. What Herjulfson first saw, it was reserved for other discoverers to expore. The Norsemen returned to Greenland, and there related wonderful stories of the land they had seen, but made no further attempts at discovery.

Fifteen years later Lief Erickson, a brave and daring Icelandic captain, with mind inflamed with the fabulous accounts of his brother Norseman, resolved to extend the discovery of Herjulfson, and in the year 1001 set foot upon the shore of Labrador. He directed his course southwest along the coast, and finding the country pleasant and attractive extended his explorations, and finally reached the territory embraced within the present State of Massachusetts, where he and his companions remained one year. They proceeded along the coast bordering upon Long Island Sound, and it is claimed that the persevering band even found their way to New York harbor,

That this early discovery of American-soil may not be deemed a myth, we will say, that while until recently historians have been incredulous, they now almost universally concede the fact; and by way of trustworthy information we quote from Humboldt's "Cosmos," as follows: ''We are here on historical ground. By the critical and highly praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafn and the Royal Society of in regard to the expedition of the Norsemen to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vinland, have been published and satisfactorily commented upon. The discovery of the northern part of America by the Norsemen cannot be disputed. 'The length of the voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of thesun's rising and setting, are accurately given. While the Caliphate of Bagdad was still flourishing America was discovered, about the year 1001, by Lief, the son of Eric the Red, at the latitude of forty-one and a half degrees north."

Nor did the explorations of these intrepid Icelanders cease with the expedition of Erickson and his companions, but in the following year - 1002 - Thorwald Erickson, brother to Lief, stimulated with a desire to see the new and beautiful country, made a voyage to the coast of Maine. He is said to have ended his days in the vicinity of the present town of Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1005 still another brother, Thorstein Erickson, with a band of adventurers, made a similar voyage, and was followed in 1007 by Thorfinn Karlsefne, a celebrated mariner, who sailed southward along the coast as far as Virginia.

The Norsemen must be regarded as a band of roving adventurers, who effected no settlements, and of whose discoveries but few important records haye been preserved. The enthusiasm which the first discoyerers excited gradually subsided, and as there were no spoils in the wilderness which might fall prey to the Norse freebooters and pirates, further occupancy of the country was nqt attempted. The shadows which had been for a moment dispelled began to darken over the shores of the New World, and the curtain was not again lifted for nearly five hundred years. Then came the achievement of Columbus, in the year 1492. Born of a holy faith and an inflexible purpose, it was the greatest maritime enterprise in the history of the world. He touched upon an island subsequently called San Salvador, and planting there the banner of Castile, formally claimed possession of the land in the name of Isabella, Queen of Spain. Marvelous were the results of discovery and exploration which followed. England and France vie with Spain and with each other for the mastery in the New World. The Spanish nation, led on by an insatiable thirst for gold, pushed forward her explorations in America with such energy and spirit that in less than

Columbus, she had explored and laid claim to nearly one-half of the present territory of the United States. Her adventurers had visited the present States and Territories of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, the Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California.

France likewise made large acquisitions of American soil, though of later date. The discoveries and explorations of James Cartier, of the patriotic De Monts, of Samuel Champlain, of Marquette, of Joliet, and of the gallant La Salle, secured to France, before the close of the Sixteenth century, claims to North American territory greater than those of any other European power. At the time referred to, her sovereignty in America embraced Newfoundland, Acadia, Nova Scotia, Hudson's Bay, all the Canadas, more-than half of Maine, Vermont, and New York, the whole valley of the Mississippi - including its eastern tributaries - the great chain of lakes at the north and Texas at the south, as far as to the Rio Bravo del Norte.

England's dominions in America lay along the Atlantic seaboard. The thirteen original colonies skirting the Atlantic from Florida to the verge of Nova Scotia were the planting of the English people, and constituted that nation's possessions up to the time of the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. By virtue of this treaty England obtained large concessions of territory from France. The entire possessions of the Bay of Hudson and its borders; of Newfoundland, subject to the rights of France in its fisheries; and all of Nova Scotia, or Acadia, according to its ancient boundaries, passed from the dominion of France to that of England. And now the strife in America for the possession of colonial monopolies and territorial sovereignty was confined to these two great powers. France still maintained her claim to much the larger extent of territory, but her population, scattered over this immense area, numbered only eleven thousand two hundred and forty-nine persons in 1688, while that of the English colonies in the same year exceeded two hundred thousand. A contest of fifty years' duration between these two great powers for territorial acquisition in America followed, resulting in the Treaty of Paris, in 1763, by virtue of which France lost and England gained the whole country between the Allegheny mountains and the Father of Waters, except a small tract lying at the mouth of the great river. The valley of the Ohio, for whose special conquest a seven years' war had been begun, thus passed to the possession of Britain.

Strangely enough, for the success of this undertaking the English nation was mainly indebted to the very hero, who, a few years later, as Commander-in- Chief of the American armies, was engaged in wresting it - in common with the territory of the whole country - from British rule, in order to transfer it to the free people who should make for humanity a new existence in America. In less than a decade the dominions which England took from France were in turn taken from her, and the United States of America obtained a place among the nations of the world, and undertook the glorious work of filling a territorial continent with commonwealths.

