Randolph Township (part 1 of 2)

Randolph Township

RANDOLPH, which is Town 1, Range 8, originally- fell to the lot of Col. Lemuel Storrs, of Connecticut, Heniy Champion and others. Some time after the drawing, however, Col. Storrs purchased the interests of the other holders of the lots in the township, and became sole owner, he being the proprietor of considerable other property on the Reserve. Storrs was in eveiy sense a self-made man, having been born of humble parentage, but he had that within him which to so many men has been better than wealth - integrity, perseverance and fine business qualities.

The first persons, other than Indians, to enter the township were the surve\-or, Amzi Atwater, and his assistant, Wareham Shephard. They came to run "the lines in the summer of 1797, and camped on a small stream in the southern part of the township, where the}' made their headquarters.

Among the number of first settlers were Bela Hubbard, Salmon Ward and others, of Middletown, Conn. The two named, in the early part of 1797, I'emoved from their native State to Jefferson Count}', N. Y., where they remained till 1802, but not being satisfied with their first location started for New Connecticut in the early part of March, that year, with an ox-team and a cart loaded with flour, bacon, tools, etc., and landed in Randolph about the last da}- of the month named. They halted at a spot about half a mile west of the present Center, and made preparations for establishing a home. The first night they encamped under a large tree that stood for years afterward, it being held sacred as the abiding place of the first settlers. Here the two pioneers made a small clearing, and with the timber thus cut built a cabin, finishing it the day after their arrival. This old cabin was for inany years a land-mark where it stood, but A-enerable things must, or rather do, give way before the chariot of progress. The day after finishing their cabin Ward was taken sick, and when he recovered sufficiently to travel he made as straight a streak for the East as circumstances and the roads would permit, having had quite enough of life in the wilderness, yet, as the sequel will show, retaining a hankering after the fine lands of Randolph. Hubbard continued to reside where he settled for many years, but some time before his death he removed to Mogadore, on the Summit side of that duplex village, having attained a very advanced ao-e. From the time Ward left till July, about six weeks, the only white inhabitant was Bela Hubbard, and he used to say that it was awful lonesome to be far away from any habitation of his fellow man, and when the only sounds of the night would be the howling of the wolves, the hootings of the owls and the soughing of the winds through the almost interminable forests. Yet, had it not been for such heroic men and their heroic wives, what would this beautiful Western country now be?

living a short time, he having gone there from New Durham, N. Y., but originally came from Plymouth, Conn. At the same time came Joseph Harris, afterward a prominent citizen of the county. He came direct from Middletown, Conn., and settled here, but removed some years afterward to Medina County. Late in the summer Salmon Ward, accompanied by Calvin Ward and John Ludington, arrived in the township after a journe}' of many hardships, having been on the ragged edge of starvation several days before reaching the county. They came by the lake shore, and after leaving the water had to almost cut their way to the section they had in view, the}' having chosen a route that was very little frequented. The following winter, 1802-03, there were but six persons in the township.

Early in 1803 Salmon Ward returned to New York and brought back with him his elder brother, Josiah Ward, wife and six children. They came in an open boat up the lake, and suffered greatly from cold and man}' privations. During the summer Jehial Savage and Timothy Culver came in from Atwater, where they at first located. Savage was from Connecticut, and settled on the northwest corner of Lot 57. He had a wife and five children. Culver soon after locating went to Canada and brought out his brother Daniel. In the fall of the same year our old friend, Salmon Ward, for the third time made the trip to New York, and brought back Aaron Weston, Levi Davis and two men named Carey and Smith, the latter two coming to trade with the Indians. They only remained through the following winter.

In the spring of 1804 Salmon Ward started for the fourth time to New York, but was never afterward heard from. It is supposed that he was either drowned in the lake, having no papers about him to show his identity, or was murdered. June 13, of the same year, Ebenezer Goss left Plymouth, Conn., and came by way of Pittsburgh to Mahoning Count}-, arriving at Canfield July 29, having been fortysix days on the road. From there he went to Atwater, and in November came ta Randolph. He brought a wife and four children, and when he arrived had only $1 in money. In December Eliakim Merriman, from Wallingford, Conn., came in. He originally, in 1802, settled in Atwater, removing afterward to Suffield and thence to Randolph.

July 17, 1805, Oliver Dickinson came into the township with his family and purchased the improvements made by Timothy Culver. Mr. Dickinson came from East Gi'anville, Mass., and was one of the most useful of the early settlers. - He was a blacksmith by trade and worked at first in the shop of Ebenezer Goss, who had set up business shortly after coming. There were now six families in the township, but a number of unmarried men were also here. During this year Isaac Merriman, from Connecticut, x\rchibald Coon, from Pennsylvania, and Abisha Chapman, son-in-law of Ebenezer Goss, came in. Coon, however, soon moved away, but he left his name in Coon Hill. Chapman, also, afterward moved away. October 23, John Goss, from Connecticut, ax'rived with his family, and about the same time Jeremiah Sabin and his son, Abel Sabin, from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., located in the township.

In 1806 Hiram Raymond and Thomas Miller, from Connecticut, William Thornton, from Pennsylvania, and Daniel Cross, from Vermont, came in. Raymond was a tailor, and many anecdotes are told of him and a fellow whom the settlers called " Bag " Jones, from the fact that he had stolen a bag. Miller became a Baptist preacher and Thornton went into the war of 1812, contracted disease and died from its effects, i^lso, came this year, Nathan Sears and his son, Elisha, and Rev. Henry Ely, all from Connecticut, and at the same time a queer character, Nathan Muzzy, from Worcester, Mass., of whom more will be found in the sketches on Shalersville and Rootstown.

In 1807 Deacon Stephen Butler and Caleb Wetmore moved in from Connecticut, but in a few years left and settled in Stowe Township. Nehemiah Bacon and his son-in-law, Ethelbert Baker, with their families came in from Palmyra. Dr.

Hufus Belding, from Cattaraugus County, N. Y., arrived with his family in this year, and remained till his death in 1854. For nearly thirty years he was the only physician in the township and had a very lucrative practice. From this year till the war of 1812, many settlers came in, among whom may be mentioned Nathaniel Bancroft in 1810, and Sylvester Tinker and Deacon James Coe in 1811. The latter was a prominent and useful man in his church, and in the affairs of his township and county. After the war a sort of boom struck Randolph and the country rapidly filled up. Some -of the best citizens of the county came in at that time, and their descendants are among the leading people in its affairs to-dav.

The first death in the township was that of a man, name unknown, an assistant to the surveyors, Atwater and Shephard, who died in July, 1797. It is said that he imbibed rather too strongly of '- tangle foot " whiskyj and that, together with the heat, killed him. He died on the southern line of the township and was there buried. Mrs. Clarissa Ward, wife of Josiah Ward, was the second person, and the first inhabitant to die. This was in February, 1804, and there being no lumber in Randolph, suitable boards for acoflSn had to be procured in Ravenna from Robert Easton.

The first white child born in the towriship was Sophronia. a daughter of Arad Upson, in the spring of 1803. The second birth was Amanda, a daughter of Timothy Culver, in the spring of 18(16. The first white male child bon°in the township was Elisaph R., son of P]liakim Merriman, April 23, 1807.

