Norwalk Township (part 2 of 2)

The Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland railroad was located through this place in 1852 and completed the following year. A new era was now dawning in the history of the village, and from the time of the completion of the Lake Shore road, dates the substantial progress of Bellevue. The quick eye of the enterprising settler was equal to the emergency. Shops and business establishments were erected with characteristic energy for the manufacture of such commodities as the exigences of the place and its growing facilities rendered necessary. When the town was incorporated, its population was about eight hundred, but at the present time it numbers three thousand, five hundred and is constantly increasing with corresponding vitality, and evidences of commercial progress are manifested on every hand. In 1869 its corporate limits were much enlarged, being made about one mile and a half square, and still being nearly equally divided by two counties. We have not set forth in as nearly as possible their order of occurrence the principal business events which have happened in the history of Bellevue since the arrival of the first settlers, in 181 5. Every event we have stated, carries with it some present interest in connection with the city's rise and progress, especially to old settlers. Could the little company of settlers in 1815, amid the privations of their log cabins and the hardships of forest life, have been told that in fifty years from that time Bellevue would be what it now is, it would have required a strong faith to believe it. Most of the early settlers have passed away, but their memories and works live green in the hearts of many left behind. There are still a few remaining, however, in whose breasts doubtless, linger happy memories of their early struggles, as with a glow of pardonable pride they gaze upon the prosperity of the city they have helped to build up, and witness her rapidly extending importance and probable destiny. Capital and enterprise abound, and on every hand there teems evidence of a vigorous prosperity, the end of which the future alone can reveal. The history of the past few years is the index to that future and judging by the past, it is but just to say that, under the protecting guidance of a beneficent Providence, Bellevue is destined to become one of the most accumulative and progressive cities in northern Ohio.

Bellevue Of Today

Bellevue today can justly boast that she has within her borders over five thousand souls, a prosperous industrial activity and untold wealth in the agricultural community surrounding. The growth of Bellevue has not been of a mushroom variety, but a steady, substantial increasing in the number of homes and residents. Contrast the classified business list of Bellevue in 1873 with that of today, and the reader has a most forcible exhibit of the increase in mercantile pursuits. The past thirty years have been fraught with most important developments. Three railroads in addition to the one then existing have been laid through the town, and the longest electric line in the world traverses our main street. Manufacturing has become an important factor in our welfare, and the future seems to hold all things desired by the most optimistic.

The people of Bellevue have been lavishly liberal for public and civic improvement. We feel safe in saying that no town of equal population has spent so much money for public betterments and social conveniences than our little city. Within the last seven years a reservoir has been added to our waterworks equipment at a cost exceeding thirty thousand dollars; a water conduit costing seven thousand dollars has enlarged our water shed; water mains have been extended until the whole town is afforded ample fire protection and all who wish, can have use of city water. This later work has entailed an expense approaching twenty thousand dollars. This year a contract was let for reinforcing our reservoir banks with concrete walls, and this work, when completed, will reach fifteen thousand dollars in expense.

Several miles of street paving has been laid, and this year four streets have thus been improved and the aggregate cost of this work for the last few years is over one hundred thousand dollars. Bellevue can boast that she has as many miles or more miles of paved streets than any town of its size in the state.

A new city hall and fire department headquarters have been erected in the time specified and their total cost was over twelve thousand dollars. Sewers and sink-holes have been constructed and drainage improved with consequent expense. All other work incident to a growing town has been prosecuted promptly and successfully and permanently accomplished.

The people of Bellevue gave generously to the establishment of a Y. M. C. A. and a free public library. Both of these institutions, to which all of our citizens may point with pride, were financed in one brief period, three years ago. We doubt if such a thing could be accomplished in a town twice the size of Bellevue in the same length of time. Bellevue's contribution to these institutions was close to twenty thousand dollars - a liberal giving to a worthy cause for our advancement. Last year one óf the central school buildings received alterations and additions, that cost nearly twelve thousand dollars. The new central school building which was erected, but a few years ago, caused an outlay of over thirty thousand dollars.

Private individuals have also spent money in that time in the improvement of real estate holdings. Manufacturers have added to their plants and new plants have been established.

Plymouth

Plymouth was founded without design, and is situate at the intersection of the State road and Beall's trail, thirty-five miles south of Sandusky. The main street of the village is the county line between Huron and Richland. Owing to its situation a number of houses were built at the intersection of the roads mentioned, and in time the question of organizing a village was successfully mooted.