Chapter Ii

THE Western Reserve of Connecticut lies between the parallels of 41° and 42° 2' of north latitude, commencing with the western boundary line of Pennsylvania, and extending thence one hundred and twenty miles westward. The entire tract embraces an area of seven thousand four hundred and forty square miles," nearly one-third of which is water. If the whole were land, there would be four million seven hundred and sixty-one thousand six hundred acres. It is composed of the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, Erie, Summit (except the townships of Franklin and Green), the two northern tiers of townships in Mahoning, the townships of Sullivan, Troy, and Ruggles, in Ashland, and several islands lying north of Sandusky, including Kelly's and Put-in-Bay. This is the land portion of the Reserve. 'The portion consisting of water lies between the southern shore of Lake Erie and the forty-second degree of north latitude, and is bounded on the east and west by the same parallels of longitude that form the east and west boundaries of the land portion.

_ There have been numerous claimants to the soil of the Reserve. In addition to the red man's title, France, England, the United States, Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut have all, at one time or another, asserted ownership. The claim of France arose by reason of its being a portion of the territory which she possessed by right of discovery. England laid claim to all territory adjoining those districts lying along the Atlantic seaboard, whose soil she possessed by right of occupancy, asserting ownership from sea to sea. The greatest ignorance, however, prevailed in early times as to the inland extent of the American continent. During the reign of James I., Sir Francis Drake reported that, from the top of the mountains on the Isthmus of Panama, he had seen both oceans. This led to the belief that the continent from east to west was of no considerable extent, and that the South Sea, by which appellation the Pacific then was known, did not lie very far removed from the Atlantic. As late as 1740, the Duke of Newcastle addressed his letters to the ''Island of New England." This ignorance of the inland extent of America, gave rise, as we shall see, to conflicting claims of western

* For the facts upon which this chapter is based we are largely indebted to an address delivered by Judge Boynton, at Elyria, July 4th, 1876.

territory. England's valid title to the great west was obtained through conquest, compelling France, in 1713 and 1763, to surrender nearly the whole of her American possessions. Great Britain in her rights of ownership in American soil, and thus came to have a claim to the lands of the Reserve. The claims of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut were obtained by virtue of charters granted to English subjeets by English sovereigns. The tract of country embraced in the London Company's charter, granted by James I. in 1609, whence arose Virginia's claim, Commenced its boundaries at Old Pomt Comfort, on the Atlantic, and extended two hundred miles south, and two hundred north from this point. From the southernmost point, a line drawn due west to the Pacific formed the southern boundary; from the northernmost point, a line running diagonally northwesterly through Pennsylvania and Western New York, across. the eastern portion of Lake Erie, and terminating finally in the Arctic ocean, formed the northwestern boundary ; and the Pacific Ocean, or what was then called the South Sea, the western boundary. The vast empire lying within these fonr lines included over one-half of the North American continént, and embraced all of what was afterwards known as the Northwestern Territory, including of course the lands of the Reserve.

The claim of Massachusetts rested for its validity upon the charter of 1620, granted by James I. to the Council of Plymouth, and embraced all the territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific lying between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude. This grant comprised an area of more than a million square miles, and included all of the present inhabited British possessions to the north of the United States, all of what is now New England, New York, one-half of New Jersey, very nearly all of Pennsylvania, more than the northern half of Ohio, and all the country to the west of these States. In 1630, the Earl of Warwick obtained a grant to a part of the same territory, and in the following year assigned a portion of his grant to Lord Brooke and' Viscounts Say and Seal.

In 1664, Charles II. ceded to his brother, the Duke of York, and afterwards King James II. of England, the country from Delaware Bay to the River St. Croix, and afterward it was insisted that the granted territory extended westward to the Pacific. This constituted New York's claim to western territory, of which the lands of the Reserve were a portion. In 1662, the same monarch granted to nineteen patentees an ample charter, from which Connecticut derived her claim to a territory bounded by Massachusetts on the north, the sea on the south, Narraganset Bay on the east, and the Pacific on the west. This grant embraced a strip of land sixty-two miles wide, extending from Narragansett Bay on the east to the Pacific ocean on the west; and the northern and southern boundaries of this tract were the same as those which now form the boundaries at the north and south of the Reserve.

Thus arose conflicting claims. The extent of territory to which Virginia insisted that she was rightful owner was the largest, and included.all the other claims. That of Massachusetts was next in size, and included the whole region claimed for Connecticut, as did the territory embraced in New York's claim.

The United States did not appear as a contestant until the time of the Revolutionary war, when she, with good reason, insisted that these disputed lands belonged of right to Great Britain's conqueror; that a vacant territory, wrested from a common enemy by the united arms, and at the joint expense and sacrifice of all the States, should be considered as the property of the conquering nation, to be held in trust for the common benefit of the people of all the States. To show how groundless were the claims of these contesting States, it was pointed out that the charters upon which their titles were founded had in some instances been abrogated by judicial proceedings, and the companies to whom they had been given dissolved; that the charters were given at a time when much of the territory, to which ownership was claimed under them, was in the actual possession and occupancy of another power; that all the various grants were made in the grossest ignorance of the inland extent of the American continent; and that George III. had either repudiated the charters of his royal predecessors, or denied to them the right of sovereignty over territory of so vast extent, by issuing a proclamation forbidding all persons from intruding upon lands in the yalley of the Ohio.