The first marriage was that of Bela Hubbard, the first settler, with Clarissa Ward. This happened in April, 180G. Mrs. Hubbard used to tell her husband that he had to marry her, or none, as no other girl in the township would have him, simply because there was no other girl there at the time. They were first married by a minister, but to make the knot sure, were remarried bva Justice. The second wedding took place June 16, 1806, and the parties thereto were Eliakim Merriman and Hannah Bassett.

In the spring of 1801 Timothy Culver took out a license to keep tavern, and keeping tavern in those days meant selling whisky. The Indians were large consumers of the stuff. Ebenezer Goss started and carried on the first blacksmith shop in 1804; Eliakim Merriman opened a cooper shop in the latter part of 1804, and ran it for fifty years. A barrel that he made in 1815 was still in use a few years ago. In 1805 the first mill was constructed. It consisted of a hollowed stump and a pestle six feet long attached to a pole, nature's winnowing machine, the wind, being used to clean the flour of the chaff. Hiram Raymond was about the first tailor, and Thomas Miller the first shoe-maker, to settle in the township. Raymond invented the first washing machine that was used in Randolph. It was a pole suspended in a stream of water, creek or branch, upon the end of which pole the clothes were fastened and washed as the sailors at sea wash their clothins, by the action of the water. Calvin Ward and Timothy Culver in the year 1808 erected. the first distillery. Whisky at this time was worth, or rather sold at, $1 per gallon, and it therefore was profitable to use the grain in that way instead of selling it at the low price it would bring. A grist-mill and saw-mill were also built this j'ear, a great accommodation to the settlers, and they did a fine business, Josiah Ward was the proprietor, and the mills stood where Hines' mill was afterward built. Nathan Sears had commenced a mill on the same spot, but had to abandon it, as that portion of the township was not yet on sale. Josiah Ward also erected the first cider-mill in 1809. It was a very rude affair, beino- simply a trough in which was a block of wood with short poles or handspikes attached. The apples were placed in the trough, and the block pressed down upon the fruit The cider brought more per gallon In Cleveland at that time than whisky. In 1811 Sylvester Tinker put up a tannery west of the Center. He also started a tavern at the same place, to which he added a stock of goods. These various businesses of Tinker, together with his general usefulness to the early settlers, made his death, which occurred in 1818, veiy much lamented. In 1817 Samuel and Hiram Webster erected a cloth-dressing establishment, on the creek west of the Center, but in a few years it was destroyed by fire.

In the summer of 1803 the first crop of wheat was raised by Bela Hubbard on the northwest corner of Lot 57. He obtained his seed-wheat at Little Beaver, Penn., and he went ten miles to borrow a plow which he brought home on his back. But he was well repaid, as four acres of this new land among the stumps turned him out 100 bushel. He lost a valuable horse bv it, however, as the animal got access to one of the barrels in which the wheat was placed, and ate so much that he died. Milling at this time was not a ver}' " numerous " business, and the settlers had to take their wheat to Chrisraan's mill, on the Ohio, a trip occupying about seven days. A bachelor's club was formed about this time, the members of which were Hubbard, Harris, Weston, Davis and Calvin Ward. Sally Bacon kept house for them. There were now fifteen able-bodied men in the township, so they formed a military company with Bela Hubbai'd, Captain ; Ariel Bradley, Lieutenant ; and Aaron Weston, Ensign. In 1805 the first sheep were owned in the township. The wife of Josiah Ward bought nine with money she had brought from Connecticut. This year Hubbard and Harris raised about 1,500 bushels of corn, about a mile west of the Center. In 1806 three orchards were set out, one by Oliver Dickinson, one by Bela Hubbard, and one by Josiah Ward. Dr. Rufus Belding was the first physician ; he came with his family in 1807. In 1808 the first frame building was erected by Oliver Dickinson. A portion of the timbers are now in the barn of W. J. Dodge. In 1820 the first postofflce was established, with a weekly mail to and from, and Oliver Dickinson was appointed Postmaster.

The petition to set off Randolph as a township was considered bj- the Commissioners December 3, 1810, and authority granted to organize the towns of Suffield and Randolph under the latter name in honor of the son of Mr. Storrs.

Be it remembered that on the 12th day of January, A. D. 1811, the electors of Randolph Township assembled agreeable to public notice for the purpose of electing township officers. John Goss was chosen Chairman of said meeting, and Rufus Belding and Reuben Upson, Judges; Jonathan Foster, Clerk; Abel Sabin, Clerk, %^ro tern.

The following are the names of the persons elected : Samuel Hale, Reuben Upson and Rufus Belding, Trustees ; Nehemiah Bacon and Raphael Hurlburt. Overseers of the Poor ; Joshua Hollister and Abel Sabin, Fence Viewers ; Thomas Hale, Appraiser, and Timothy Culver, Lister of Taxable Property ; Arad Upson, Constable ; Martin Kent, Ezekiel Tupper, Ebenezer Cutler, E. Merriman, A. Upson, Supervisors. Moses Adams, Thomas Hale, John Goss, E. Cutler, John Sabin, Bradford Waldo, E. Merriman, T. Culver, J. Hollister, Ephraim Sabin, A. Upson, Schoby Outcalt, David Ticknor were returned as jurors. At the same time Jonathan Foster was elected Justice, but did not receive his commission until October 10. Every person taking part in the election has been dead several years. The last one, Ephraim Sabin, died in 1870. Suffield was set off from Randolph in 1818.

The main business of the township was transacted at an early day at the settlement of Gren. Campbell, Campbellsport, Ravenna Village not yet being laid off, and Akron unknown for twent}- 3'ears afterward. The road from Randolph Center to Campbellsport ran from the creek west of the Center to a point on the line between Rootstown and Edinburg, then northward. There was a horse-path to Canton and a trail to Atwater. There was not a bridge in the whole of what is now Portage County.

The " Hubbard squash " so noted not only in the West but eastern sections of the country, is said to have originated in the Hubbard family of this township. Bela Hubbard produced from some seeds obtained in the southern part of the State this most desirable variet}' of winter squash. In 1805 land was worth $2.50 per acre in the northern part of the township.

In 1818 an epidemic prevailed in tlie form of a fever, and tlie mortality was so great that tlie township obtained a very bad name - '- the sickly township " - which retarded immigration man}- j-ears.

When the war of 1812 broke out there were forty-four males in the township over twenty-one years of age. Four of Randolph's boys were in the service - David James, Samuel Redfield, William Thornton and Elisha Ward. Bela Hubbard, who had removed to New York, was Captain of a company of men who were exempt from service b}' age, but they went in nevertheless. They were called " Silver Grays," and went out three times to protect the lake shore. Hubbard had six teams, also, in the service.