The town was first called Paris, but upon its organization in 1825 its name was changed to Plymouth. The village was incorporated in 1834, but the records previous to 1855 are not in existence. The postoffice of the village is south of Main street, which places it in Richland county.

Although the town is about half and half in each county, perhaps the greater number of business houses are on the north, or Huron county line. To show the interest taken by the founders of the town in education, it is only necessary to state that the same year the town was laid out a school house was built, and in 1830 a ladies seminary was founded, and the young ladies of the surrounding country very generally took advantage of the opportunity afforded them of acquiring a seminary education.

At irregular intervals for years past reports have been made of the discovery of coal near Plymouth. But such "discoveries" never materialized. And reports have been circulated that the shaft had been "salted." It is a legitimate part of the work of the geological survey to expose and prevent frauds, but not to assert that any particular individual has perpetrated a fraud. Thin seams of carbonaceous matter or beds of bituminous shale may be reached by boring. Coal, if discovered in that locality, would have to be found below the carboniferous conglomerate, beneath which stratum coal has never been found in paying quantities.

In the ante railroad days, "going to the lake" meant a trip to Portland or Huron by teams and wagons, and these teams passed through Plymouth in long processions enroute to the lake. What a change the inaudible and noiseless foot of time has made since then.

The Sandusky, Norwalk & Mansfield trolley line passes through Monteith's grounds, and the place is now a picnic and summer resort and is called the Huron Valley Amusement Park.

Norwalk township was incorporated by act of legislature, February 11, 1828. The following are the two first sections of the act of incorporation:

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That so much of the township of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, as lies within the following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing at the southeast corner of the town plat of Norwalk, in the center of the road leading to Medina, running along the south side of the back alley as far as it extends, from thence in the same direction to the center of the road passing widow Tice's dwelling, a distance of two hundred and sixteen rods from the starting point; thence along the center of said road forty rods; thence northeastwardly and parallel with the first iine to the center of the road passing Ebenezer Lane's dwelling to Milan, a distance of two hundred and sixteen rods; thence along the center of said road forty rods to the place of beginning, be and the same is hereby created a town corporate, and shall henceforth be known and distinguished by the name of the town of Norwalk.

Sec. 2. That it shall be lawful for the white male inhabitants of said town, having the qualifications of electors of members of the general assembly, to meet at some convenient place in said town, on the first Monday of May next, and the first Monday of May annually thereafter, and then and there proceed, by a plurality of votes, to elect by ballot one mayor, one recorder and five trustees, who shall have the qualifications of electors; and the persons so elected shall hold their office for one year, and until their successors shall be chosen and qualified, and they shall constitute the town council.

First Corporation Election

The following is taken from the first pages of the first book of record of the corporation of Norwalk, and comprises the poll-book and tally sheet of the first election held as an incorporated village:

Poll-book of the election held in the town of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, and state of Ohio, this fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. Joseph C. Curtiss, Benjamin Carmon and Wm. Gallup, judges, and Geo. T, Buckingham, clerk, of this election, were severally sworn as the law directs previous to their entering on the duties of their respective offices.

"Norwalk and Bronson were together as an election district from 1817 (the time of their first organization) to 1822. For a part of this time Fairfield was included in the same organization, making an election district five miles wide and fifteen miles long, the same being called Norwalk; and while so together, all the elections were held in the part called Norwalk proper."

The first election in Norwalk township was held at the house of Hanson Reed in April, 1817. Norwalk and Bronson were at this time organized as an election district.

Hanson Reed's house was situated on the east side of the road leading from near the water works to the Fairfield road, and about thirty rods from the latter road.

Soon after Hull's surrender at Detroit in August of 1812, Thomas, son of Abijah Comstock, was born on section two of Norwalk. When he was only a few days old, his parents had to flee from their home to escape the Indians, which they did just in time, taking him and their other valuables with them, for the night after their departure their house was burned. This was the first white child born in Norwalk.

The first death of which he has found any record, was that of Angeline Lewis. She was the daughter of Samuel B. and Amy Lewis; born at South Salem, Westchester county, New York, probably in the fall of 1814; was brought by her parents to Norwalk in the spring of I815, and died September r, 1817. She was probably the child stolen by two squaws, and rescued by her mother, of which an account is given in the history of Samuel B. Lewis.

In the spring or summer of 1815, Hanson Reed, then living in Greenfield, purchased of Samuel B. Lewis, the place upon which Mr. Lewis had erected a house the previous year.

