Nelson Township

Nelson Township

"^TELSON, when the first settler arrived in it, and for seventeen years _L^ thereafter, was included in the territory comprised in several of the adjoining townships under the name of Hiram, but in the surveys was laid o£f as Town 5, Range 6. The original proprietors, who purchased from the Connecticut Land Company were Urial Holmes, Ephraim Root, Timothy Burr and Appolos Hitchcock, Holmes being the principal owner.

In the spring of ISOO, three sons of Deacon Ezekiel Mills, of Becket, Mass., started out to seek their fortunes in the "Western Reserve. They were Delaun, aged twenty-four, who had married at the age of sixteen, and had three children; Asahel, who had been married two years, and had one child; and Isaac, nineteen years of age and single. These three men with the two wives and four children started out in two covered wagons, each drawn by a yoke of oxen. Several weeks elapsed before they reached Youngstown, then a very diminutive hamlet, containing only a few log-cabins. By this time the money of the brothers had dwindled down to less than 25 cents, so they had to seek employment, and, as luck would have it, Urial Holmes, the principal proprietor of Nelson, happened to be on his way to his land for the purpose of having it surveyed, so the brothers were engaged as ax-men to the surveyors, who were led by Amzi Atwater, afterward one of the most noted citizens of the county, and Roger Cook. Leaving their families at Youngstown, the brothers went forward to their work, and returned in the following September. Delaun immediately removed his family to a cabin on 100 acres of land given to him by Holmes as a reward for his settling thereon, which land was on the north side of the road, just west of the Center; Asahel remained in Y'oungstown till the following spring (1801), and then settled on 100 acres on the north and south road, which, it is thought, was also a gift from Holmes; Isaac returned to the East. Asahel in after years became a Methodist preacher and died in Deerfield. Delaun had an extremely adventurous life, and some of his exploits and experiences will be given in this sketch further along. He was a man of not only great physical strength, but of unusual sturdiness of character, as brave as a lion, and perfectly fearless of consequences, having withal a coolness of temper that to a foe was exasperating. It is said that one of the blandest of smiles would overspread his features when drawing a bead on some cowardly savage who had waylaid and missed him. He was a man of little education, but possessed of extraordinary common sense and correctness of judgment.

Delaun and Asahel Mills and their families were the only inhabitants of the township till the spring of 1803, when quite a number arrived from MasiP sachusetts and Connecticut and made settlement. Among those were Stephen Baldwin, Benjamin Stow and his two sons, Daniel and Caleb, John Bancroft with four sons, Rudolphus, JohD, Artemus and David, Daniel Owen, two brothers, Stiles and William, Thomas Kennedy and Asa Truesdale, making seven families in all, which constituted the entire population of Nelson in 1804. In this year came Isaac Mills, the father of Mr. Albert Mills, of the Center, who is now seventy-eight years of age, and well preserved in all his faculties. The old gentleman has been a great singer in his day, and led the sieging in bis church for over forty years, having only within the past two or three years ceased to do so. Isaac, in company with a friend, Origen Adams, both being single men, made the journey on foot from Connecticut, but the former, doing quite well the first year, returned to Connecticut and on November 27, 1805, married his pretty little sweetheart. Miss Polly Adams, a damsel of only fifteen years. It was a fearful undertaking for the child-wife to come to this far-distant wilderness, but of such stuff were some of the women of those days made, that the little girl became a splendid pioneer wife, equal to all emergencies, content and happy, a blessing to all who knew her, and the mother of stalwart sons and buxom daughters.

In July, 1804, also settled Col. John Garrett, from Delaware, for whom was named Garrettsville. A German from Delaware, named Johann Noah, came about the same time as Col. Garrett; also Abraham Dyson, from Delaware, who settled near Col. Garrett, on the spot that afterward became the village of Garrettsville. In 1805 came John Tinker and Nathaniel Bancroft, sonsin-law of Benjamin and Daniel Stow, Martin Manly and Daniel Wood.

In 1806 Asahel Mills, having fitted up accommodations for his aged father and mother, brought the old couple out, but the Deacon died in 1809 and his widow followed him several years later. Oliver Mills, a brother of the above, also settled in the township about 1809, and aboat the same time came Charles May, the Rudolphs and Rev. William West, a Baptist minister.

In 1811-12 a large company, mostly Presbyterians, came in from Connecticut, prominent among whom were Deacon Joshua B. Sherwood, Wells Clark, Bridsey Clark, Theron Colton, David Beardsley, Titus Bonney, Hezekiah Bonney, John Hannah, David Goodsell and a large connection of the Hopkins family. Emigration then ceased almost entirely till the close of the war, 1812-14.

In 1815 an enumeration of the settlers of the township resulted in a showing of thirty -three heads of families, as follows: Hezekiah Higley, John Bancroft, Jr., Adolphus Bancroft, Titus Bonney, Benjamin Stow, John Bancroft, Sr., William Kennedy, Thomas Kennedy, John Hannah, Rossitter Hopkins, Stephen Baldwin, Delaun Mills, John Tinker, Alanson Johnson, David Beardsley, Benjamin Pritchard, Theron Colton, Rev. William West, John Rudolph, Widow Gan-ett, Joshua B. Sherwood, Isaac Mills, Robert C. Bennett, Sylvanus Hewlett, Elisha Taylor, Sr., Martin Manly, David Stow, / Johann Noah, Asa Truesdale, Erastus Johnson, Bridsey Clark and Wells Clark.

From the date of the above enumeration till 1820, the township rapidly settled up, and among those who came in were, to give a good heading to the list, Jeremiah Earl Fuller, who was six feet four inches in height, bringing two sons; Charles Whiting, Charles Hewlett, Marcus and David Morris, Thomas Barber, Thomas Perry, Benjamin Brown, one of whose sons was Probate Judge, another a prominent lawyer, and another a well-known physician; also, came the Merwins, Batons, Merritts and others. From 1820 onward, emigrants from the East still came in till the price of land began materially to advance. Among those coming about this time were Harry Spencer, Jacob and Ashbel Haskins, Jr., sons of Ashbel Haskins, Sr. , Jared W. Knowlton and family, Ira Fuller, who lived to be ninety-four years of age, and a number of the Pritchards and Taylors.