Randolph was a station on the " Underground Railroad." In October, 1846, Gen. William Steadman, late U. S. Consul to Santiago de Cuba, made a visit to Granville, Licking Co , Ohio. There he overtook John and Harriet, two colored fugitives, who, having bid defiance to their bonds, were cautiously threading their way to Canada. The General assisted them in getting to Randolph, a flag-station on the "Underground Railroad," Mead & Brainerd, who were carrying on steam flouring and saw-mills one and one-half miles southeast from the Center, in a secluded locality, employing these runawa3's, who were subsequently claimed to be the property of one Mitchell, in Western Virginia. The alleged owner, receiving information of their whereabouts, sought to recover his property. On a rainy Saturday evening early in Ma}^, 18-17, two men with teams and heavy wagons drove up. to the Randolph Hotel and engaged lodgings. Soon after were seen ten Ohio River boatmen in sailor dress and two gentlemanly looking young men making their way east on the steam-mill road. The news of their approach was quickl}' conveyed to Mead & Brainerd, who at once secreted the fugitives in the attic of Mead's house, to which the kidnappers soon arrived. W^ith axes in hand Messrs. Mead and Brainerd kept the party at bay during a parley, until the citizens came in large numbers from all directions, surrounded the rescuing party and conducted them back to the hotel, where they were guarded till eai'ly morn, when they were escorted by the Randolph citizens to Deerfield, thence by two trusty spies across the Ohio River. The fugitives remained secreted, and a week later a long-to-be-remembered wedding took place, attended by scores of the best citizens of Randolph. After being made one these fugitives were taken to Painesville and subsequently landed. The two gentlemanly young men mentioned in the kidnapping party, proved to be the sons of the claimant. They returned home from their fruitless journey more than ever disgusted with Ohio abolitionists, and with exaggerated ideas of the vigilance and militar}- skill of the citizens of the quiet town of Randolph.

The following history of the Congregational, Methodist and Baptist Churches is summarized from Walter S. Dickinson's reminiscences of early da3's in Randolph : " Before the arrival of Rev. Henry Ely no religious meetings had been held. In 1806 meetings were held at the house of Oliver Dickinson. In 1807 Rev. Ely removed to Stowe, and meetings of a religious nature were discontinued in this part of the town. The families of Nathan Sears, who were Methodists, and Oliver Dickinson, who were Congregationalists, were all that were connected with a church until the arrival of the Bacons, E. Cutler and E. Baker in the southwest part of the township. Soon afterward there was considerable religious excitement in that neighborhood, and a Methodist class was formed. It was broken up by the removal of these families from town, and no record remains, so far as is known, of this organization. At the organization of the Congregational Church in Rootstown, Oliver Dickinson and wife joined by letter from the church in East Granville, Mass. Sylvester Tinker, although not a member of any church, was pained by the absence of the religious privileges of the East, and seeing the effect of such a condition of affairs, said to himself ' I cannot bear it,' and appointed a religious meeting in the old log-schoolhouse which was near the Little Cu3'ahoga River. It was well attended. Mr. Tinker opened the meeting, led in the singing, led in prayer and read a sermon. The meeting was so successful that another was appointed. In 1811 there was a revival and a number of conversions, and finally a church was organized. At one time, when holding a meeting in the house of Oliver Dickinson, the room being crowded, the floOr gave wa}', scaring a good many and injuring, slightl}-, but few. The Congregational Church was organized July 5, 1812. The meeting was held at the house of Oliver Dickinson in the forenoon and in the barn in the afternoon. Rev. John Seward officiated. The following persons were members of the church at the organization : Deacon James Coe, Oliver Dickinson and wife, Richard Rogers and wife, Mrs. Eunice Culver, Mrs. Alvira Dickinson, Sylvester Tinker, Walter Dickinson, Jesse Dickinson, Miss Betsy Stow and Mrs. Statira Bancroft. In November Mrs. Louisa Dickinson, Mrs. Charit}' Bancroft and 0. C. Dickinson united with the church, making a membership of fifteen at the close of the year. There were no more additions to the church until 1818, when Deacon Festus Spellman and wdfe, Mrs. Roxy Dickinson and William Jones united with it. The death of Mr. Tinker and Deacon Spellman was a severe blow to this weak church, which within eighteen da3-s lost three of its members, two of them being its active workers. For a time Rev. Caleb Pitkin, of Charlestown, preached for the church once in four weeks. After the completion of the frame schoolhouse at the Center meetings were held in it. In 1814 a Methodist class was farmed by Rev. Ira Edd}-, of persons living in the southeast part of Rootstown and the north part of this township. They met on week da3'S, when supplied b}' circuit preachers, at private dwelling-houses. Nathan Sears and wife, Samuel Redfield and wife, Grandison Ferris and wife and Mrs. Nancy Coe, wife of Deacon James Coe, were the members of the class that lived in this township.

In 1819 the Baptist Church was organized with twelve members. Deacon William Churchill and wife, Deacon Calvin Rawson and wife, Eben Smith and wife, Mrs. Josiah Ward and Philo Beach were the onl}- members living in this township at the time of the organization. Whenever any one of the religious societies held a meeting at the schoolhouse it was attended b}' the members of the other religious denominations as well as by its own members. If no minister was there, some one read a sermon. In consequence of a revival in December, 1821, there was an addition to the Congregational Church of eleven members ; four by letter and seven by profession. One who then joined b}' profession (Alpheus Dickinson) is still a member. Soon after the revival a Sabbath-school was organized by members of the Congregational and Baptist Churches. Deacon Churchill and 0. C. Dickinson were active workers in its organization."

The Disciples Church was organized in 1828 out of the Methodist, Baptist and Congregational societies, and in 1860 erected a house of woi'ship. Their new church at Randolph Center was erected in 188-1 and completed in the spring of 1885. This is a neat edifice among the neat homes of this pretty village.

The German Reformed Church was founded in the township at an early day, and in 1857 the memliers of this societ}- erected a house of woi'ship.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Randolph, founded in 1829 by the Germans, was regularly organized by Rev. Victor Housner in 1865, and a church building was erected the same year. Rev. Matthias Wertz was the first priest, in 1838, and took charge of the mission, its log church and parochial houses. Rev. B. A. Shorb succeeded. Bishop Henni was here as a priest from 1840 to 1844. John Nepomuck was also here in 1841, then Rev. Father Hoffman in 1844. Dr. Joseph Sadoc, a Spaniard, came in 1850 ; he was afterward Archbishop of California.

Kev. Jos. Cheney and Rev. McGrlogan followed. Rev. Salasius Bruner came in August, 1844, then Father Howard pro tern., then Peter Anton Capedes. Rev. John Vanderbrock and Rev. John Witmer came in 1845. Jacob Ruigley came in 1847. Rev. John Hackspill came in 1857 and remained until 1861, when Father Housner and Father Herbstrick came. Father Kahn came in 1869, and was succeeded by Father Nicholas Kirch in March, 1875. The congregation numbers 900 souls, of whom 700 were communicants in 1884. This parish supports a large school of seventy- children, and another school southeast of Randolph Center of twenty children. The value of property is $22,000.

In the summer of 1805 the members of the Bachelors' Club, some six or seven young men, built a schoolbouse, a small building of logs, with " puncheon floor, slab seats and greased paper windows," and engaged Miss Laura Ely as teacher. The house stood west of the bridge over the creek, on the north side of the road. As part pay for Miss Ely's services they made her a large rocking chair. This was the first school and schoolhouse in the township. In the winter of 1807- 08 a school was taught by Abel Sabin, from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and in 1810 Dr. Belding and Samuel Redfield taught school during the winter season. In 1812-13 a frame schoolhouse was erected at the Center. The condition of the schools at present is given in the following statistical review :

Randolph Special District. - Revenue in 1884, $2,677 ; expenditures, $2,266 ; one schoolhouse valued at $5,000 ; average pay of teachers, $24 and $55 ; enrollment, 54 boys and 70 girls.