He soon moved in with his family, and in 1816 or 1817, commenced building a sawmill on the creek which runs through the present L. B. Mesnard and S. J. Rogers farms, on the north side of the Fairfield road, and a few rods to the west of the stone bridge over that creek. In erecting this mill, he was assisted by his father-in-law, Mr. Abraham Powers. Soon after its completion, it was destroyed by fire. The two men then made a workshop of the house, and commenced work on the machinery of another mill, and in about five weeks had it completed, running and doing a good business, but when the fall rains came on, a freshet swept away their dam. They were now without funds, all having been put into building and re-building, but were not discouraged; the dam was soon replaced, and then they began to plan for a gristmill attachment to the sawmill, and carried their plans into execution in a year or two afterwards.

In 1806 Nathan S. Comstock, in company with several others, started on an exploring expedition to "spy out the country" where their new possessions lay. They spent some time in looking over the country, but not being provided with suitable maps or guides, were not certain they found the particular land they were in search of.

1809. - Early in the spring of this year, Nathan engaged the services of Darius Ferris and Elijah Hoyt to accompany him on a second expedition to Norwalk with the intention of making a permanent settlement. They started with a span of horses and wagon and such tools as would be necessary in clearing and building. At Buffalo they found it impracticable to proceed further with their wagon, so a small boat was purchased, into which their goods were packed, with the addition of a barrel of whisky. Two of them manned the boat, and proceeded up the lake, keeping near the shore, while the other took charge of the horses, and traveled overland, keeping near the lake. In this manner they reached the mouth of Huron river.

There were at that time quite a number of Indian settlements along that river, the largest of which was where the village of Milan now stands, and was called Pequatting. They were Moravians, in charge of a missionary named Frederick Drake, and had a mission house. Being very friendly, they offered the new comers the use of their mission house until a structure could be erected to shelter them. A site was selected for the new house in section two, near a spring, and in the immediate neighborhood of the fine brick residence erected a few years ago by Philo Comstock, Esq., in section three of Norwalk. After cutting the logs, the few white men then in the country, were invited to assist in putting up the house.

This was the first house erected by white men, in the township of Norwalk, of which any record can be traced, and was, most probably, the pioneer house. It was not covered by a mansard roof; the windows were not set with crownplate glass; the front door was not of carved walnut, nor mahogany; the back door did not exist; its floor was not covered with a brussels carpet; there was no piano and no sewing machine within its walls; upon the marble-topped center table (which was not there) lay no daily morning paper containing the latest telegraph news and the last time card of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, nor even that of the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad company. fact, it was no palatial residence, but rough and strong, and made for service like the strong-willed, iron-handed men who built it. Its roof was made of "shakes ;" its walls of rough logs; its floor was the face of mother-earth, carpeted with the moss of the growth of ages; the bedsteads were "bunks" with poles for springs, and their mattresses were sacks filled with leaves and mosses; its cooking range was a brass kettle hung a pole. supported by two crotched sticks driven into the floor, and its chimney was a hole left open in the roof. Rough, uncouth, homely, yet it was a home, - the first home of Norwalk.

The house having been erected, they next commenced a clearing of about ten acres which they completed, in a manner, and sowed to wheat that fall.

New London township was settled prior to any township adjacent, and the first settlement was within what is now the village. The first settlers were Abner Green, wife and three daughters, in the month of February, 1815, and located on lot number ten, third section. Here Mr. Green erected the first log house - a small cabin - using basswood bark as covering or roofing. His furniture, or rather cooking apparatus, and farming tools and implements were few and very simple. History tells us they were conveyed on his back in a box or "chest captured from General Proctor." Green was born in the state of Vermont at a day sufficiently early for him to be a revolutionary soldier, though the date of his birth is unknown - probably, about 1758. He served also during the war of 1812 as sergeant.

Mr. Green cleared some two or three acres of ground in 1815, and raised the first crop of corn in the township, and the historian is informed he had a good crop, cultivated by the use of the ax and the hoe. He was noted as an honest, industrious, patriotic, and religious person, often holding religious meetings, and the then boys say he did good preaching. He also erected a cabin and lived for a few years on lot number twenty-four, second section. Thence 1823 he moved to the southern part of Ohio, died about 1826, from, as is supposed, the effect of a wound received in the battle of Fort Malden, under General William H. Harrison. The township of New London was organized in 1817, and the first election was held at the house of Mr. William Sweet, on the first Monday in April. William Sweet, Isaac P. Case and Solomon Hubbard were trustees; Sherman Smith was township clerk; Hosea Townsend. and B. Crampton were appraisers; Philo T. Porter was constable, and H. Townsend acted as lister. The early records of the township were burned, with all the furniture in the house, at the time Sherman Smith and brother's house was burned, in 1818 or "19, and the want of any record compels us to say we do not know who was elected in the spring of 1818. It is conceded there was no fall election in 1817. The first state election was held in 1818, and the poll book shows twenty votes, which at the ratio now given for boys, giris, and women (and many of the early pioneers had large families of boys and girls) would give the town somewhere from sixty to one hundred inhabitants.