Popular feeling ran high. Contentions between. conflicting claimants frequently resulted in bloodshed. The prospects of the American Union were darkened; the ratification of the Articles of Confederation was retarded; the difficulty and embarrassments in prosecuting the war for independence were greatly augmented. Maryland would not become a member of the Union unless the States claiming western territory would relinquish to Congress their title. In the midst of these gloomy and foreboding events, in which disaster to the common cause was more to be feared at the hands of its friends than of its enemies, Congress made a strong appeal to the claiming States to avert the approaching danger by a cessation of contentious discord among themselves, and by making liberal cessions of western territory for the common benefit. New York was the first to respond, and in 1780 ceded to the United States the lands she claimed lying west of a line running south from the western bend of Lake Ontario, reserving an area of nineteen thousand square miles. Virginia, in 1784, relinquished in favor of Congress her title to lands lying northwest of the Ohio, reserving a district of land in Ohio lying between the Scioto and Little Miami, which came to be known as the Virginia Military District, which reservation was made in order to enable Virginia to fulfill pledges to her soldiers in the Revolutionary war of bounties payable in western lands. In 1785, Massachusetts ceded the western territory to which she had been a claimant, reserving the same nineteen thousand square miles reserved by New York, which disputed territory was afterwards divided equally between these two States. Connecticut was the most reluctant and tardy of all the contesting States in sacrificing State pretensions for the common benefit. However, on the 14th day of September, 1786, her authorized delegates in Congress relinquished all the right, title, interest, jurisdiction and claim that she possessed to land within her chartered limits lying west of a line one hundred and twenty miles west of and parallel with the western boundary line of the State of Pennsylvania. The tract of land and water lying west of Pennsylvania for one hundred and twenty miles, and between latitudes 41° and 42° 2' north, was not conveyed, - hence reserved by Connecticut, and hence was called the Western Reserve of Connecticut.

As Connecticut's claim included nearly the whole of the northern half of the present State of Pennsylvania, it infringed upon the rights of the people of the latter State or colony, who alleged ownership by virtue of the charter to William Penn, granted by James II. of England, in 1681. Both States strove for the occupancy of the disputed soil, and Connecticut sold to certain individuals seventeen townships, situated on or near the Susquehanna river, organized the tract into a civil township, called it Westmoreland, and attached it to the probate district and county of Litchfield, in Connecticut. Westmoreland representatives occupied seats in the Connecticut legislature. Pennsylvania protested, and, when the Revolutionary contest closed, sent an armed force to drive the intruders from the lands. The shedding of blood resulted. The controversy was finally submitted to a court of commissioners appointed by congress, upon the petition of Pennsylvania, as provided in the ninth article of the Confederation, which gaye to congress the power to establish a court for the settlement of disputed boundaries.

This court sat at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1787, when the case was tried, and decided against Connecticut. The title to lands lying west of Pennsylvania was not involved in this adjudication, and Connecticut still insisted upon the validity of her claim to lands not ceded by her to the United States.

Ata session of the Connecticut lezislature, held at New Haven, in 1786 and in 1787, it was resolved to offer for sale that part of the Reserve lying east of the Cuyahoga, the Portage path, and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, and a committee of three persons was appointed to cause a survey to be made and to negotiate a sale. Nothing, however, was immediately done. On the 10th of February, 1788, however, certain lands lying within the limits of the Reserve were sold to General Samuel H. Parsons, then of Middletown, Connecticut. This was afterwards known as the Salt Spring tract. No survey had been made, but in the description of the land conveyed the numbers of the ranges and townships were designated as if actually defined. General Parsons had explored the country, and had found the location of a salt spring near the Mahoning. He selected his tract so as it should include this spring, from which he expected to manufacture salt and to make his fortune. The entire number of acres thus sold and conveyed to Mr. Parsons, as afterwards determined by the survey made by the Connecticut Land Company, was twentyfive thousand four hundred and fifty. The description in the deed is as follows:

'Beginning at the northeast corner of the first township, in the third range of townships; thence running northwardly on the west line of the second range of said lands to forty-one degrees and twelve minutes of north latitude; thence west three miles; thence southwardly parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania two miles and one-half; thence west three miles to the west line of said third range; thence southwardly parallel to the west line of Pennsylvania to the north line of the first township, in the third range; thence east to the first bound."

- In 1795 Connecticut sold all the Reserve, except the '' Sufferers' Lands" and the Salt Spring tract, to a number of men who came to be known as the Connecticut Land Company. The 'Sufferers' Lands" comprise a tract of five hundred thousand acres, taken from the western end of the Reserve, and set apart by the legislature of the State on the 10th of May, 1792, and donated to the suffering inhabitants of the towns of Greenwich, Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New and East Haven, New London, Richfield and Groton, who had sustained severe losses during the Revolution. Upwards of two thousand persons were rendered homeless from the incursions of the British, aided by Benedict Arnold, and their villages pillaged and burned. To compensate them for this great calamity this donation was made to them. The lands thus given are bounded on the north by Lake Erie, south by the base-line of the Reserve, west by 1ts wéstern line, and east by a line parallel with the western line, and at such a distance from it as to embrace one-half million of acres. The counties of Huron and Erie and the township of Ruggles, in Ashland, comprise these lands. An account of each sufferer's Joss was taken in pounds, shillings and pence, and a price placed upon the lands, and each of the suffcrers received lands proportioned to the amount of his loss. These lands finally took the name of '' Fire Lands," from the fact that the greater part of the losses resulted from fire.