Randolph Agricultural Society was reorganized September 21, 1871, with W. H. Bettes. H. D. Smalle}-, A. L. Breach, H. B. Fenton, Simon Perkins, Alvah Upson, W. Brockett, George Brockett, H. Morse, C. W. Barton, D. Dibble, Frank S. Myers, G. W. Bettes, Thomas Gorby and George Austin. The object was the of agriculture.

Randolph sustains a fair that would be a credit to the county. It is largely attended, and its exhibits are numerous and fine, very liberal premiums being offered for the best of everything raised on a farm, whilst its sporting events are looked forward to with much interest. The season of 1884 the twenty-second annual fair of the society was held, and the attendance was extremely large. The oflBcers were : S. Perkins, President; A. Bancroft, Vice-President; Dr. G. 0. Frazer Secretary ; W. Bettes, Treasurer ; J. C. Brainerd, Superintendent of Grounds ; C. Bettes, Superintendent of Buildings ; B. F. W. Price, Marshal ; J. Y. Johnson, of Police.

The Randolph Mill Company's flouring and feed mills were founded about sixteen years ago. The present owners are Dr. Bettes, James Sabin and George Dodge. This is the same mill which was moved from Campbellsport, extended, new machinery added, and rendered of a capacit}^ of fifty barrels per day and 16,000 bushels of chop -feed. The water-power is taken from Congress, seven miles distant. This, together with a thirty horse-power engine, insures a motive power at all times. Three turbine wheels, four run of buhrs, etc., form the machinery. This industry employ's five men the 3'ear round. The Randolph cider-mills are carried on by Adelman 0. Keller, just south of the Center. A saw-mill is operated by the same machinery. A planing-mill is owned b}- Bentley & Simmerson. Its location is near the saw-mill. A cheese factory east of the Center forms an important industry.

Randolph filled up rapidly after the war of 1812-14, the soil being very productive and finely adapted to wheat ; that on the west side of the Little Cuyahoga River, which flows into the township on the southern border and passes northwardly entirely across the county, being of a sandy nature, while that 'on the east of

The citizens of Randolph have always been noted for their progressive spirit, and have taken front rank in temperance, moralit}', education and religion. Originally the population was almost exclusively from the New England States, but about 1850 a number of French and Grermans came in, and they have so steadily increased that at the present time the population of the west half is largely foreign, contrasting strongl}'^ with the eastern. Together, these two varieties make up the most populous spot in the county, with two exceptions.

Chapter Xxix

Original Propkietoes - The Pioneers - First Cabin - Benjamin Tappan - First Birth and Death - Primitive Mills - The Village Site in 1806 - A Threshing Machine - Laying Out of the Village - First Building - Old Burying Ground - Schools and Scholars - First Court House and Jail - Becipe for Clearing off Stumps - Two Old Structures - An Incident OF 1812 - Pen Picture of Primitive Ravenna - John Brown's Father - Jesse Grant's Tannery - Some Noted Settlers - Some Early Facts - T"\vo Notable Raisings - First Sunday-School - Sundry Items - Early Merchants - A School Needed - First School Meeting - Growth of the City - Incorporation - Industries - Banks and Bankers - Pioneer Preachers on Religion - First Congregational Church, and Rev. C. B. Storrs - Methodist Episcopal Church - Disciples Church - Universalist Church - Church of the Immaculate Conception - Episcopal Church- Secret AND OTHER SOCIETIES - STATISTICS.

RAVENNA, Town 3, Range 8, at the original drawing of the lands of the Connecticut Land Company, fell to the lot of the following parties : The south two-thirds to a compan}^ at Suffleld, Conn., composed of Luther Loomis, Ephraim Robbins and Calvin Austin ; the northern third to Stephen W. Jones, of Stockbridge, and Nathaniel Patch, of Boston. September 2, 1798, Loomis & Co. sold their interest to Benjamin Tappan; November 1, 1798, Patch sold to John Buell, of Hebron, Conn., and October 31, 1799, Jones sold to Ephraim Starr and Stanley Griswold.

In June, 1799, Benjamin Tappan, Jr., son of the principal proprietor, came to Ravenna as agent for his father, and to make a settlement. He located in the southeast part pf the township, and built a cabin of unhewn logs, which was fin- ished by the following January, 1800. This was the first cabin built in the township and stood near the southeast corner on the farm now owned by Capt. J. Q. King. His second house stood on the fai"m of Marcus Heath, about one mile east of Ravenna. The following summer he went to Connecticut and married the sister of Hon. John C. Wright, and returned with his bride to the unbroken wilderness to build up a home. After the State was admitted he served in the Second Legislature of Ohio, but in 1809, at the urgent solicitations of poli.tical friends in Jefferson County, he settled at Steubenville. where he remained till his death on the 19th of April, 1857. Judge Tappan was a remarkable man in many respects, being one of the most thorough scholars of his da}- ; he was considerable of a linguist, an eminent lawj'er. He was Aid-de-camp to Gren. Wadsworth in the war of 1812; Judge of the Fifth Ohio Circuit; United States Judge for Ohio; was the compiler of " Tappan's Reports," and United States Senator from 1835 to 1845.

A man by the name of Benjamin Bigsby and his family came in at the time Tappan came, and assisted him in clearing his place and building his cabin. He remained only a few months, but during this time he lost a son about twelve or fourteen years of age, who died from the bite of a rattlesnake, and was buried in the eastern part of the township, this being the first death. There not being any sawed timber at hand, a log of the proper length was cut and trimmed, and split through the center, then both halves hollowed out. and the corpse placed therein, forming a coffin, rude but secure.

In the spring of 1800 William Chard located on Lot 33, and in August, Conrad Boosinger, with his wife, sons George and John, and daughter Polly, came in and settled on the Mahoning about one mile and a half southeast of Ravenna Center. He purchased 200 acres of land from Tappan, cleared five or six acres and sowed it to wheat. Shortly after his settlement, he being a tanner by trade, constructed a couple of vats, and as fast as he could obtain hides, tanned them. This was the first tanner3^ John Boosinger, his son, then a lad of fifteen years, moved to Brimfield in 1816, being the first settler in that township. He lived to be over ninety years of age, and left a numerous progeny, his descendants now numbering up into the hundreds.

In the spring of 1801 John Ward and his step-son, John McManus, came in from Pennsylvania, and in the following fall Alexander 3IcWhorter settled on the west side of Breakneck Creek, where, the following year, 1802, he erected a mill, which was the first grist-mill in the township, and was for a long time a great convenience to the settlers, who had, otherwise, to go long distances to get their little grists ground. There were two other mills in the county, one built in 1799 by Rufus Edwards in Mantua, a hand-mill, and one in Deerfield, built by James Laughlin in 1801.

In 1802 David Jennings, Sr., father of Daniel and David Jennings, came in from Bradford, Mass., and settled on Lot 24, and about the same time came Robert Eaton. Jennings and Eaton, in 1805, erected a mill on the Mahoning, which was the second grist-mill in the township. In this 3^ear also came David Moore, William Simcox, one of the Boszors, who afterward removed to Brimfield, and several others.