The township very naturally took the name of New London from the fact that N. Douglass, N. Richards, and the Ledyards, were the principal, or largest original proprietors, sufferers; and they resided in New London, Connecticut. The name of the township has never been changed since its first settlement.

The settlement of this township was delayed by the war of 1812-15, and again from the disputes of title from 1820 to '25, which will be more fully noticed hereafter, it being the cause of the greatest law suit ever affecting the settlers on the Firelands.

The surface of the township is generally level, though, in many portions in the vicinity of the water courses, it is quite rolling, and other portions may be classed as gently undulating. It was originally, with the exception of a small portion in the fourth section, known as the cranberry marsh, all densely covered by timber. The principal varieties of wood were black walnut ; elm of several varieties - rock, red and white; maple - hard and soft; beech ; oak - white, yellow and black ; basswood, whitewood, hickory, white and black ash, cherry, dogwood and willow. There has been no particular change in the forest, except the almost entire disappearance, by use. The soil is very productive - well adapted to grass, small grains, corn, vegetables and berries - clayey, or marl, with a slight preponderance of the clay, and, in the third section, sandy ; while rich, deep muck, is abundant in the fourth section. It is about equally well adapted to the dairy products, hay, grain or stock raising. Fruits of several kinds and varieties do well. In short, for fertility and productiveness, very few, if any town on the Firelands, can surpass this. At an early day in the settlement of the township, quite a large portion of the third and fourth sections were deemed as low land and swampy ; now, all or nearly all is drained and is tillable.

The streams running through the town are two. running northwardly through the fourth and third sections, is formed by Skellenger's creek, Knowlton's creek and Carpenter's creek, uniting with the Vermillion river in the township of Clarksfield, as its east branch; and Rawson's creek, uniting with other small streams and making East creek, a west branch of Black river. The various creeks and streams are fed by many springs, which render this section of the county quite

The first road opened was the Read, a military road from the south side of the county to the lake on the west line of New London, in 1812. The second road was for the passage of the army of General Wm. H. Harrison's division, 1814, through the northeast corner of the township. The first road made by the pioneers was what is known as the Clarksfield road to Ruggles, commenced 1816.

The first mail matter was obtained at Huron, Judge Jabez Wright, postmaster, Dr. Richard P. Christopher keeping the office for the Judge. The next was obtained at Norwalk. The first mail route was from Tiffin to New London - a man in southern Ohio taking the contract for carrying the mail, but mistaking New London for London in the central part of the state, he gave up his contract, and it was then carried by Squire Palmer, of Fitchville, from Fitchville to Tiffin and back, once a week; and by Tracy Case and Hosea Townsend from Fitchville to the office of I. P. Case, postmaster, for the revenue of the office. This was under J. O. Adams' administration. Under Jackson's administration Peter Kinsley officiated as postmaster at "Kinsley Corners," or Merrifield's Settlement. The first route through the township was from Florence to Uniontown, or Ashland.

The first religious organization was in the log school house where Miss Sophia Case was teaching ; organized by Mr. James Haney, in 1816, a Methodist from Savannah (then known as Haneytown). Mr. Haney had about thirty listeners. Probably this was the first class, and from which, as a nucleus, the Methodist church sprang.

The first adult death was that of Mrs. Francis Keyes, who died of consumption in May, 1819, and was buried on their own lot, near John King's orchard. Mrs. Polly Day, daughter of John Corry and wife of John Day, died in the autumn of 1820, and was buried on her father's farm, being the first buried in the village cemetery.

The first house erected was by Abner Green, on lot number ten, third section, February, 1815, and the first frame house by Hosea Townsend on lot number twenty-three, third section. The first frame barn was built by I. P. Case, and the first log store (a building twenty-four by thirty-six) in 1819, on his place. The first frame store was William C. Spaulding's, on lot number seven, third section. The first boy born in a frame house in the town was Ira Townsend.

The first corn was raised by Abner Green, and the first wheat carried to mill was by Hosea Townsend, to Uniontown, now Ashland. The first flour and meal was obtained at Florence.