The resolution authorizing the sale of the remainder of the Reserve, adopted at a session of the General Assembly, held at Hartford, in May, 1795, is as follows:

" Resolved, By this Assembly, that a committee be appointed to receive any proposals that may be made, by any person or persons, whether inhabitants of the United States or others, for the purchase of the lands belonging to this State lying west of the west line of Pennsylvania as claimed by that State, and the said committee are hereby fully authorized and empowered, in the name and behalf of this State, to negotiate with any such person or persons on the subject of any such proposal. And also to perform and complete any contract or contracts for _ the sale of said lands, and to make and execute, under their hands and seals, to the purchaser or purchasers, a deed or deeds duly authenticated, quitting, in behalf of this State, all right, title, and interest, juridicial and territorial, in and to the said lands, to him or them, and to his or their heirs, forever. That before the executing of said deed or deeds, the purchaser or purchasers shall give their note or bond, payable to the treasurer of this State, for the purchase-money, carrying an interest of six per centum, payable annually, to commence from the date thereof, or from such future period, not exceeding two years from the date, as circumstances, in the opinion of the committee may require, and as may be agreed on between them and the said purchaser or purchasers, with good and sufficient sureties, inhabitants of this State, or with a sufficient deposit of bank or other stock of the United States, or of the particular States, which note or bond shall be taken payable at a period not mrre remote than five years from the date, or, if by annual installments, so that the last installment be payable,within ten years from the date, either in specie, or in six per cent., three per cent., or deferred stock of the United States, at the discretion of the committee. That if the committee shall find that it will be most beneficial to the State, or its citizens, to form several contracts for the sale of said lands, they shall not consummate any of the said contracts apart by themselves while the others lie in a train of negotiation only, but all the contracts which taken together shall comprise the whole quantity of the said lands shall be consummated together, and the purchasers shall hold their respective parts or proportions as tenants in common of the whole tract or territory, and not in severalty. That said committee, in whatever manner they shall find it best to sell the lands, whether by an entire contract or by several contracts, shall in no case be at liberty to sell the whole quantity for a principal sum less than one million of dollars in specie, or if the day of payment be given, for a sum of less value than one million of dollars in specie, with interest at six per cent. per annum from the time of such sale."

The following were appointed a committee to negotiate the sale: John Treadwell, James Wadsworth, Marvin Wait, William Edmonds, Thomas Grosvenor, Aaron Austin, Elijah Hubbard, and Sylvester Gilbert. These eight persons were selected, one from each of the eight counties of the State. They effected a sale in separate contracts with forty-eight different individuals, realizing for the State the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars. Most of the purchasers made their bargains each separately from the others, although in some instances several associated together and took their deeds jointly. The contracts made were as follows: with

The State by its committee made deeds to the several purchasers in the foregoing amounts, each grantee becoming owner of suck a proportion of the entire purchase as the amount of his contract bore to the total amount. For example: the last-named individual, Pierpont Edwards, having engaged to pay sixty thousand dollars towards the purchase, received a deed for sixty thousand twelve hundred thousandths of the entire Reserve, or one-twentieth part. These deeds were recorded in the office of the Secretary of the State of Connecticut, and afterwards copied into a book, commonly designated as the '' Book of Drafts."

The individuals above named formed themselves into a company called the Connecticut Land Company, a brief history of whose doings will be presented in the succeeding chapter.

The Connecticut Land Company

The members of this company effected an organization on the 5th day of September, 1795. 'This was done at Hartford, Connecticut. They adopted articles of association and agreement, fourteen in number. Their first article designated the name by which they chose to be known. Article number two provided for the appointment of a committee, consisting of three of their number, - John Caldwell, John Brace, and John Morgan, - to whom each purchaser was required to execute a deed in trust of his share in the purchase, receiving in exchange a certificate from these trustees showing that the holder thereof was entitled to a certain share in the Connecticut Western Reserve, which certificate of share was transferable by proper assignment. The form of this certificate is given in Article IX. Article ILI. provides for the appointment of seven directors, and empowers them to procure an extinguishment of the Indian title to said Reserve; to cause a survey of the lands to be made into townships containing each sixteen thousand acres; to fix ona township in which the first settlement shall be made, to survey the township thus selected into lots, and to sell such lots to actual settlers only; to erect in said township a saw-mill and a grist mill at the expense of the company; and to lay out and sell five other townships to actual settlers only. Article IV. obliges the surveyors to keep a regular field-book, in which they shall accurately describe the situation, soil, waters, kinds of timber, and natural productions of each township; said book to be kept in the office of the clerk of said directors, and open at all times to the inspection of each proprietor. Article V. provides for the appointment by the directors of a clerk, and names his duties. Article VI. makes it obligatory upon the trustees to give to each of the proprietors a certificate as named above. Article VII. imposes a tax of ten dollars upon each share to enable the directors to accomplish the duties assigned to them. Article VIII. divides the purchase into four hundred shares, and gives each shareholder one vote for every share up to forty shares, when he shall thereafter have but one vote for every five shares, except as to the question of the time of making a partition of the territory, in determining which every share shall be entitled to one vote. Article X. fixes the dates of several future meetings to be held. Article XI. reads:

''And whereas, some of the proprietors may choose that their proportions of said Reserve should be divided to them in one lot or location, it is agreed that in case one-third in value of the owners shall, after a survey of said Reserve in townships, signify to said directors or meeting a request that such third part be set off in manner aforesaid, that said according to quantity, quality, and situation; and when said commissloners shall have so divided said Reserve, and made a report in writing of their doings to said directors, describing precisely the boundaries of each part, the said directors shall call a meeting of said proprietors, giving the notice required by these articles; and at such meeting the said three parts shall be numbered, and the number of each part shall be written on a separate piece of paper, and shall, in the presence of such meeting, be by the chairman of said meeting put into a box, and a person, appointed by said meeting for that purpose, shall draw out of said box one of said numbers, and the part designated by such number shall be aparted to su-h person or persons requesting such a severance, and the said trustees shall, upon receiving a written direction from said directors for that purpose, execute a deed to such person or persons accordingly; after which, such person or persons shall have no power to act in said company."