In 1803 Henry Sapp located on the north half of Lot 21, where he lived till his death, at an advanced age. His wife attained the age of over one hundred years, when she died. About this time a daughter was born to the Mr. Boszor mentioned above, and she is believed to have been the first white child born in the township. It is said, also, that the first wedding in the township occurred in this year, the parties being Charles Van Home and Phoebe Herrimon. The first school was opened this year, it being held in a little log-house near Tappan's settlement, and the teacher was his sister-in-law, Miss Sarah Wright. The pupils were children of Boosinger, Ward and Eaton. The school cabin belonged to Conrad Boosinger. The next teacher was David Root, who taught at the house of Robert Eaton in 1806.

In 1806 Erastus Carter moved into the township from Johnson, Trnmbull County, and settled on Lot 16 with his wife and three children: Ruthalia, Lois and Howard. The latter was born in December, 1799, and is yet living, remarkably well preserved in all his faculties, and having quite a vivid recollection of earl}' events. To this old gentleman we are indebted for much of the information herein contained, and who has set right many disputed facts in regard to the da^'s now remembered by scarcely any one else in the count}'. Where Erastus Carter settled was in the upper part of the township, on the third owned by Ephraim Starr and Stanley Griswold, about two miles north of Ravenna Center. Moses Smith came with Carter to help him put up his cabin, and was so well pleased with the county that he purchased 100 acres of land and moved in the following year, althoi^gh he had bought 400 acres in Trumbull at the time he and Carter settled there in 1804. In this year, 1807, Howard Fuller, the father-in-law of Erastus Carter, with Anson Beeman, moved in. Fuller buying Jotham Blakesle^-'s place, about a mile southeast of Carter's land.

Not long after their arrival Mr. Carter and his little son, Howard, then about seven years old, came down to the grist-mill on the Breakneck to get a grist ground. They passed over what is now Ravenna City, blazing their way as they went, in order to get back over the same track. The old grist-mill was run by a man named Coosard. The mill had been erected by McWhorter in 1802. This old miller. Coosard, lived till he was nearl}' one hundred and two yeai's old. The mill-stones rested upon cob-work, and a sort of bai'k canop}', upheld by crotched poles, formed a roof.

Ravenna City

Early in 1808 Benjamin Tappan commenced the foundation of the village of Ravenna. He laid off a plat of land containing 192 lots, the boundaries of which .at present are Bowery Street on the north. Oak Street on the south, Walnut Street on the east and Sycamore Street on the west. The center of this plat is at the intersection of Main and Chestnut Streets. John Boosinger, then quite a young man, the fall previously " underbrushed " about two and one-half acres, the clearing comprising the present Court House square and a small space"surrounding it. The first building of any kind on the original town plat is thought by many to have been erected by Henry Sapp for William Tappan on a spot now covered by the west end of Mechanics Block, but Mr. Howard Carter, who is, possibly, the best living authority as to the original settlement of Ravenna, saj's the building was erected by Joshua Woodard about the spring of 1808. At any rate the little log building stood on the spot indicated, and a well dug at the time is now under the building, just a little east of the east foundation of Homer C. Frazer's store. The birth of the first child on the town plat, or rather who the first child was, is also matter of dispute. James Woodard, son of Joshua Woodard, is thought by many to have the honor of first appearing in the embryo town, but Mr. Carter says that David Jennings contended and often told him that David Thompson had a son born before Woodard, and as proof cites the fact that Thompson's son won the prize offered to the first child born on the town plat. * The prize was a lot offered by Tappan, and 3'oung Thompson came into possession of it at twenty-one years of age. His father built a cabin upon it soon after the child was born. It is the lot where the old water-cure used to be. David Thompson came here from Pennsylvania with his brother and married shortly afterward. His son was born about the spring of 1810.

The first grave-j-ard was donated by Tappan, and was located at the southwest corner of the town plat, where Mr. William Holcomb's garden now is, and most of the graves were in the southeast corner. Here were buried David Moore, the first Ravenna blacksmith; Mrs. Ruggles and her son; Mrs. Smith, the mother of Mrs. Frederick Wadsworth ; Mrs. Patterson, the mother of Mrs. Tappan ; Jared Mason, the first tanner in the town plat ; Epaphras Mathews, who was murdered by Henry Aungst, in August, 181-i, and Robert Campbell, who returned from the war sick and died shortly afterward. He was the last one buried in this graveyard, and a singular circumstance is connected therewith: The grave-digger dug the grave so that the head lay to the east, but as it was so constructed they would not alter it when the funeral took place. This circumstance served to identify his grave many years afterward, when his relatives sought the spot for the purpose of the remains and removing them to Campbellsport. Cobble-stones onl}' being placed at the heads of the graves, and no inscriptions, the remains of Campbell could never have been selected from out the others, had the corpse been laid in the usual manner, with head to the west.

The present cemeter}- was laid off in part in 1813, a plat of land being donated for that purpose by Howard Fuller, Erastus Carter, Moses Smith and Anson Beeman. Fuller made the suggestion of laying out another cemetery, as the one in the village plat seemed to him to be too close to the dail}- walks of man. Sluman Smith, a lad of seventeen, son of Moses Smith, was the first person buried in this cemetery. He died June 9, 1813. His grave, being the first in the new ground, was of universal intei'est, it standing alone for some time. In 1815 Zenas Carter was drowned in Muddy Lake, one-half mile south of Ravenna, and was among the first buried in the new cemetery. Carter and Grear, both heav}' men, were trying the floating qualities of a new dug-out canoe, when the vessel capsized, and as Carter could not swim, he sank to the bottom and was drowned.

In 1809 David Jennings, Sr., Erastus Carter and Moses Smith erected a logschoolhouse about opposite where the residence of the late Mrs. Lois Judd afterward stood, and they engaged Miss Achsah Eggleston, of Aurora, to teach the of the three families mentioned. Her scholars were eight in number : Daniel and David Jennings, Howard, Ruthalia and Lois Carter, and Samantha and Lucina Smith. Ruthalia Carter married Howard Judd, Lois married Lester Judd, Samantha Smith married Richard McBride, and Lucina married Charles Judd. The teacher married Mr. Kent. Miss Eggleston was very tall and stately, and the door the little schoolhouse was very low, so that, when she entered it for the first time, stooping, she remarked to the proprietors, "I see you have built this for small people, so I will have to bring myself down to their level, or them up to mine, which?" "Up to yours. Miss Eggleston, and we will be satisfied," was the gallant reply. Of all those interested in that school, fathers, mothers, teacher and scholars, there are but two living: Mrs. Lucina Judd, aged eighty-seven, and Howard Carter, aged eighty-four. This school being a success, others wished to share in its benefits, and accordingly a meeting was held which resulted in enlarging the attendance, at the same time deciding by vote that grammar and geography were unnecessary studies. Another school was taught in the unfinished Court House some time during 1810 or 1811, by Thaddeus Bradley.

In 1814, when Maj. Stephen Mason was Sheriff, he taught a school in a room in the Court House, and when he was off on oflBcial business the school was closed. The Major was a man of very versatile talents, and peculiarly- well adapted to the times, for in addition to filling one of the highest offices in the county, he "train" as a Major of Militia, and teach the youth.

The school statistics for 1884 are as follows: Ravenna Township schools - revenue in 1884, $4,451; expenditures, $3,334; nine schoolhouses, valued at $8,000; average pa}- of teachers, $36 and $27; enrollment, 162 boys and 126 girls. Ravenna Village schools - revenue in 1884, $27,047; expenditures, $20,161 ; three schoolhouses valued at $50,000; average pay of teachers, $79 and $72; enrollment, 346 boys and 408 girls; number of teachers employed, 15.