As soon as the surveying party under Atwater arrived in Nelson, they set to work and erected a log-cabin for their use whilst in the township. It was, of course, a rude affair, built of unhewn logs, and stood just east of the present house on the land afterward donated to Capt. Mills. This was the first human habitation in Nelson, and was erected in the early spring of 1800. "When Delaun returned with his family in the fall, he made considerable improvements in the surveyors' cabin, and put it in the best condition possible for wintering his wife and her three young children. Capt. Mills afterward erected a double log-cabin, quite a commodious affair, and it was the admiration of the whole settlement. Asahel Mills erected the next cabin after his brother, and was soon followed by many others. But one of the most noted events of the time was the erection by Thomas Kennedy, about 1811, of a frame house. It was located about three-fourths of a mile north of the Center, and when it was finished some of his neighbors 'said that Thomas was getting too proud. The father of Thomas Kennedy was William Kennedy, who was ninety years of age when he came. The old gentleman was considerable of a drinker, and on one occasion came to his son and told him that the spring back of the bouse was not water but Santa Cruz rum.

In the spring of 1804 Enoch Judson, of Mantua, married Anne Kennedy, this being the first marriage in the township, but the married life of the unfortunate lady was short, for in June following she became slightly sick, and applying to Mrs. Rufus Edwards for an emetic, was given, through mistake, arsenic, which caused her death. The second marriage was that of a sister of Anne Kennedy, Mrs. Norton, to Joseph Nourse, a lawyer of Burton.

It has been generally supposed that Harmon Mills, son of Delaun Mills, born in November, 1801, was the first child born in the township, but we are sorry to annul that claim by stating that the reputed " previous " Harmon had a little girl cousin named Dianthea, who antedated him by almost a month, she having made her appearance on the 14th day of October, 1801. She was the daughter of Asahel Mills.

The first death in the township, like the first birth, has been wrongly stated. A son of Col. Garrett died in September, 1804, and to this youth has usually been given the honor of departing the earliest, but an infant of Asahel Mills died a year or two before the date of young Garrett's death, as is proven by the Mills' family record. The first man to die in the township was Col. John Garrett, who departed this life in January, 1806, at the age of forty- six years, after a career of usefulness to his fellow-men and honor to himself. He left a widow, who survived him forty years, and four children who became honored and distinguished citizens.

About the first preaching ever listened to in Nelson fell from the lips of Asahel Mills, who at the time he settled in the township had made up his mind to be a Methodist preacher. His sermons may have simply been exhortations in the Methodist sense, but we have the word of Albert Mills that he was the earliest preacher who lifted up his voice in the township. Rev. William West, a Baptist minister, came in very early, probably 1807 or 1809, and of course delivered a sermon to the settlers occasionally, but the first church organization occurred in 1807, at the house of Johann Noah, the services being coDclueted by Rev. Thomas G. Jones, of the Baptist denomination. Mr. Jones was afterward a member of the Ohio Legislature, and President of a bank in Wooster. Rev. R. R. Roberts, afterward a leading Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a circuit rider in those early days, and preached every two weeks at the cabin of Capt. Mills. A preacher by the name of George Lane, a noted singer, came in an early day. He had a powerful voice and always led the singing. William West, the minister spoken of above, became the first settled pastor in 1809 or 1810, he having preached irregularly for the settlers some time before. The original proprietors donated him fifty acres of land. Mr. West was an excellent man and much beloved. He has no descendants in the township, but one of his daughters married Prof. Brainard, of Cleveland. The large company that came from Connecticut in lSll-12, organized a Congregational Church in 1813, all of the members having belonged to the same church before they came West. In 1822 the Presbyterians erected a very tine church at the Center, and it stands there to-day. Rev. Benjamin Fenn was the first regular preacher to occupy the pulpit, he coming there in 1823. The first Methodist Church was built in 1832, and the first minister to preach in it was Rev. J. W. Davis. The church still stands in good condition at the Center.

The first school opened in the township was taught by Hannah Baldwin, at the Center, in 1804. Not one of those who attended this primitive educational institution is now alive. The next school was taught by Oliver Mills, in 1806. He was a brother of the famous Captain, and is said to have monopolized all the "school larnin'" of the early Mills family; he was a farmer, mechanic, teacher and doctor, ail combined. Nelson Academy Association was permanently organized January 6, 1852; Charles Goodsell, D. Everest, David Hanners, Josiah Talbot, C. C. Fuller, Silas Clark, John Martin, A. J. Eldred and Albert Mills were elected Trustees. At the annual meeting, January 3, 1853, W. R. Knowlton, J. W. Spencer and G. B. Stow were elected Trustees. C. C. Fuller was Clerk of the first annual meeting. The condition of the township schools at the close of 1884 is shown by the following statistics: Revenue in 1884, $3,947.10; expenditures, $2,344.62; eight school buildings valued at $5,000; average pay of teachers, $36 and $22; enrollment, 88 boys and 91 girls.

Capt. Mills for many years kept his house as a stopping-place or tavern. It being located on the route to the farther western country, it was very convenient, especially as he always had on hand a supply of whisky and rum. Another tavern was kept on the road north of the Center by Artemus Bancroft.

The first mill was erected by Col. Gari'ett, at Garrettsville, and it was the greatest convenience with which the settlers had been supplied, as previous to its erection long journeys had to be made to get their little grists ground. The mill was both saw and grist, and was built in 1805.