Article XII. empowers the company te raise money by a tax on the proprietors, and to dispose, upon certain conditions, of so much of a proprietor's interest, in case of delinquency, as shall be necessary to satisfy the assessment. Article XIII. provides for the appointment by the company of a successor to a trustee who may have caused a vacancy in the office by death. Article XIV. places the directors in the transaction of any business of the company under the control of the latter ''by a vote of at least threefourths of the interest of said company."

The following gentlemen were chosen to constitute the board of directors: Oliver Phelps, Henry Champion (2nd), Moses Cleaveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger Newbury. At a meeting held in April, 1796, Ephraim Root was made clerk, and continued to in act this capacity until the dissolution of the company in 1809. A moderator was chosen at each meeting,

The Names Of The Members Of The Connecticut Land Company

The following are the names of the persons who subscribed to the '' Articles of Association and Agreement constituting the Connecticut Land Company:"

| William, M. Bliss, Samuel Mather, in be- Samuel Mather, Jr., John Stoddard, | half of themselves Caleb Atwater, William Battle, and their associates Nehemiah Hubbard, Jr., | Benajah Kent, in Albany, State of Lemuel Storrs, Timothy Burr, New York. :

Before this organized body of men lay the important work of obtaining a perfect title to their purchase; of causing asurvey of the lands to be made; of making partition of the same; and then of inducing colonies of men to undertake the settlement.

To these tasks the purchasers addressed themselves in right good earnest. In order to make sound their title they must obtain from the United States a release of the government's claim, - a very just and formidable one, - and to extinguish the title of the Indian, whose right to the soil rested upon the substantial basis of actual occupancy. Whatever interest Virginia,

Western Reserve had passed to the United States, and if none of the claiming States had title, the dominion and ownership were transferred to the general government by the treaty made with Great Britain at the close of the Revolution. There was, therefore, a very reasonable solicitude upon the part of the Connecticut Land Company, lest the claim of the United States would, if issue were made, be proven to be of greater validity than that of Connecticut, the company's grantor. Another difficulty made itself felt. When an attempt was made to settle the Reserve, it was discovered that it was so far removed from Connecticut as to make it impracticable for that State to extend her laws over the same, or to make new ones for the government of the inhabitants. Congress had provided in the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwestern Territory; but to admit jurisdiction by the general government over this part of that territory would be a virtual acknowledgment of the validity of the government's title, and therefore an indirect proof of the insufficiency of the company's title. The right to such jurisdiction was therefore denied, and Connecticut was urged to obtain from the United States arelease of the governmental claim. The result was that congress, on the 28th day of April, 1800, authorized the President to execute and deliver, on the part of the United States, letters patent to the governor of Connecticut, releasing all right and title to the soil of the Reserve, upon condition that Connecticut should, on her part, forever renounce and release to the United States entire and complete civil jurisdiction over the Reserve. 'Thus Connecticut obtained from the United States her claim to the soil, and transmitted and confirmed it to the Connecticut Land Company and to those who had purchased from it, and jurisdiction for the purposes of government vested in the United States.

The Extinguishment Of The Indian Title

At the close of the Revolution the general government sought by peaceable means to acquire the red man's title to the soil northwest of the Ohio. On the 21st of January, 1785, a treaty was concluded at Fort McIntosh with four of the Indian tribes, the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas, and Ottawas. By this treaty the Cuyahoga and the portage between it and the Tuscarawas were agreed upon as the boundary on the Reserve between the United States and the Indians. All east of the Cuyahoga was in fact ceded to the United States. The Indians soon became dissatisfied, and refused to comply with the terms of the treaty. On January 9, 1789, another treaty was concluded at Fort Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum, between Arthur St. Clair, acting for the United States, and the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Sac

Nations, by which the terms of the former treaty were renewed and confirmed. Butonlyashort timeelapsed before the Indians violated their compact. Peaceful means failing, it became necessary to compel obedience by the use of arms. Vigorous means for relief and protection for the white settler were called for and enforced. At first the Indians were successful; but in 1794, General Wayne, at the head of three thousand five hundred men, encountered the enemy on the 20th day of August, on the Maumee, and gained a decisive victory. Nearly every chief was slain. The Treaty of Greenville was the result. Genéral Wayne met in grand council twelve of the most powerful northwestern tribes, and the Indians again yielded their claims to the lands east of the Cuyahoga, and made no further effort to regain them.