In 1810 William and John Tappan completed the building of first Court House and Jail. During this year a number of boys playing ball around the new Court House, discovered a fine buck in the underbrush, when all hands, headed by David Oreer, surrounded the deer and captured him alive - the last deer caught or killed on the town plat.

la 1811 Joshua Woodard, who had come in from Geneva, N. Y., constructed a dam about a mile below the old Coosard mill which had then disappeared, at a point on the Breakneck Creek where the stream was wider. Here he erected a saw-mill, grist-mill and fulling establishment. The water set back about two miles, nearl}' to Ravenna Village, causing much sickness and many deaths. This state of affairs went on for several years, when Woodard was expostulated with by citizens, notified by the lawyers, Messrs. Sloane and Lyman, and threatened b}' everybod}', but all to no avail. Heavy damages were even offered him, yet he persisted in keeping his disease-dealing dam intact, when one night a party went with axes and crow bars and destroyed the dam. He moved to Franklin. There was no more malaria after the dam went.

William Tappan had a frame house put up at about where the middle of the Phoenix Block now is. Now, this building was erected before Mr. Tappan came to Ravenna, and as he was here December 5, 1809, when he signed the agreement to erect the Court House and Jail, it looks very much as if his house was erected before the one claimed to be the first, yet it is generally supposed that the house that stood on the Mechanics' Block lot was the first. It is x'easonable to presume that the way these buildings came to be in dispute is that one was a frame, the other a log structure, each being the first of its class.

The first frame building iu the north part of the township was a barn erected in 1810 by Moses Smith. Over sixty years afterward the same barn was moved by the grandson of the original owner, and it still stands. They put up buildings in those days to last. A little later Erastus Skinner, father of John N. Skinner, the first resident carpenter, raised a barn on the Hotchkise place, on which occasion Skinner made a brief speech in honor of the important event. Tom Smith and family came in at an early date, and occupied a small building where now stands the First National Bank. He was a hatter b}' trade, and the hunters would come into his little shop and unload their bundles of coon and other skins. A hat that he made nearly seventy years ago, and worn at a school exhibition, is still in the possession of one of the oldest citizens of the township.

The oldest building in Ravenna City is the one on the southeast corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, and the next oldest is the yellow barn standing on the alley in the rear of Mr. Kinney's house on the corner of Main and Meridian Streets. The first was built by David Grreer, who came to the town from Pennsylvania about the time the Court House was erected, put up this building and opened the first tavern. He also opened a small stock of goods, and the writer hereof obtained this- information from an old gentleman who in 1812 watched the members of Capt. John Campbell's company purchase powder from G-reer, pour it into their horns and march away toward the seat of war on the lakes. This venerable structure stands to-day as staunch, apparently, as any of its more modern companions. The other building was erected by (len. John Campbell, who at the time was keeping a tavern that stood on the four corners of Ravenna, Rootstown, Edinburg and Charlestown. This frame building, afterward painted a peculiar yellow, which made it distinctively known as the " old yellow house," originall}' stood about where the barber shop now is on the eastern front of the Etna House, and was. built with the intention of opening a tavern in it, but, soon after it was completed in 1812, James Haslip, from near Pittsburgh, Penn., rented it and put in a stock of goods, this being the first regular store opened in the township. Greer, also, as has been stated, kept a small stock of goods, but he made no pretensions to being a merchant - his business was tavern keeping. The building stood upon a ridge running east and west, upon which the Court House, also stood. This ridge fell off abruptly to the north and more gently to the south, and down its northern slope the boys coasted many a winter day. In 182Jr the " old 3'ellow house " was moved away and now is used as a barn. It was a grand building in its day, as it stood proudly in front of the Court House, where the county magnates would ride in and hitch their steeds around it and across the way at Grreer's Tavern ; for a fullfledged store, where 3-ou could exchange two bushels of wheat for a yard of cotton cloth, was of no small consequence.

In 1812 a volunteer company was formed in this vicinity, with John Campbell as Captain ; Alva Day, First Lieutenant ; John Caris, Second Lieutenant, and Aaron Weston, Ensign. A more extended recital of Portage County in the war of 1812 will be found in the general history of the county, the following incidents being only given as illustrations of the times. The company raised by Gen. Campbell pitched their tents of homespun linen sheets near the house of their commander, and went into training for a week, the strictest military discipline being maintained.. They had no uniform, very poor clothing, and very bad shoes, but every man managed to get a rifle, a tomahawk and a butcher knife. Thus, with their powder horns and their bullet pouches slung about them, they tramped ofl" to meet the highly disciplined and well accoutred regulars of the British. This company was included in the cowardly surrender of Hull, but the following year, one day when George Barnes had a raising, Horace Burroughs suddenly made his appearance among the men, and gave them orders for marching to Cleveland in the morning. They began to make preparations, and the next day left for the scene of war, leaving Erastus Carter, who had a lame arm, to look after the women and children, and to prepare for retreat to Pittsburgh. Then came an alarm greater than the first. The cannonading between Commodore Perry and the British vessels on the lake was heard, and soon a night messenger came riding down through Portage, warning the people to fl}' for their lives, as the Indians were about swooping down upon the defenseless settlers of this section. All the next day preparations were going on for flight, and still another messenger arrived, warning the people to lose no time in retreating, but during the following night a horn was heard in the direction of Shalersville, and soon a horseman came dashing along the road, shouting at the top of his voice, " Hurrah, hurrah ! Perry is victorious ! " and the dread of a moment before fled amidst the rejoicings of the happ3' settlers, who made the welkin ring with their shouts of gladness.

Mrs. Betsy (Eatinger) "Ward, widow of William Ward, states that Jacob Eatinger, her father, came to Ravenna in the spring of 1804, from Poland, Ohio, when Mrs. Ward was thirteen years old. There were here at that time David Jennings, Benjamin Tappan, Robert Eaton, William Chard, Samuel Simcox, the first settler in Brimfield, and his son Benjamin, Conrad Boosinger and son, John Boosinger, John and Robert Campbell, John McMannus, John Ward, Henry Buzzard, Moses Bradford, Charles Van Home (son-in-law of Chard), William Lyons, Jack and Thomas Wright. Henry Sapp, Alexander Walker, Robert Bell, David Moore, Jotham Blakesley, David Haines, son-in-law of Simcox, and Polly Boosinger. Sally Wright taught the first school.

Ten or twelve j-ears later Ravenna presents a village appearance. A man steps into the Seth Day store with wheat, and what does he receive for his twenty bushels of golden grain ? A package containing ten yards of cotton cloth ! Dr. Isaac Swift is behind the counter compounding a prescription, for on one side of this store of Day & Swift is kept a general stock of goods and on the other, drugs. Mr. Day had moved in from Deerfield, and Dr. Swift, then a fine-looking single gentleman, of twenty-six years, had ccmein from Connecticut in June, 1815. He married in 1818, and one of his sons, Henry A. Swift, became Governor of Minnesota, besides occupying other important positions. Mr. Day filled many public positions also.