This same year Amzi Atwater surveyed a road from his place in Mantua, along the south line of Hiram Township, to Col. Garrett's mill, and in 1806 another was cut out to Aurora, westward, and one through Windham and Braceville, to Warren. Abraham Dyson, who came in at the time Col. Garrett did, was the first blacksmith, and had more than he could do repairingguns for the Indians. The fii'st wheat raised was forty-three bushels, from three pecks of seed, sown in the turnip patch of Capt. Mills in 1801. It was threshed oiit on a sheet in the wind. An epidemic of a fearful nature prevailed in 1842, and carried off many persons. The patient would be taken with something like the ague, after which a peculiar fever would set in, when death would shortly ensue. It baffled the skill of some of the best physicians.

Mr. Pike, the oldest man in the township, now ninety-one years, was in the war of 1812. Capt. Mills commanded a company at the battle of Mackinaw under Col. Croghatt. He was the first militia Captain, also.

The township was organized in September, 1817, and named Nelson. The first Justices of the Peace elected were Daniel Stow and Elisha Taylor, Jr., the latter declining to serve. One of the first cases was Delaan Mills vs. James Knowlton, action to recover the price of a bear. Mills had a bear trap, Knowlton baited it, caught a bear and took it home. Mills claimed the bear, as it was caught in his trap. Judgment, 25 cents, awarded Mills for the use of trap; plaintiff and defendant to divide costs.

Before the township was regularly organized, and while Benjamin Stow was Magistrate, Thomas Kennedy and Wareham Loomis got into a fight, and the one who was whipped had the other arrested. When the case came up for trial, the prosecuting witness, defendant and spectators were all greatly surprised at the decision of the Judge. He fined both parties $5 apiece, and made each pay half the costs. Being remonstrated with by a fi'iend of the prosecuting witness at the apparent irregularity of the proceeding - that it was not law - he replied, " I am Chief Justice of this domain, and am here to deal ont justice; I don't care a fig for the law."

Another case, showing that in those early times justice, rather than the strict technicalities of the law, prevailed, occurred during the time Capt. Mills had his tavern. The accommodating Captain, as has been stated, sold whisky, but he forgot to get out a license. He was arraigned before the Trumbull County Court for selling liquor without a license, and plead guilty to the charge. Judge Kirtland, who had often been refreshed at the hostelry of Mills, remarked to Judge Pease that he did not think the defendant guilty within the meaning of the statute, whereupon Pease asked Mills if he could not change his plea. | " May it please the Court, your Honor, I am not guilty," promptly replied the accommodating Captain, and he was as promptly discharged.

Many stories have not only been told orally, but have found their way into print, about Capt. Delaun Mills and the Indians; they have been added to from time to time so abundantly that one would be led to believe that the exclusive business of the redoubtable Captain was to hunt and kill Indians. According to some authorities he would shoot a couple of redskins and throw them on his burning log-pile, just as be would perform any other ordinary work; then he pursues a party of them into a swamp and dispatches half a dozen or so, before breakfast; again, he would kill one, put him under the upturned root of a tree, cut the top of the tree off, and let the balance fly back and thus effectually bury the brave; or again, he would stick the carcass of one of his wily foes into a spring, and ram and jam it down with his rifle. There is no doubt about the extraordinary bravery of this pioneer, no doubt about his skill with the rifle, and no doubt about his hatred of the red savages, but ho was a humane man, with a loving wife and a number of children at his fireside, which prevented his being an Indian-slayer by profession, as a man of his good common sense would know that such careers are short. Notwithstanding the many accounts of his deeds of blood, the only really authentic one is that written by his son Urial, of Salem, 111., who in a letter dated August 22, 1879, states: "About 1803 an Indian got mad at my father and said he would kill him. Father was in the habit of hunting through the fall. One day in crossing the trail made in the snow the day before, he found the track of an Indian following him; this put him on his guard. He soon saw the Indian. They both sheltered themselves behind trees. Father put his hatou his gun stock and stuck it out so that the Indian could see it. The Indian shot a hole through the hat, and when it fell he ran toward father with his tomahawk in his hand; father stepped from behind the tree, shot him and buried him. He told my mother and she told me. About the same time the Indians were in camp near the cranberry -marsh, afterward owned by Benjamin Stow, Asahel Mills was hunting cattle and came past their camp; an Indian snapped a gun at him, but the Indian's squaw took the gun away from him. Asahel came home badly scared and told his story. We soon saw ten Indians coming painted for war. They came into the house; all shook hands with father but the last, who uttered an oath and seized him by the throat. Father caught him by the shoulders, jerked him oflf the floor, and swung him around. The calves of his legs hit the sharp leg of a heavy table; he then dragged him out doors, took him by the hair and pounded his head on a big rock and left him. The Indians scarified the bruised parts by cutting the skin into strips about one inch wide; they then tied a blanket around him, put a pole through the blanket, took the pole on their shoulders and carried him to camp. They said that if he died they would kill father. While he was confined they shot Diver of Deerfield. This created quite an excitement, and the Indians all left for Sandusky, leaving the crippled one in camp. Some time after, when father was away, he came to the house in the dusk of the evening and asked if he could stay. Mother told him he could. She did not sleep any that night, believing he had come to kill us. In the morning he got up, built a tire and cooked his breakfast of bear's meat; he then went out and soon returned with the hind-quarters of a tine bear which he gave to mother, then bade her good-by and left. She was as glad to see him go as any visitor she ever had." He was appointed Captain of the Big Hunt in 1818. Capt. Mills was bitten by a rattlesnake in the summer of 1812, and it very nearly ended his career. Soon after being bitten the blood began to flow from his nose and eyes, and he became partially paralyzed. The usual remedy, filling the patient with whisky, saved him, but he always felt the effects of the terrible virus. He died April 20, 1824.