The first manufacturer of boots and shoes was I. P. Case, in 1815. The first black salts or potash was made by Josiah Day and his father, Dr. Samuel Day. The first orchards from the seeds were planted by H. Townsend, William Sweet, John Corry, and Francis Keyes, in 1820 and '22. The first grist mill was put up by Captain William Blackman in 1826, and was a small concern - two sand-stones turned by hand. The first brick building was erected in the fall of 1865 and in the summer of 1866. Was used by Thomas Smith as a cellar. The Masonic hall was built the following year. The first brick store was built by C. W. Gregory in the village in 1866.

The first school house was the third section, on lot number thirteen, in 1816, and Miss Sophia Case, daughter of I. P. Case, was the first teacher, and had fifteen scholars. The first school house in the fourth section, or in the village, was on lot two, a little north of B. B. Mead's residence, and Peter Kinsley taught the first school in 1818; he had about twenty pupils.

When the first white men settled in New London, the black bears and wolves were the most formidable; deer, raccoon, otter, sable and gray fox, wild turkeys, beaver, wild cat, hedgehog and fishers, or pekans, abounded to a limited extent. The deer and wild turkeys became far more abundant about 1822 evidently coming into the town from the east; and the wolves appeared to follow the deer.

There were Indian camping grounds on farms in the second section, but no villages. The hunters of the Delaware and Wyandot nations frequented their old grounds for a few years after the white man came.

The first physician was Dr. Samuel Day in the second section in 1817 or 1818. He was a botanic, and did some practice by the use of indigenous plants and herbs. He died December 31, 1839.

New Haven township was so named after New Haven, Connecticut, from the fact that nearly all the early settlers were from that state, and one of the principal land owners, who inherited or purchased a large portion of the land in the township from the original grantees of soil, lived in New Haven, Connecticut.

It is mostly a level township, but in some places rolling. The soil in the southwestern part is a black sandy loam; in the north and eastern part it is more of a clay soil, or clay mixed with sand. There is a stone quarry in the southern part from which large amounts of stone have been taken for building purposes, but was more suited for flagging or foundations than for block work. But it was an important addition and convenience to the settlers of the township, for it furnished building material for far and near.

The principal water course in the township is the Huron river, having its source a few miles south of the southern boundary of the township, thence north until it finds an outlet into Lake Erie, at Huron. It increases in size quite rapidly. It receives quite an accession to its waters before leaving the township, the first of which is called Rice's run, which puts in from the east and intersects the river during the first two miles of its travel; the second is a stream having its source in the extreme southwestern limits of the township, running north until it intersects with the river. It drains a large extent of the level land, or marsh lands, and is for this reason called Marsh river, and when its waters mingle with those of the river it is of considerable volume.

The southern boundary of this township forms the line between Huron and Richland counties. In the southwestern part of the township there is a large extent of marsh lands, but these have been drained and are largely under cultivation.

At an early day there were to be seen the remains of an ancient fortification, situated in the western part, and within the boundaries of the town plat. Its

There were no Indian villages or settlements within this township, but there were numerous bands going and coming continually from the neighboring Wyandot settlement, and on the eastern bank of the river there is said to have been Indian burial ground.

The first settlement made in this township was sometime bei ore the war with Great Britain, supposed to be about 1810 or 1811, by Caleb Palmer, a surveyor, whose calling brought him into this part of the country, although he then lived in Trumbull county. A small settlement was then made, and Palmer put up the first log cabin in the township in 1811, about one mile northeast of the present village of New Haven, on the road leading to Norwalk. Woodstock and Newcomb also came at a very early date.

The settlement increased quite fast during the years 1814 and 1815. During these two years, Josiah Curtiss, Reuben Skinner, Jas. MacIntyre, David Powers, Samuel B. Carpenter, John Barney, Samuel Knapp, Martin M. Kellogg, the Inschos, Henry Barney, Royal N. Powers, Chism May, Calvin Hutchinson, George Beymer, Wm. Clark, Jacob Speeker, Rouse Bly, Joseph Dana, John Alberson, George Shirel, Matthew Bevard, William York, Prince Haskell, Stephen Stilwell, and many others cast their fortunes with the settlement.