Step out into the road again. There is another store, just opened by Zenas Kent, on the spot now occupied b}' the Second National Bank. Of this gentleman it is needless to make only mention, as he is so well known that nothing here can add to his fame as a splendid business man and good citizen. Now from your position in the road look across to the southeast corner of Main and Chestnut Streets, and you will see a building that still stands there. It is Greer's old tav- ern, long known as " King's Tavern." A little east of this spot you will notice a loo--builcling that was put up by Joshua Woodard. Turn plumb around and you will see a little one-storied building, facing you. This is the law office of a man who was afterward known not only in Ohio, but throughout the land. Jonathan Sloane occupies this unpretentious little building. Darius Lyman, another noted lawyer, has an office hei'e, too. Look up the street, eastward, and you will see the house of Almon Babcock about a block distant on the north side of the way, and a little westward from that point a two-storied frame house painted red, looms up. It was built for Mr. Tappan, by Henr}- Sapp. But here is a building going up. It is on the spot now occupied b}- the Empire Block. Salmon Carter, or "Papa " Carter, as he was familiarly known, is building this structure for a tavern ; so the one diagonally across is going to have competition. Turn partly around again and look westwai'd and j'ou will see a hat shop on the corner, now occupied by the First National Bank. It was the shop of " Uncle " Tom Smith, and not far from this was where Alexander and William Frazer made harness and saddles.

Face again to the south ; look across the Court House ground to the southeast and 3-ou will see a man getting on his horse, evidently in a hurry, in front of a building, a frame, that stands half a block or so south of Main Street. This gentleman, a physician and surgeon, who has just been summoned ten miles away to see a patient who had been injured by a falling tree, a few years later performed a surgical operation in Ravenna, which for boldness, skill and success stands unsurpassed, if not unequaled, even to this day, and was considered of so much importance that a scientific record was made of it in the French surgical journals. This was Dr. Joseph DeWolf, and the operation referred to is described in the Western Courier of November 12,1825. It was a ca.se of strangulated hernia; the patient, William McLaughlin The Doctor opened the abdomen, found a portion of the intestines gangrenous, cut off eight or nine inches of the same, stitched together the several pai'ts, sewed up the abdomen, and the man was as sound as ever in a couple of weeks.

But, take another look in the same direction you were, when Dr. DeWolf rode off, and 3'ou will see two men lifting something from a rude wagon. One of the men is a farmer and he has just sold a couple of ox hides to the other. The buyer is a sturdy looking young man of about twenty-three years, whose sleeves are rolled up, and who has on a leather apron, for he is a tanner. He will have a son after a while, however, who will carry his name ringing down the ages, for it is Jesse R. Grant, who had just gone into business with John F. Wells, on the now Gretzinger lots. A few years ago the vats of this old tannery were taken up, and a walking stick made from a portion of them now awaits the illustrious General at the home of E. P. Brainerd, in Ravenna. Jared Mason, who came from Beaver County, Penn., in 1810, started this tannery and did a lucrative business for three years, dying in 1813. In 1815 John F. Wells married the widow, and thus came into possession of the tannery. Mr. Mason put up the building now standing in the rear of the Mechanics' Block, which was for a long time the residence of Hon. Seth Day, while it stood on Main Street.

Take another look around you and you will see a blacksmith shop some little distance to the east, and a few cabins dotted here and there. These are all the buildings in sight, with the exception of one or two other residences on Main Street. Keep this picture in your minds eye, and notice who now are in sight. There comes Amzi Atwater, one of the County Commissioners, just crossing over to Greer's Tavern, and there comes Owen Brown, the father of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry renown. Owen Brown is, also, one of the County Commissioners, and there is going to be a meeting here to-da}'. Here he comes on his old bay horse along the road from Franklin, making for the hitching rack in front of Zenas Kent's store, in the doorway of which stands Capt. Heman Oviatt, who had furnished 3'oung Kent the means to start in business. Near the Court House stand Sheriff Asa K. Burroughs, Darius Lyman, Prosecuting Attorney, William Wetmore, County Treasurer, and Ira Hudson, Clerk. A little further ofiF is another group, consisting of Rial MciVrthur, William Coolman, William Frazer, Orvill Crane and Calvin Pease. These groups are discussing some public measure, and, while they talk, cross over to G-reer's Tavern. Capt. Delaun Mills has just dismounted from his horse, and, cane in hand, is shaking hands with G-en. Campbell, while Lewis Ely, John Diver and Capt. John T. Baldwin, with Artemus Buggies, are discussing politics, but as they all think the same way there is not much disputation. Passing along the road, some toward the Court House and some toward the hat shop and stores, ma}^ be seen Capt. Joseph Eggleston, Elias Harmon, x\lpheus Streator, Col. Benjamin Higley, Daniel Dawley and Christian Cackler, who has been married only a year or two, Bela Hubbard, Oliver Dickinson, and -but what is all that noise about among the boys down Main Street, near the eastern edge of the village ? Why, a cow belonging to Ira Hudson, the late Clerk, has mired just opposite the frog-pond in the lot attached to the residence of Mrs. Skinner, on the corner of Main and AValnut Streets. The cow stumbled off the corduroy road just about where Mr. Mertz's beautiful front yard now is, and the boys, who were stoning the frogs in the pond, raised the alarm. It took nearly all the men in the village to get the poor brute safely out.

Ravenna was reall}' growing into importance, foi', in 1825, they had two mails per week from Pittsburgh, and two from Clev^eland, and one each week from New Lisbon, 3Iedina, Burton and Warren. James Belden came from Wells ville and took charge of the old tavern opposite the Court House, the one " Papa " Carter ran so long and so well, and named it the " Clinton Tavern." This was in May, 1825, and Belden improved the house ver}^ much. In this same month occurred one of the most terrific hail storms on record. On May 18, during the afternoon, a rain and wind storm blew up from the southwest, which shortly turned into hail, and such stones fell as never had been seen here before. One of the stones that fell in the village measured nine inches in diameter, according to the Western Courier, published here at the time. Many windows were broken, dwellings, barns and orchards destroyed, and not a fence was left standing in the path of the cyclone ; for cyclone it evidentl}' was. but they had not got to calling these visitations by that high sounding title, as yet. William McLaughlin gave notice, May 2], that he had leased the carding works of Stoddard & Wads worth, and was prepared for business. He also stated that children sent to his establishment with wool, should be " allowed to take their turn, and be treated like anybody else." It evidently had been the habit of the men to crowd out the little ones. Gen. La Fayette, who was in this countiy at the time, had been invited to Ravenna, and was expected to honor the count}' with his presence at a Fourth of July celebration at the Portage Summit, but he could not come - had a previous engagment for Bunker Hill and Boston.

Joshua Woodard, To 6 yds. shirting, $3; k skeins of thread, 12^c. . Joshua AVoodard, To 1 pair shoes, $2.25, delivered to E. Baldwin. . Almon Babcock, To 1 qt. brandy 1 25

A barn was raised in Ravenna for Lyman Hotchkiss, June 8, 1825, in three hours, and notice the dimensions : It was eighty-five feet long b}' fort^-two feet broad, with ten bents, one of which was eighty-five feet long, the height of the building being in proportion. The ridge-pole of the barn was a solid and whole piece of timber, eighty-five feet long, a size unprecedented in the annals of barn raising up to that time. It still stands, one mile east of Ravenna, a little back from the road.