The township is strictly agricultural, and cheese making is one of the principal industries. The country is rolling throughout its whole extent, but the land is excellent. Considerable fine stock is raised and handled, and some sheep and their product marketed. Originally the entire face of the country was covered with a heavy growth of the finest timber, and game being plentiful it was really one of the best hunting-gi'ounds for the Indians, and some of the Avell-known chiefs often hunted here. Big Cayuga, Snip Nose Cayuga, both of whom Capt. Mills is said to have killed, Seneca, Nickshaw and John IMohawk, who shot Diver, were among the more noted. White hunters, also, more skilled with the rifle than the Indians, stalked those old woods, and many an adventure with bears and wolves is told of the grandfathers and fathers of the present inhabitants.

A beautiful monument stands in the square at the Center, erected to the memory of the brave boys who so nobly laid their lives down on the altar of their country, and it is an honor to the patriotic citizens who thus remember the martyrs who died that they might enjoy the benefits and glory of an undivided country. It cost $1,225, and was made at Ravenna. Nelson furnished 109 soldiers; twenty died and eight were disabled.

There are eight good schoolhouses in the township, besides a fine academy at the Center; also one Congregational Church, Rev. Fowler, pastor; one

Three cheese factories are nearly all the time in operation. There are two general stores, one blacksmith shop and postoffice at the Center, S. M. Alger, Postmaster.

Township Officers. - Trustees, A. J. Paine, A. F. Hannah, Edwin Taylor; Clerk, W. W. McCall; Treasurer, William J. Fuller; Assessor, Charles Allen; Constables, Leon Bancroft, Benjamin Paine; Justices of the Peace, L. S. Nicholson, Benjamin Knowlton.

The " Ledges," as they are called, in the northern part of the township, have always been a noted place of report for pleasure-seekers and curiosityhunters, and there is a good hotel at one of the principal points of interest for their accommodation. This singular freak of nature is attributed to various causes, but there is no doubt of their being the result of some terrific internal upheaval, when the fierce volcanic fires burst forth, and possibly shot out through the crevices that now appear in all directions, but which through the lapse of unnumbered ages have been mostly filled with rock and lava debris, pulverized in after ages to ordinary soil and sand. Curious upheavals of this character are to be found all over the world, but they generally occur on mountain tops, and are called in two or three localities '' the devil's back bone." The Nelson Ledges are well worth a visit.

Source changes here: from History of Portage County, Ohio. Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. .., by Brown, R. C. (Robert C.), published 1885; 4,041 words in this source stream.

Nelson Township

NELSON, when the first settler arrived in it, aud for eeveuteen years thereafter, was included in the territory comprised in several of the adjoining townships nnder the name of Hiram, but in the anrveya was laid off as Town 5, Range ^. The original proprietors, who jmrohased from the Connecticut Land Company were Urial Holmes, Ephraim Boot, Timothy Burr - and AppoloB Hitchcock, Holmes being the principal owner.

In the spring of 1800, three sons of Deacon Ezekiel Mills, of BeolDel, Mass., ptartod out to seek their fortiTnc?; in the Western Reserve. Thoy were Delaun, aged twenty-four, who had married at the age of sixteen, and bad three children; Asahel, who had been married two years, and had one ebild; and Isaac, nineteen years of age and single. These three men wifh the two wives and four children started out in two covered wagons, each (irawn by a yoke of oxen. Several weeks elap)8ed before they reached Youngstown, then a very diminutive hamlet, containing only a few log-cabins. By this time the money of the brothers bad dwindled down to lees than 25 cents, so they had to seek employment, and, as luck would have it, Urial Holmes, the principal proprietor of Nelson, happened to be on his way to his land for the purpose of having it surveyed, so the brothers were engaged as ax -men to the snrveyors, who were led by Anusi Atwater, afterward one of the most noted citizens of the county, and Ro<:;pr Cook. Leavinr^ their families at youngstown, the brothors wont forward to their work, and returned in the followinjj September. Delauu immediately removed his family to a cabin on 100 acres of land given to him Hohnee as a reward ifor bis settling thereon, whidt land was on the north side of the road, just west of the Center; Asnhel ' remained in Yonngstown till the following spring (1801), and then settled on 100 acreti on the north and south road, which, it is thought, was also a gift from Holmes; baac reinmed to the fkurt. Ainhd in after years beeame a I Methodist preacher and died in Deerfield. Delaun had an extremely adven- ' turoUR life, and some of his exploits and experiences will be given in this f sketch further along. He was a man of not only great physical strength, bat I of nnnsnal stvrdinees of character, as braire as a lion, and perfectly fenrless of consequences, having withal a coolness of temper that to a foe was exasperating. It is sHid that one of the blandest of smiles would overspread his features when drawing a bead on some cowardly savage who had waylaid and missed him. He was a man of little edncation, bat possessed of extrsordi- ' nary common sense and correctness of judgment.

Delaun and Asahel Mills and their families wer»^ the only inhabitants of the township till the spring of 1803, when quite a number arrived from Mas- sachneetts and Oonnectioat and made settlemeni. Among those were Stephen Baldwfai, Benjamin Stow and his two nom, Daniel and Calebs John Baneroft with four SODS, KuJolphas, John, Ariemus and David, Daniel Owen, two brothers, Stiles nnd William, Thomas Kennedy and Asa Truosdale, making seven families in all, which oonstitated the entire population of Nelson in 1804. In this year eame leaao Hilla, the father of Mr. Albert MiUb, of the Center, who is now seventy-eight yean of age, and well prmerred in all his facnltios. The old gentleman has been a ^rent singer in his day, and led the singing in his church for over forty years, having only within the past two or three years ceased to do so. Isaa^ m oompany with a friend, Origen Adama, both being single men, made the jonrney on foot from Connecticut, but the former, doing fjuite well the tirst year, returned to Connecticut and on Novom her 27, 1805, married his pretty little sweetheart, Miss Polly Adams, a damsel of only hf teen years. It waa a fearfnl ondertaking for the ohiId*wife to come to this far-distant wilderness, but of snoh atnfif were some of the women of those days made, that the little girl became a splendid pioneer wife, equal to all emergencies, content and happy, a blessing to all who knew her, and the mother of stalwart sons and buxo^a daughters.