The first election in New Haven township was held on the 17th of August, 1815. John Barney was chairman; Josiah Curtiss and Stephen D. Palmer, judges; Daniel Powers and James McIntyre, Jr. clerks. Following are the names of the officers at that time elected: Samuel B. Carpenter, clerk; Robert Inscho, John Barney, Martin M. Kellogg, trustees; James McIntyre, Chisim May, overseers of the poor; Samuel Knapp, Reuben Skinner, fence viewers; Stephen D. Palmer, Henry Barney, supervisors; Calvin Hutchinson, Samuel Knapp, appraisers ; Calvin Hutchinson, constable ; Caleb Palmer, treasurer.

The first white child born within the limits of New Haven township, was Ruth, daughter of Caleb and Hariet Palmer. She was born April 29, 1813. She married Jesse Youngs.

George Beymer was the first person who died in New Haven. He settled in the township in 1815, and died June 24, 1817, after a long illness, contracted while he was in Franklin county, Ohio. A large family was bereft of a father when he was removed, and because of this fact, and also as it was the first time that death had invaded the settlement, the occasion was one of the intensest sorrow. An old settler, speaking of the funeral, says that it was one of the most agonizing experiences that he can recall to mind, and one of the most solemn. The women who were present gave expression to their grief in the most heartrendering manner, wailing and sobbing during the whole of the sad service. The sermon was preached by the Rev. James McIntyre.

The first couple married in the township, were James Skinner and Harriet Beymer. They were married in June, 1817, at Reuben Skinner's house, by Caleb Palmer.

Caleb Palmer's was the first log house. The first framed building was a small barn built by Royal M. Powers. The first brick house was that of JIR: Partello.

Mrs. Joseph Darling (a daughter of "Priest" Edwards, of Ripley), taught the first Sunday school about the year 1830, upon what was later known as the Henry Trimner farm.

The first sawmill was built by William Clark, on lot sixty-five, section two, in the year 1816. It was afterwards owned by Moses S. Beach. It has long since passed away, but the old race can still be seen.

The first Fourth of July celebration of which any information can be gleaned, was in 1822. It was held upon the square, where a green bower was erected over the speaker's stand and dinner tables.

Joseph Dana was for many years the teacher of an excellent school at the village. He was a man of fine scholarship and had a peculiar ability in, and fondness for, his profession. He labored, however, against many disadvantages. One of them was the absence of the conveniences for writing, which are now thought indispensable. The pupils had no paper, slates or blackboards, upon which to exercise their chirographic abilities, and traced their "pothooks" and rude letters in sand strewn upon smooth boards.

A school house was built quite early in the history of the township, which was, for the time, an unusually good one. It was originally but one story high, but another was added by the Masonic fraternity.

Most of the Indians who were seen by the early settlers in New Haven, were of the Seneca tribe, one of the divisions of the formerly powerful nation known as the Iroquois Confederacy. The southwestern part of Huron county was peculiarly the hunting ground of this tribe. The Wyandots or Hurons were also seen, but not so frequently ; and at times, some of the Delawares.

Before the settlement of the country some of these tribes inhabited the Firelands, and held them as their own. After the pale face came, they, no longer, regarded the territory as their home, and seem only to have wandered through it, tarrying a little while here and there, hunting, fishing and making maple sugar. They had some villages in the northern part of the Firelands, but none in the southern.

The Senecas passed through New Haven, on their way to the eastern hunting grounds, sometimes in bodies of several hundreds, but more often in small companies which occasionally camped for a few days or weeks near the bank of the Huron. Some rode upon ponies, and some traveled afoot. All were clothed in characteristic Indian style. The warriors wore the peculiarly fierce appearing feath- headdress, and were clothed in buckskin. The squaws were always neatly dressed, in short skirts, beaded moccasins, and gaily bedecked blankets. They brought baskets, deer hams and various trinkets to the settlers, which they were always anxious to barter for bread, flour or meal. |

The first sermon delivered in the township was by James McIntyre, Jr., in the log school house. Mr. McIntyre was a Methodist preacher. He was the son of an early settler, who bore the same given name, and who came to the county in 1814. The son was without education save that which he obtained from the few books which fell into his possession. He was awkward, uncouth, illy clad and had a poor voice, but he was in earnest and argument was his forte. His style was dry, plain, but forcible in reason and was seemingly convincing. He was a preacher of the argumentative style and was fond of a debate with some preacher of a different religious faith. Early settlers describe him as a remarkably tall, gaunt, ungainly figure, with thin, peaked face, small, deep set eyes, and sandy hair. He usually appeared at the place where a meeting was to be held, attired in a tow cloth shirt, often worn in the manner of a frock, tow cloth pantaloons, one tow cloth suspender, with a "buckeye" hat upon his head, and barefooted. He was the last man a stranger would have picked out in the little croup as the preacher. He would begin speaking in a cracked, squeaking voice, and those who had never seen him or heard of him before, would imagine that they saw before them some poor, cracked and crazed fanatic. Wonder would soon change to admiration, as the pioneer preacher proceeded with the argument of his sermon. He was, although poorly educated, naturally smart, energetic and earnest. His converts were numerous, and the amount of good he accomplished, great.