We quote as follows from Judge Boynton's Historical Address, to which we are chiefly indebted for the facts given in this and the preceding chapter:

"The Cuyahoga river and the portage between it and the Tuscarawas. as between the United States and the Indians, constituted the western boundary of the United States, upon the Reserve, until July 4th, 1805, On that day a treaty was made at Fort Industry with the chiefs and warriors of the Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Munsee, Delaware, Shawnee and Pottawatomie nations, by which the Indian title to all the lands of the Reserve lying west of the Cuyahoga wasextinguished. By this treaty all the lands lying between the Cuyahoga and the Meridian, one hundred and twenty miles west of Pennsylvania, were ceded by the Indians for twenty thousand dollars in goods, and a perpetual annuity of nine thousand five hundred dollars payable in goods at first cost. And although this annuity remains unpaid, because there is no

Survey Of The Western Reserve

The title having been perfected, the company made preparations to survey the portion of the Reserve lying east of the Cuyahoga. In the early part of May, 1796, the company fitted out an expedition for this purpose, of which Moses Cleaveland was the leader of a company - all told of about forty men - five of them surveyors, one a physician, and the rest chainmen and axemen.

By previous arrangement they met at Schenectady, New York, at which point they commenced their journey, ascending the Mohawk in four flat-bottomed boats, proceeding by the way of Oswego, Niagara and Queenstown to Buffalo, reaching the soil of the Reserve on the 4th of July.

The names of this surveying-party, a company of fifty-two persons, all told, are as follows: Moses Cleaveland, the Land Company's agent; Joshua Stow, commissary; Augustus Porter, principal surveyor; Seth Pease, Moses Warren, Amos Spafford, Milton Holley and Richard M. Stoddard, surveyors; Theodore Shepard, physician; Joseph Tinker, principal boatman; Joseph McIntyre, George Proudfoot, Francis Gray, Samuel Forbes, Elijah Gunn, wife and child, Amos Sawtel, Samuel Hungerford, Amos Barber, Stephen Benton, Amzi Atwater, Asa Mason, Michael Coffin, Samuel Davenport, Samuel Agnew, Shadrach Benham, William B. Hall, Elisha Ayers, George Gooding, Norman Wilcox, Thomas Harris, Timothy

It is a noteworthy coincidence that this advanceguard of the army of civilization that was soon to people the territorial limits of the Reserve, first touched her soil on the anniversary of America's independence. Thus, in this signal manner, did a new colony, destined to play so important a part in the future of the nation, begin its existence on the same day of the same month in which the nation itself began to exist. Nor were these sons of Revolutionary fathers oblivious of the day which not only commemorates the birth of their country's freedom, but should henceforth be to them and their posterity the anniversary of the day on which their pilgrimage ended, and on which began their labors, toils and sufferings for the establishment, in the wilderness of Ohio, of homes for themselves and their children. Animated with emotions appropriate to the occasion, these Pilgrim Fathers of the Western Reserve celebrated the day with such rude demonstrations of patriotic devotion and joy as they were able to invent.

They gathered together in groups on the eastern bank of the creek now known as the Conneaut; they pledged fidelity to their country in liquid dipped from the pure waters of the lake; they discharged from two or three fowling-pieces the national salute; they ate, drank, and were merry, blessing the land which many of them had assisted in delivering from British -oppression; and they may have indulged in glowing predictions as to the future greatness and glory of the colonies they were about to plant. Could one of their number who shared their fancies, but who liyed to see no part of them realized, behold today the changes which have proceeded in so wonderful a manner, we think that he would admit that the boldest anticipations of the little party of 1796 were but a feeble conception of the reality. However difficult it might be for him to understand the stages of the process by which so great a transformation has taken place, the actual truth would still present itself for his contemplation. What would astonish him most would be, not the conquest of forests, but that they have been succeeded by the numerous thriving cities and villages and the multitudinous homes of the prospering farmer, established on neariy every quarter-section of land in this county; that distance has been annihilated by the use of steam and the consequent acceleration of speed; that wealth and population have been so rapidly cumulative; that the community is so opulent and enlightened; that education is fostered by so admirable a system of free schools; that intelligence is universally diffused by so many representatives of a free press; that moral opinion has gained such ground; that religion is sustained by the

They christened the place where occurred these demonstrations of patriotism and joy, Fort Independence, and the following are the toasts which they drank:

Reserve, and ascertained the point where the fortyfirst degree of north latitude intersects the western line of Pennsylvania, and from this line of latitude as a base, meridian lines five miles apart were run north to the lake. Lines of latitude were then run five miles apart, thus dividing the Reserve into townships five miles square. As the lands lying west of the Cuyahoga remained in possession of the Indians until the Treaty of Fort Industry, in 1805, the Reserve was not surveyed at this time farther west than to the Cuyahoga and the portage between it and the Tuscarawas, a distance west from the western line of Pennsylvania of fifty-six miles. The remainder of the Reserve was surveyed in 1806. The Land Company made a contract with Abraham Tappan and Anson Sessions, in 1805, for the survey of the lands of the Reserve between the Sufferers' lands and the Cuyahoga. The limited width of range nineteen, embracing in Lorain county the townships of Brownhelm, Henrietta, Camden, Brighton and Rochester, is proof of the fact that the Reserve is less than one hundred and twenty miles in length. Judge Boynton says:

"This tier of townships is gore-shaped, and is much less than five miles wide, cireumstances leading the company to divide all south of Brownhelm into tracts, and use them for purposes of equalization. The west line of range nineteen, from north to south, as originally run, bears to the west. and between it and range twenty, as indicated on the map, there is a strip of land, also gore-shaped, that was left in the first instance unsurveyed, the surveyors not knowing the exact whereabouts of the eastern line of the "half million acres" belonging to the Sufferers. In 1806, Amos Spafford, of Cleveland, and Almon Ruggles, of Huron, were agreed on by the two companies to ascertain and locate the line between the Fire Lands and the lands of the Connecticut Company. They first surveyed off the '' half million eres" belonging to the Sufferers, and, not agreeing with Seth Pease, wao had run out the base and west line, a dispute arose between the two companies, which was finally adjusted before the draft by establishing the eastern line of the Fire Lands where it nowis, This left a strip of land east of the Fire

The Appointment Of An Equalizing Committee

After this survey was completed, the Land Company, in order that the shareholders might share equitably as nearly as possible the lands of the Reserve, or to avoid the likelihood of a part of the shareholders drawing the best and others the medium and others again the poorest of the lands, appointed an equalizing committee, whose duties we will explain.

_ The amount of the purchase-money, one million two hundred thousand dollars, was divided into four hundred shares, each share value being three thousand dollars. The holder of one share, therefore, had one four-hundredth undivided interest in the whole tract, and he who held four or five or twenty shares had four or five or twenty times as much interest undivided in the whole Reserve as he who held but one. As some townships would be more valuable than others, the company adopted, at a meeting of shareholders at Hartford, Connecticut, in April, 1796, a mode of making partition, and appointed a committee of equalization to divide the Reserve in accordance with the company's plan. The committee appointed were Daniel Holbrook, William Shepperd, Jr., Moses Warren, Jr., Seth Pease and Amos Spafford, and the committee who made up their report at Canandaigua, New York, December 13th, 1797, were William Shepperd, Jr., Moses Warren, Jr., Seth Pease and Amos Spafford.

The directors of the company, in accordance with Article III. of the Articles of Association, selected six townships to be offered for sale to actual settlers alone, and in which the first improvements were designed to be made. The townships thus selected were numbers eleven, in the sixth range; ten, in the ninth range; nine, in the tenth range; eight, in the eleventh range; seven, in the twelfth range; and two, in the second range. These townships are now known as Madison, Mentor and Willoughby, in Lake county; Euclid and Newburgh, in Cuyahoga county; and Youngstown in Mahoning. Number three, in the third range, or Weathersfield, in Trumbull county, was omitted from the first draft made by the company owing to the uncertainty of the boundaries of Mr. Parsons' claim. This township has sometimes been called the Salt Spring township. The six townships above named were offered for sale before partition was made, and parts of them were sold.

Excepting the Parsons claim and the seven townships above named, the remainder of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga was divided among the members of the company in accordance with the following

Mode Of Partition

The four best townships in the eastern part of the Reserve were selected and surveyed into lots, an average of one hundred lots to the township. As there were four hundred shares, the four townships would yield one lot for every share. When these lots were drawn, each holder or holders of one or more shares participated in the draft. The committee selected township eleven, in range seven, and townships five, six and seven, in range eleyen, for the four best townships. These are Perry, in Lake county, Northfield, in Summit connty, Bedford and Warrenville, in Cuyahoga county.

Then the committee proceeded to select from the remaining townships certain other townships that should be next in value to the four already selected, which were to be used for equalizing purposes. The tracts thus selected being whole townships and parts of townships, were in number twenty-four, as follows: six, seven, eight, nine and ten, in the eighth range; Six, seven, eight and nine, in the ninth range; and one, five, six, seven and eight, in the tenth range; and sundry irregular tracts, as follows: number fourteen, in the first range; number thirteen, in the third range; number thirteen, in the fourth range; number twelve, in the fifth range; number twelve, in the sixth range; number eleven, in the eighth range; number ten, in the tenth range; number-six, in the twelfth range; and numbers one and two, in the eleventh range. These tracts are now known as Auburn, Newbury, Munson, Chardon, Bainbridge, Russell and Chester townships, in Geauga county; Concord and Kirtland, in Lake county; Springfield and Twinsburg, in Summit county; Solon, Orange, and Mayfield, in Cuyahoga county. The fractional townships are Conneaut gore, Ashtabula gore, Saybrook gore, Geneva, Madison gore, Painesville, Willoughby gore, Independence, Coventry and Portage. After this selection had been made they selected the average townships, to the value of each of which each of the others should be brought. by the equalizing process of annexation. The eight best of the remaining townships were taken, and were numbers one, five, eleven, twelve and thirteen, in the first range; twelve, in the fourth range; eleven, in the fifth range; and six, in the sixth range. They are now known as Poland, in Mahoning county; Hartford, in Trumbull county; Pierpont, Monroe, Conneaut, Saybrook, and Harpersfield, in Ashtabula county; and Parkman, in Geauga county. These were the standard townships, and all the other townships of inferior value to these eight, which would include all the others not mentioned above, were to be raised to the value of the average townships by annexations from the equalizing townships. These last named were cut up into parcels of various sizes and values, and annexed to the inferior townships in such a way as to make them all of equal value in the opinion of the committee. When the committee had performed this task, it was found that, with the exception of the four townships first selected, the Parsons tract, and the townships that had been previously set aside to be sold, the whole tract would amount to an equivalent of ninety-three shares. There were, therefore, ninety-three equalized townships or parcels to be drawn for, east of the Cuyahoga.

To entitle a shareholder to the ownership of an equalized township it was necessary for him to be the proprietor of twelve thousand nine hundred and three dollars and twenty-three cents of the original purchase of thecompany. 'This division by draft took place on the 29th of January, 1798.