In July, 1804. also settled Col. John Garrett, firom Delaware, for whom waa named Garrottsvilla A German from Delaware, named Johann Noah, came about the same time as Col. Garrett; also Abraham Dyson, from Delaware, who settled near Col. Oarrett, on the spot that afterward became the village of Gkmretteville. In 1805 came John Tinker and Nathaniel Biiucrof t, aonaill>law of Benjamin and Daniel Stow, Martin Manly and Daniel Wood.

Tn 1806 Asahel Mills, having fitted Up accommodations for his aged father and mother, brought the old couple out, but the Deacon died in lo09 and his widow followed him several years later. Oliver Mills, a toother of the al^ovo, also settled in the township about 1809, and about the same time oame Charles May, the Rudolphs and Iipv. William West, a Baptist minister.

In 1811-12 a large company, mostly Presbyterians, came in from Connecticut, prominent among whom wore Deacon Joshua B. Sherwood, Wells Clark, Bridsey Clark, Theron Colton, David Beardsley, Titus Bonney, Hozekiah Bonney, John Hannah, David Goodaeli and a large connection of the Hopkins family. Bmigration then ceased ahnoet entirely till the eloae of the war, 1812-14.

In 1615 an enumeration of the settlors of the township resulted in a showing of thirty -three heads of familiea, as foUows: Hezekiah Higley, John Banaroft, Jr., Adolphus Bancroft, Titus Bonney, Benjamin Stow, John Bancroft, Sr., William Kennedy, Thomas Kennody, John Hannah. Rossitter Hopkins, Stephen Baldwin, Delaun Mills, John Tinker, Alanson Johubon, David Beardaley, Benjamin Fritcfaard, Theron Oolton, Bev. William West, John Budolph, Widow Garrett, Joshua B. Sherwood, Isaac Mills, Robert C. Bennett, Sylvanus Hewlett, Elisha Taylor, Sr., Martin Manly. David Stow, Johann JSoah, Asa Truesdale, Erastus Johnson, Bridsey Clark and Wells dark.

From the date of the above enumeration till 1S20, the township rapidly settled up, and among those who carao in wore, to give a good heading to the list, Jeremiah Earl Faller, who was six feet four inches in height, bringing two eoDs; Qiarlea Whiting, Oharlea Hewlett, Marona and David HdEris, Thomaa Barber, Thomas Perry, Benjamin Brown, one of whose sons waa Probate Judge, another a prominent lawyer, and another a well-known pbysioian; also, oame the Merwina, Eatons, Merritta and others. From 1820 onward, emigrants froni the East still came in till the price of land began materially to advance. Among tbose ooming about this time wero Harry Spenoer, Jaoob and Ashbel HasldnB, Jr., sons of Ashbel Haskins, Sr., Jared W. Knowlton and family, Ira Fuller, who lived to be ninety-four yean of age» and a nomber of the Fritoharda and Taylors.

As Boon as the snmying party under Atwater arrived in Nelson, they set to work and erected a log-cabin for their use whilst in the township. It was, of coarse, a mde affrtir, bnilt of unhewn logs, and stood just east of the present house on the land afterward donated to Capt Mills. This was the first hnmaa habitation in Kelson, and was ereeted in the early spring of 1800. When Delann letomed with his family in the fall, he made considerable improvements in the surveyors' cabin, and put it in the best condition possible for wintering his wife and her three young children. Capt Mills forward ereeted a doable log^eabin, quite a oommocuooa uBair, and it was flie admiration of the whole settlement. Asaliel ABlla eraetod the next cabin after his brother, and was soon followed by many others. But one of the most noted eventB of the time was the erection by Thomas Kennedy, about 181 1, of a frame honsei It was located abont three*fonrths of a mile north of the Gen' ter, and when it was finished rotdp of his neighbors said that Thomas was get. ting too prond. The father of Thomas Kennedy was William Kennedy, who was ninety years of age when he cama The old gentleman was considerable of a drinnar, and on one oecasion eame to his son and told him tiiat the spring back of the bouse was not water but Santa Cruz ram.

In the spring of 1804 Enoch Judson, of Mantua, married Anne Kennedy, this being the first marriage in the township, but the married life of the unfor- I tonate iMy was short, for in Jons following she beoame slightly sick, and \ applying to Uza. Bnfus Edwards for an emetie, was gtTen, through mistake, arst^Tiip. which caused her death. The second marriage was that of a sister of Anne Kennedy, Mrs. Norton, to Joseph Noorse, a lawyer of Burton.

bom in November, 1801, was the first child bom in the townshij . 1 it we are sorry to annul that claim by stating that the reputed " jirovious " Harmon had a little ^rl cousin named Dianthea, who antedated him by almost a month, she having made her appearanoe on the 14th day of October, 1801. She was the daughter of Asahel Mills.

The tirst death in the township, like the first birth, hns been wrongly stated. A son of Col. Uarrett died in September, 1804, and to this youth has nsnally been given the honor of departing the earliest, but an infant of Asahel Mills died a year or two before the date of young Garrett's death, as is proven by the Mills' family record. The tirst man to die in the towDship was Col. John Garrett, who departed this life in January, 1800, at the age of forty- six years, after a career of usefulness to his fellow-men and honor to himself. He left a widow, who survived him fortf years, and four children who became honored and distinguished citizens.