New Haven was settled by a superior class of men. Many of them had enjoyed unusual educational advantages, and a number were much better endowed with material goods than the pioneers a new country generally are. As the village was formed at an early day, there were many who came in without experiencing the pleasures or pains of pioneer life. This class did not, as a rule. take ip land. They were not, the proper sense of the term, early settlers They located in the village and followed trades, and their number was so great that many are not even mentioned, while others are barely referred to.

The first orchard was put out upon the farm of Reuben Skinner. Mr. Skinner and his son took a quantity of cranberries, which they picked upon the marsh or prairie, to Knox county, and exchanged them for one hundred of very small trees. The Skinners made their settlement in 1814.

New Haven Village

The village of New Haven was laid out by David and Royal N. Powers, upon the 8th of April, 1815. The plat was constructed upon the plan of the town plat of New Haven, Connecticut, and the village was as tastefully and conveniently laid out as any in the state of Ohio. This was the second town plat laid out upon the Firelands. The center of the plat, an open space, of diamond shape, was just north of the township center. Streets were laid out, north. east. south and west, from the angles of this open common, and these were inter- sected, at right angles, by other streets, all at an equal distance from the center ofthe plat. Alleys were laid out, sub-dividing the blocks. There were one hundred and eighteen lots, over sixty of which were sold and improved within the first few years of the existence of the village. In 1820, New Haven was garded as a rival, in matters of trade and manufacture, of Norwalk and Mansfield. This rivalry was maintained until the completion of the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark railroad, when, from a combination of causes, it began to decline.

New Haven village was incorporated in 1838 or '39, but it is said that officers were not regularly or properly elected until several years later. Wm. V. B. Moore was mayor in 1839. Mo trace of any official mention can be discovered before that date. The first and second pages of the corporation record are gone, and the first date shown is 1843. Under this date, by reference to various entries, we find that the officers were at that time as follows: P. B. Hoy; mayor IR McEwen, recorder (or clerk) ; J. K. Partello, J. C. Towne, Wm. John, D. F. Webber, James Graham, trustees (members of council).

Almost one-fourth of the township, section number four, was originally a wet prairie or marsh. In an early day, cranberries, huckleberries, "sauger," wild ducks and pigeons were the principal products found on this marsh, but today it is reclaimed by an extensive system of drainage so that farmers have a rich reward for their labor, in grass, grain and corn. Celery is also extensively grown. All of this work has been accomplished within the past forty years. The marsh feeds a small stream known as Marsh run, tributary to Huron river. It is a fact not generally known that this marsh is the largest tract of this kind of land in the United States.

New Haven village was on the direct thoroughfare from the south to the lake, and the merchants had not only a good home trade, but received the liberal patronage of the hundreds of teamsters who drove through with loads of produce from Mansfield and other points in the vicinity. Goods were, in those days, hauled by teams from Baltimore and Philadelphia to the lake ports north of New Haven, and the teamsters upon their back trip gave the preference to this village, over all others, as a place to purchase those articles they needed for personal use, and goods for people living along their line of travel south.

These teamsters were men of considerable character and ability. They transacted their affairs in as business-like a way as does the captain of a vessel, or the officer of a freight line, taking bills of lading, etc. They drove six-horse teams in front of their immense wagons, called "land schooners," and were thus able to transport heavy loads of produce and merchandise. Sometimes the roads for several miles would be filled with these turnouts, presenting the appearance of an immense procession or caravan. Many a time the diamond, or square common, in the center of the plat, was so filled with these teams, and those of farmers in the vicinity, who came in to trade, that it was impossible, well-nigh, for a pedestrian to cross from one side to the other.

Early in the history of New Haven, when there were few banks in the country, when money was scarce, and the skins of animals, beeswax, and salts or ashes, were the principal articles of traffic, David Powers, Royal N. Powers and Martin M. Kellogg, established a banking house and issued notes, the lowest denomina- tion of which was valued at twenty-five cents. These notes were put into circulation, but after a short time they were not receivable at par, and finally they were taken in exchange for goods by Royal N. Powers, when he opened a store.