The committee appointed to make partition of the lands west of the Cuyahoga divided the entire tract into forty-six parts, for the purchase of one of which the sum of twenty-six thousand six hundred and eighty-seven dollars was required. This draft took place April 4, 1807, and the mode of procedure was the same as in the first draft. 'The townships were numbered from one to forty-six, and the numbers on slips of paper placed in a box. The names of shareholders were arranged in alphabetical order, and in those instances in which an original investment was insufficient to entitle such investor to an equalized township, he formed a combination with others in like situation, and the name of that person of this combination that took alphabetic precedence was used in the draft. If the small proprietors were, from disagreement among themselves, unable to unite, a committee was appointed to select and classify them, and those selected were compelled to submit to this arrangement. If after they had drawn a township they could not agree in dividing it among them, this committee, or another one appointed for the purpose, divided it for them. That township which the first number drawn designated belonged to the first man on the list, and the second drawn to the second man, and so on until all were drawn. Thus was the ownership in common severed, and each individual secured his interest in severalty. John Morgan, John Cadwell, and Jonathan Brace, the trustees, as rapidly as partition was effected, conveyed by deed to the several purchasers the lands they had drawn.

"The lands of Lorain county, that were taken for the purpose of equalizing townships of inferior value, were those of Rochester Brighton, Camden, Black River, and that part of Henrietta that did not originally belong to Brownhelm. Tract eight in range nineteen, being partly in Brighton and partly in Camden, consisting of three thousand seven hundred acres, was annexed to LaGrange, to equalize it. Tract number three in LaFayette township, Medina county, consisting of four thousand eight hundred and ten and one-half acres was annexed to Penfield. Tract one, in gore four, in range eleven, consisting of two thousand two hundred and twenty-five acres, was annexed to Eaton. Tract two, in gore four, range eleven, consisting of two thousand six hundred and fifty acres, was annexed to Columbia; one thousand seven hundred acres, in tract four, in Rochester, were annexed to Huntington; two thousand seven hundred and sixty nine acres, in fraction number three in range eleven, in Summit county, were annexed to Ridgeville; four thousand six hundred acres in tract nine, in Camden, were annexed to Grafton; four thousand acres, tract seven, in Brighton, were annexed to Wellington; four thousand three hundred aeres, in tract three, gore six, range twelve, were annexed to Russia; fifteen hundred acres in tract fourteen, in Henrietta, were annexed to Sheffield; three thousand acres in tract eleven, ln Camden, were annexed to Pittsfield; tract three consisting of four thousand and fifty acres, in Rochester, was annexed to Elyria; four thousand acres in tract two, in Black River, were annexed to Amherst; Bass Islands, numbers one and two, and Island number five, lying north of Erie county, consisting of two thousand and sixtythree acres, were annexed to Avon; and Kelley's Island, consisting of two thousand seven hundred and forty-seven acres, was annexed to Carlisle."'

The Various Drafts

The first draft was made January 29, 1798, and was for that portion of the Reserve east of the Cuyahoga. In this draft the lands drawn were divided into ninety-three parts, each representing twelve thousand nine hundred and three dollars and twentythree cents.

The second draft was made in 1802, and was for such portions of the seven townships omitted in the first draft as remained at that time unsold. This draft was divided into ninety shares, representing thirteeen thousand three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three cents of the purchase-money.

The third draft was made in 1807, and was for the lands of the company lying west of the Cuyahoga, and was divided into forty-six parts, each representing twenty-six thousand six hundred and eighty-seven dollars.

A fourth draft was made in 1809, at which time the surplus land, so called, was divided, including sundry notes and claims arising from sales that had been effected of the seven townships omitted in the first drawing.

Geography

Lorain county is bounded on the north by Lake Erie, on the south by portions of Medina and Ashland counties, on the east by Cuyahoga and Medina, and on the west by Huron and Erie. Its capital town is Elyria, which is situated in longitude 82° 6' 49' west from Greenwich and in latitude 41° 22' 1". It is divided into twenty-one townships, most of which are five miles square, whose names are as follows: Columbia, Avon, Ridgeville, Eaton, Grafton, Sheffield, Elyria, Carlisle, LaGrange, Penfield, Black River, Amherst, Russia, Pittsfield, Wellington, Huntington, Brownhelm, Henrietta, Camden, Brighton and Rochester. The principal towns and _ villages named in the order of their population are Elyria, Oberlin, Wellington, Amherst, Kipton, and Grafton. The population of the county in 1870, by townships, was as follows:

There is perhaps no subject at the present time that excites a deeper interest among thinking and scientific minds than the science of Geology. Several reasons may be given for this, one of which is that it is the newest among all the sciences; another is that it upsets all of our old preconceived notions as to the age of the world. Whereas we had been taught that it was almost heresy to believe that the world was more than six thousand years.old, and that Moses' account of the creation in its six solar days of twenty-four hours each was literally correct, geology has proven beyond a doubt that it has been as many millions or even more years in existence, and that it was countless ages before it was prepared for, or even was possible for man to have lived upon it. Hence at first many divines were found opposing this new science with its new theories.

These controversies have been fraught with very much good. They have laid the foundation for deeper thought and investigation, and now, instead of lifting up hands with holy horror at the teachings of this great geological book, we find our most eminent divines quoting it as authority to substantiate just what at first they supposed it disproved.