About the first preaching ever listened to in Nelson fell from the lips of Asahel Mills, who at the time he settled in the township had made up his mind to be a Methodist preacher. His sermons may have simply been nfaortations in the M('tho<]ist sense, hut we have the word of Albert Mills that he was the earliest preacher who lifted up his voice in the township. Rev. William West, a Baptist minister, came in very early, probably 1807 or iSOii, and of course delivered a sermon to the settlers occasionally, hot the first ehnroh OTganiaation ooooired in 1807, at the honse of Johann Noah, the sanrioea being coDdocted by Rev. Thomas O. Jones, of tlie Baptist donriniuniion. Mr. Jones was afterward a member of iho Ohio Le<jjislntare, nnd President of a bank in Wooeter. Bev. K. B. lioberts, afterward a leading Bishop in the HeihodiBt Epinoopal Ghnrdi, was a dieait rider ia thoae early days, and preached every two weeks at the cabin of Capt. Mills. A preacher by the name of George Lane, a noted singer, came in an early day. He had a powerful voice and always led the singing. AVilliam West, the minister spoken of above, became the fint eeHled pastor in 1809 car 1810« he having preadied irregularly for the settlers some time before. The original proprietors d(jnated him fifty acres of land. Mr. West was an excellent man and mneh beloved. He has no descendants in the township, but one of his daughters married Prof. Brainaidt of develaad. The large company that oame nom Conneoticut in 1811-12, organized a Congregational Church in 1813, all of the members having belonged to the same church before they came West. In 1822 the Presbyterians erected a very tine church at the Center, and it stands there to-day. Bev. Benjamin Fenn was the first regular preadier to occupy the pulpit, he coming there in 1823. The first Methodist Church was built in 1832, and the first mininter to ]^rench in it was Bev. J. W. Davis. Theohar<di still stands in good condition at the Center.

The first s^iool opened in the township was tanght by Hannah Baldwin, at the Center, in 1804. Not one of those who attended this primitive educational institution is now alive. The next school was taufjbt V)y Oliver Mills, ia. 1800. He was a brother of the famous Captain, and is said to have monopo* lized all the **.Behool lamin'** of the early Mills family; he was a farmer, medianie, teacher and doctor, all combined. Nelson Academy Association was permanently orj^'anized January 6, 1852; Charles Goodsell. D. Everest, David Hanners, Josiah Talbot, C. C. Fuller, Silas Clark, John Martin, A. J. Eldred and Albert Mills were elected Tmsteee. At the annual meeting, Jan*- uary 3, 1853, W. R. Knowlton, J. W. Spencer and G. B. Stow were elected Tmsteee. C. C. Fuller was Clerk of the first annual meeting. The condition of the township schools at the close of 1884 is shown bv the following statistics: Bevenne in 1884, 18,947.10; ezpenditnmi» 12,844.02; eight school buildings valued at $5,000| average pay of teachers, f86 and |22; enrollment, 88 boys and 91 girls.

Capt Mills for many years kept his house as a stopping-place or tavern. It .being located on the route to the farther western country, it was very eonvenient, especially as he always had on hand a supply of whisky and rum. Another tavern was kept on the road north of the Center by Art emus Bnncioft

The tirst mill was erected by Col. Garrett, at Garrettsville, and it was the greatest oonveni«iGe with which the settlers had been supplied, as previous to its erection long jonmeys had to be made to g«>t their little grists ground. The mill was both saw and grist, and wns bnilt iji 1805.

This same year Amzi Atwater surveyed a road from his place in Mantua, along the south line of Hiram Township^ to Col. Garrett's mill, and in 1806 another was cut out to Aurora, westward, and one through AVindham and Braceville, to Warren. Abraham Dyson, who came in at the iimv Col. Garrett did, was the tirst blacksmith, and had more than he could do repairing ,i guns tor the Indians. The first wheat raised waa forty three bushels, fircnn'* three pecks of seed, sown in the turnip patch of Capt. Mills in 1801. It was threshed ont on a sheet in the wind. An epidemic of a fearful nature prevailed in 1842, and carried off many persons. The patient would be taiken witii something like the ague, after which a peculiar fever would set in, when death would shiNrtly ensue. It baflled the skill of some of the best physidans.

Mr. Pike, the oldest man in the township, now ninety-one years, was in the war of 1812. Capt. Mills commanded a oomjjany at the battle of Maokinaw under GoL Croghatt He was the hrst militia Captain, also.

The towD[£ip was ozgsnised in Septembor, 1817, and named Neleon. The first Justices of the Peace elected were Daniel Stow and Elisha Taylor, Jr., the latt^^r declining to serve. One of the first cases was Delaan Mills va. James Knowlton, action to recover the price of a bear. Mills had a bear trap^ Knowlton baited it, eangbt a bear and took it homei Mills daimed the boar, as it was caught in his trap. Judgment, 25 centSi awaidad Ifilla far I the UBo of trap; plaintiff and defendant to divide coats.

Before the township was regularly organized, and while Benjamin Stow was ICagietrate, Thonns Kennedf and Wareham Loomis cot into a fight, and the one who was whipped had the other arrested. When the case came up for trial, the prosecnting witness, defendant and spectators were all greatly surprised at the decision of the Judge. He fined both parties 15 apiece, and made eaeh pay halt the ooatB. Being vemtniBinied with bgr a friend of tiae prosecuting witness at the apparent iiregularity of the proceeding - that it was not law - ho replied. " I am Chief 'Tnstioe of this domain, and am here to deal out Justice; I don't care a h^ for the law."

Another ease, showing that in thoee early Umee jnstioe, rather than the strict technicalities of the law, prevailed, occurred during the time Capt. Mills had his tavern. The accommodating Captain, as has been stated, sold whisky, but he forgot to get out a license. He was arraigned before the Trumbull Oonnly Oonrt for selling liqnor without a license, and plead guilty to the charge. Judge Kirtland, who had often been refreshed at the hostelry of Mills, remarked to Judge Pease that he did not think the defendant guilty within the meaning of the statute, whereupon Pease asked Mills if he could not change hia plea.; " May it pleaae the Oonrt, your Honor, I am not guilty,** promptly replied the aoeommodating Oaptain, and he was aa promptly di8> eharsed.