New Haven's prosperity began at an early day, increased rapidly and ceased suddenly. Fortune is fickle with communities as well as men. She smiled upon this one in its infancy; withdrew her favor and put the past and present conditions of the village into a forcible and saddening contrast. The Sandusky and Newark railroad was built in the years 1843 and 1844. New Haven lay directly in the way of the proposed road, and its people were called upon to aid the enterprise to the extent of a few thousand dollars. The amount asked for would probably have been subscribed, had it not been for the counsel of Judge Ives. He regarded it as impossible to build the road by any other route than through the village, and advised against extending any financial assistance.

On account of not receiving the assistance asked for, the road was run a mile west of the village, and from that time the town of New Haven began its decline. The Sandusky, Norwalk & Mansfield electric line now traverses its principal street north and south, but the early day prosperity of the town will never be revived.

New Haven having in early times, a larger population than any of her sister townships, it followed naturally that the people led a more jolly, social life than in most other communities. Almost every Saturday afternoon was given up to amusement, and nearly the whole population was there gathered upon the square to indulge in various games, such as ball, pitching quoits, wrestling, running, jumping, etc. Many a royal frolic was had at the taverns, and many a jovial crowd assembled to engaged in some hilarious but harmless merry-making.

The weddings and parties were occasions of unbounded enjoyment. There was a lack of formality and of the artificial but plenty of honest, homely hospitality and good feeling. A number of men and women would often go in an ox cart to the house of a friend where they had been invited, and there meeting many other guests, would enjoy in a genuinely sociable way the whole of a long, but seemingly short evening. Sometimes the accommodations were apparently insufficient for the number of guests. There would, perhaps, be no table large enough to hold the substantial supper or dinner that had been provided, but it was an easy matter to take a door from its hinges and lay it upon a couple of barrels, and the ladies and gentlemen of the olden time probably enjoyed the various good things, set forth upon this improvised table, as their descendants do the luxuries now more elegantly served. Some of the weddings were great "social events."

As early as 1810, a mail was carried from Mansfield to the mouth of the Huron by a man named Facer, who continued to carry it until May, 1813, when Andrew Brewster commenced to carry it, and continued to do so for two years. His father lived in Mansfield. There was then no settlement between Mansfield and Huron, it being one unbroken wilderness and the road a mere trail. He traveled what was the old state road, running through the center of Ripley and Fairfield. He said he would see only three or four white persons on the route, though Indians were met very frequently. They made him no trouble, however, and were never so much a cause of fear as were the wolves. The country was full of these disagreeable and dangerous animals, and it is said by old settlers that Brewbaker seldom dismounted from his horse, because afraid that he would be molested if he did so. He was accustomed to pour grain into a basin, shaped hollow, which he had chopped in a fallen tree, and sit in the saddle while his horse ate.

It was some time during Brewbaker's period of service that a postoffice was established in the township. The first was a box nailed upon a post, and thus literally a post office. Joseph Dana was the first postmaster. His duties were not arduous. People who expected mail matter were accustomed to go to the box, open it, examine the contents, and, if they found any letters addressed to themselves, to carry them home. Although Darling is generally spoken of as the first postmaster, there is no doubt but that Caleb Palmer was the first man regularly commissioned to fill that office.

A stage route was laid out through the township, north and south, in the year 1819. It was only a short time anterior to this date that the roads had become worthy of the name. They were at first mere trails, winding through the woods, but the spirit of improvement was abroad, and regular roads were laid out, the timber cut and travel made less tedious.

Deer, coonskins and beeswax were the principal articles of traffic, and were the only things that would bring money in the early pioneer times. Coonskins were twenty-five cents each, deerskins a shilling a pound dry. Beeswax, twenty cents a pound.

Not long after McIntire commenced preaching the Methodist doctrine, Presbyterian services were held at the house of John Barney, by a Mr. Mathews, of Ashland.

The mercantile business was of great magnitude. The pioneers in business were Royal A. Powers, Hopkins, Hinman, and Williams, who had a large stock of goods, Ives and Askins, and there were others. Later T. W. Crowell and Sumner Webber. At one time there were five dry goods stores and it was not an unusual thing for the larger ones to take in five hundred dollars a day. New Haven was on the direct thoroughfare from the south to Lake Erie. The merchants had a good home trade and had liberal patronage from the hundreds of teamsters that drove through with their produce from Mansfield and other points. They drove six horse teams with their immense wagons called "Land Schooners." We of the younger generation in this day of rapid transit with steam and trolley cars, cannot conceive of the inconvenience of the going and coming of our forefathers.