// Many stories have not only been told orally, but have foond their way into ^ print, about OapL Delaun Hills and the ^dians; they have been added * to from time to time so abundantly that one would be led to believe that the exclusive business of the redoubtable Captain was to hunt and kill Indians. According to some authorities he would shoot a couple of redskins and throw tikem <m his homing log-pile, just ae he would perfcMrm an^ other ordinary work; then he pursues a party of than into a swamp and dispatches half a dozen or so, before breakfast; again, he wonld kill one. pnt him under the upturned root of a tree, cut the top of the tree off, and let the balance fly back and thus effectnally bury the braTe; tut again, he would stick the caroasa of <me of his wily fo^ into a spring, and ram and jam it down with his rifle. There is no doubt about the extraordinary bravery of this pioneer, no doubt about his skill with the rifle, and no doubt about his hatred of the red savages, but he was a hnmane man, with a loving wife and a number of children at hia fireside, which preTented his being an Indian-slayer by profession, as a man of his good common sense would know that such careers are short. Notwithstanding the many accounts of his deeds of blood, the only really aolhentio one is that written by his son TJrial, of Salem, 111. , who in a letlsr dated August 22, 1870, atatca: "About 1803 an Indian got mad at my father and said he would kill him. Father was in the habit of hunting through the falL One day in crossing the trail made in the snow the day before, he found the tTM^ of an bdian following him; this put him on his guard. He aoon the Indian. They both aheltersd themselvee behind tiees. JTather pnt his bat on bia gnn stock and star-k it ont so that tbelDdian could see it. The Indian shot a hole through the hat, and when it fell he ran toward father with his tomahawk in bis band; father stepped from behind the tree, shot him and buried bim. He told my motfanr end ehe told me. About the aame lime the Indians weie in camp near the cranberry-marsh, afterward owned by Benjamin Stow, Asahel Mills was bunting cattle and came past their camp; an Indian snapped a gun at him, but the Indian's sauaw took the gon away from bim. Aeabel eame bome badly aoared and told hie atoty. We aoon aaw tmi Indiana coming painted for war. They came into the house; all shook hands with father but the last, who uttered an oath and seized bim by the throat. Father caught him by the ahoulders, jerked him off the floor, and swung him around. Tbe ealvea of bia lege bit the abarp leg of a besfy table; be then dragged him out doors, took him by the hair and pounded his head on a big rock and left bim. The Indians scarified the bruised parts by cutting tbe skin into strips about one inch wide; tbey then tied a blanket around him, put a pole thioagfa tbe blanket, took the pole on their ahooldera and oarried bim to camp. Tbey said that if he died the^ would kill father. While be was con* fined they shot Diver of Deerfield. This created quite an excitement, and the Indians all left for Sandusky, leaving the crippled one in camp. Some time after, when father waa away, he oame to the bonse in the dnak of the e^Miing and asked if he could stay. Mother told him he could. She did not sleep any that night, believing he had come to kill us. In the morning he got np, built a fire and cooked his breakfast of bear's meat; he then went out and aoon retomed wifli tbe bind-anartera of a fine bear wbieb be gave to mother, then bade her good by and lefL She was as glad to see him go as any visitor sht> ever had." He was appointed Captain of the Big Hunt in 1818. Capt. Mills was bitten by a rattlesnake in the summer of 1812, and it very nearly ended bia eareer. Soon after being bitten tibe bktod began to flow from his nose and eyes, and he became partially paralyzed. The usual roujody, . filling the patient with whisky, saved him, bat he always felt the effeotaoi the y tcOTible virus. He died April 20, 1824. ^

Thetownabip is strietly agricnltnral, and ebeeee making ia one <A the principal industries. Tbe country is rolling thioQghont its whole extent, but the land is excellent. Considerable fine stock is raised and handled, and some sheep and their product marketed. Originally the entire face of the country was oovered with a heavy growth of the finest timber, and game being plentiful it was really one of the best hunting-grounds for tbe Indians, and some of the well-known chiefs often bunted hf»re. Bin; Cayuga, Snip Nose Cayuga, both of whom Capt. Mills is said to have killed, Seneca, Nicksbaw and John Itohawk, who shot DiTsr, were among the* more noted. White hunters, also, more skilled with the rifle than the Indians, stalked those old woocb,and many an adventure with bears and wolves is told of the grandfathers and fathers of the present inhabitants.

A beantifol monument stands in tbe square at flie Oenter, ereoted to the memory of the brave boya who ao nobly laid tlieir lives down on the altar of their country, and it is an honor to the {(atriotic citizens who thus remember tbe martyrs who died that tbey might enjoy the benefits and glory of an vndivided ooontry. It coat $1,225, and was made at Ravenna. Nelson furnished 109 soldiers; twenty died and eight were disabled.

There are eight good adioolboasee in tbe township, besides a fine academy ai tbe Genter; also one Congregational Ohnroh, Rev. Fowler, pastor; one

Bistort Op Portaqb Oountt

Three oheeee faetories ara nearljall the time in operation. There are two general stores, one bladnmith shop and postoffioe at the Center, S. M.

Township Ojfficera. - Trustees, A. J. Paine, A. F. Hannah, Edwin Taylor; Olerk, W. W. MoOall; Treaaorer, William J, Faller; AflBeeBor, Charles Allen; Constables, Leon Bancroft. Benjamin Paine; Joatioee of ttie Peaee, L. S.

The " Ledges," as they are called, in the northern part of the township, hare dwaya heea a noted plaoe of reeort for pleasnre^seekers and eorioeityhanters, and there is a good hotel at one of the principal points of interest for their accommodation. This singular freak of nature is attributed to various causes, but there is uo doubt of their being the result of some terrihc internd aphMTal, when the fleroe Toloanie fires burst forth, and possibly diot out through the crevices that now appear in all directions, but which through the lapse of unnumbered ages have been mostly filled with rock and lava debris, pulverized in after ages to ordinary soil and sand. Curious upheavals of this eharaoter are to be frand all over tpe world, bat they generally oooor on mountaiu tops, and are oaUed in two or three looalitiea ** the devil's back bone." The Nelson Ltnlgea are well worth a visit.

Source changes here: from 1927 Portage County High School Yearbook, by Portage County High School, published 1927; 1,119 words in this source stream.

Nelson Township

We have three new additions to our faculty this your, Miss Helen McCullough teaches the prim room, Miss Viola Brumbaugh the third and fo grade, and Mr. J. Preston Bloom is principal.

"The high school boys bought a new football soon after the beginning of the term, with which much fun was had, Mr. Phillips gave the use of the upper floor of his barn as a basketball hall. 'This was soon prepared for us, and now serves as a gymnasium every noon, Through lack of material, the basketball team is rather weak, and, though the boys have done their best, have won only one or two games so far. We hope for better results next year,

We have done somewhat better in Literary work. Clarence Fraundorf won first in readings, Lillian Cooper first In orations, and Grace Leggett first in solos at the local Literary Musical Contest, Grace won first at the county contest. The whole high achool turned out Lincoln essays and orations, good, Lad, and indifferent,

The consisting of, The Shaw Trio; Brush, The Great; and Glen L. Morris, hosides one school number, was not as great e success as usual, owing to bad roads, weather, ete.

'The high school received some valuable training in salesmanship last fali in the form of a campaign for Country Gentleman, Ladies Home Jonrnal, and Saturday Evening Post subscriptions, The school obtained $85.00 worth of subscriptions, of which our share was $34.50. This sum was used to help out In the school athletics,

Our Girl's Glee Club, under the direction of Mrs. Young, assisted by Miss Lewis, has been doing very good work so far, even tying with Garrettsville in the Randolph Fair Contest.

J. P. Bloom

There are thirty-two pupils in the high school, Eight of these are Seniors, Mr. Bloom thinks that i» too many to be dignified all at once, and tries not to have too many of them In the room at the came time, The Junior Class numbers eleven, and, somo suy they are as nolsy as any other two classes in school. 'There are also eleven Freshmon, and most of them are beginning to find their way to and trom various class rooms, without more than a rign-post or two and a set of diagrams,

We have another now class this year, Miss Randall now teaches a sewing class, 'They started out with one sewing machine, and now have four. They intended at first to take only a half year of sewing, but later decided to keep it up all year.

Our school has been very lucky this year In getting our new electric lights. We have needed them for a long time, and our desires have at lust been gratified,

This year we have received some very good books to add to our slowly growing library. We purchased 3 New Winston's Dictionaries. We also received the following set "The World's Best Classics," from Mrs. H. L. McCullough and Mothor; "Creative Chemistry," "The Spirit and Service of Science," "Life of Pasteur," Riddle of the Rhine," and "The Future Independence and Progress of American Medicine in the Age of Chemistry" from the American Chemical Society.

For General Sclence we have purchased sundry and various things to add to the laboratory. For Home Economics we have received three sewing machines,

When the first call for basketball players was announced we found out that we had ten boys and ten girls wantinz to play, The teams showed up better than we expected as this was the first year for the most of them, We opened the season rather early to get the rookies broken in. The boy's team sure was a disappointment, but we are losing only two players by graduation, so we have a bright. outlook for next year. The girls are hit a little harder by graduation as they will lose three players.

Wo have decided to enter teams in track this year, We probably will not get very far as this will be our first year in track, But we have materjal enough that we ought to do quite well, We probably will have ten boys and ten girls to answer the call tor track,

The Nelson School building was erected in 1914 at a cost of $35,000, Some of the operating oxpenses of the school are: Teachers' salaries, $5,- 110; school wagon drivers, $4,048; janitor, $600; lighting (Installation and use) $418; and installation of water pump and engine, $150.00.

J. V, Van Kirk, who is traveling about In the intorosts of world peace, kept our attention for one solid hour. He distributed little booklets on brotherhood and world peace, The World Flag was also displayed,

The following high school pupils have not missed a day nor have been tardy once this year: Emma Neltzell, Geraldine Bancroft, and Isodene Adams, Alton Townsend has the same record for tho seventh grade, Several have missed but little, Many have missed much,

'there are three in the first and second grade room who are very near the top in their studies, 'they are; Howard Smith, Arnold Brom, and Annabeile Havens,

Commencement exercises will be held in the community auditorium with Professor L, S, Ivins of Kent College as the speaker and with the Elgin 'Trio to furnish the music, Isodene Adams is salututorian; Richard Evans, valedictorian,

'Ihe eighth grade presented two plays, "How Many Marys Have We Here," and "Barbara, the Great," on March 18, to a very appreciative audience,

Great interest is being manifested by both grados in the Spelling Contest that is being sponsored by "The Ravenna Republican," To date, Roger Stroup and Bernice Cramer have not missed a word,

Our bulletin board has some very Interesting and unique pictures posted, Many of these are pictures of artísts that we often hear over the radio, We have one of Schuman-Heink at the age of twentyfive. Another of Galli-Curci working in her garden, One of Marian Tallyn and Gertrude Edorle, who were rival entertainers the same evening. For a period of a few weeks we had exhibited a New York City newspaper, which was printed April 15, 1865. It gave the story of Lincoln's assassination in detall, This was contributed by Barnos Bancroft, Grade 8.

The Literary Societies held their last meoting February 14, The side led by Bernice Cramer made 274 points. The one led by Raymond Brom made 269 points. The winners have a treat coming In the near future.

The new project work in art appreciation has proven very valuable, It has stimulated interest, developed more initiative and in itself has boen very instruetive, because the pupils have learned more about Venice, since studying Turner's "View of Venice" than they ever did from a geography text,