Another and still greater undertaking was the erection on June 23, 1825, of a building for Cyrus Prentiss and William Coolman, but let the editor of the Western Coiirier tell it in his way : " We witnessed such a scene on Thursday last. The frame, timbers, etc., of a ver}^ large brick building, belonging to Messrs. Prentiss and Coolman, were raised. The building is three stories high, eighty-six feet long and thirty-two feet in width. The timbers were very heavj-, and in the morning lay scattered on the ground, but under the direction of the master-builder, Mr. Hills, the different pieces were collected, put in proper place, and now assist in forming by far the largest building in this place."

In 1825 Perry & Prentiss had a fine store for the times, where the}' kept ever}'- thing " from a needle to a hay-stack "; so had Zenas Kent and Isaac Swift fine stores. Joseph Carroll made and sold fashionable boots and shoes a few doors east of the Court House, and Alonzo Bristol made and sold fashionable hats for men, but alas ! there was not a milliner in the village, and the ladies had to wear sun-bonnets, or their mother's " calashes," brought from New England. A beet was raised this year b}- Hon. Seth Da}' that measured two feet and one inch in length, twenty-four inches in circumference, and weighed nine pounds and eight ounces. Timothy Holcomb raised a potato that weighed four pounds, twelve ounces ; and William Forbes produced, or rather one of his hens did. an egg that weighed four ounces. About this time Thompsonianism, a peculiar school of medicine, made its appearance here, and the death of one or two patients being attributed to this system, the so-called " sweat doctors " were visited b}' all sorts of anathemas from the people. Robert Owen, the Scotch vagarist, who wanted to found one of his theoretical Elysiums near Ravenna, made his appearance, and collected a numerous following ; but when the "Auxiliary Owen Community " asked the Legislature for a charter, that practical old body " sat down " upon the project b}' refusing to grant it, and Owen went to pastures new - New Harmony, Ind., and set out his stakes. According to the published abstract of taxables, there was but one pleasure carriage in the count}'. The great comet of 1825 was visible here in November.

In January, 1826, H. A. Brewster opened a store in a room opposite the Court House, Perry & Prentiss removed to their new brick building on the public square, and M. Oviatt took the room vacated by Perry & Prentiss. Mark Woodruff, in February, took charge of the tavern that Beldeu had been owning, and called it the "Ravenna Hotel." Jabez Gilbert, " Moze Jabe," put on a spick and span new stage coach with four horses, on his line from Beaver to Cleveland, via Ravenna, some time in April. Robert E. Campbell opened the first watch, clock and jewelry establishment in a room next door to Perry & Prentiss' store ; Lyman Stephenson opened a shoe shop, and William Forbes was carrying on the tanners and curriers' business. A reward of $200 was offered for the capture of two runaway slaves, Ned Branch and Bob Booth, who ran away from Washington, D. C. A few years later three stations^ of the "Underground Railroad" were located in Portage - one in Randolph, one in Ravenna and one in Hiram.

The directory of Ravenna for 1841 gives the following names and occupations : Clerli of Court, William Coleman, Jr.; Sheriff' Laurin Dewey ; Auditor, George B. DePeyster ; Treasurer, Henry L. Tilden ; Recorder, John N. Skinner ; Notaries Public, John N. Skinner, Luther Day and E. Spalding ; attorne3's, Jonathan Sloane, Darius Lyman, E. Spalding, William Turner, Daniel R. Tilden, Luther Day, Joseph Lyman, Alonzo A. Skinner and Francis W. Tappan ; merchants, Prentiss & Whittlesey, H. L. Day & Co , C. P. & F. W. Seymour, S. Mason & Co.; commission merchants and forwarders, Babcock & McBride ; druggists, Isaac Swift, Groddard & Hatch ; leather manufacturers, Cyrus Prentiss and John Gr^^lis ; tin and copper workers, Cj'rus Prentiss and John W^'gle ; cabinet-ware, Gr. Lane, 0. H. GritHn, A. S. Collins ; carriage builders, J. A. Clarke & Co., William Bond, Jonathan Minard ; physicians. Job Clark, Lyman Collins, Joseph DeWolf and John D. Wellman ; stage office, Hiram Collins, agent ; tavern and livery stable, William Ward ; tailor, William B. Matthews ; Ohio Star, A. H. Lewis, editor, R. S. Elkins publisher ; Western Reserve Cahmet, L^'man W. Hall, editor.

The citizens resolved to petition the Commissioners to permit them to set up for themselves as an incorporated village, which was accomplished in 1853. 0. P. Brown was the first Ma3-or and S. R. Freeman the first Recorder. Six Councilmen were elected March 5, 1853. The first ordinance passed was for the election of Marshal, Treasurer and Street Commissioners, and prescribing their duties and compensation. The Mayors of the city since that time are named as follows: Darius Lvman, 1854; Pluto B. Conant, 1855; A. B. Griffin, 1856; J. D. Horton, 1857; Sam D. Harris, Jr., 1858; Joshua T. Catlin, 1859 to 18G2; S. D. Norton, 1863 ; J. D. Horton, 1865; H. L. Day, 1867; 'Royal Taylor, 1869; John Meharg, 1869 to 1873; George F. Robinson, 1873 to 1882; E. P. Hatfield, 1882; George F. Robinson, 1883; N. H. Smith, 1884-85. The present officers are N. H. Smith, Mayor; A. E. Seaton, Clerk; A. P. Oviatt, Q. Cook, C. M. Stillson, Charles Merts, G. L. Horr and/'john P. Jones; Councilmen; W. T. Greundel, Treasurer; T. R. Mason, Marshal; S. B. Norton, J. W. Holcomb and N. H. Smith, Justices.

On Januar}- 12, 1885, the question of constructing water- works was submitted to the people. There were 473 votes for and 217 votes against. Bonds for 875,- 000 were ordered to be issued. The vote against construction by private enterprise stood 232 for and 244 against. The large body of voters did not notice the latter question.

The reservoir from which the water supply is to be obtained is known as "Mother Wai-d's Wash Tub." Theodore Clark, writing of this pond, says: "This phenomenal reservoir, situated upon a natural elevated plateau, saucer-shaped, is invisibly supplied with water; however, supposed to be by some unknown subterranean hydrodynamic power. It has the same invisible, subterranean outlet - eastward - supplying thousands of acres and hundreds of families with its neverfailing underflow of soft water, in an area, eastwai'd, of twelve miles, on this sand ridge. This is a reality, based upon a careful examination made by Charles U. Shepard, Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, of Yale College, and myself over thirty years ago."

The city has a well disciplined fire department, with a steamer, a hand engine and a hook and ladder company. An extensive telephone sj'stem networks the town and stretches away to all important points within forty or fifty miles. A fine Opera House, latel}' remodeled, affords a place of occasional amusement for playgoers, and a "stand" for peripatetic shows. Ravenna sent 275 soldiers to the defense of the Union and seventeen fell in the service.

with the following members: Dr. Isaac Swift, Seth A. Gillett, Edward A. Atwater, William Frazer, Sam. Mason, Isaac Brayton, F. W. Sej'mour, H. L. Day, William Coolman, H. Y. Beebe, E. Spalding, J. L. Ranney, John G-illis, George Robinson, Luther Day, Ransom A. Gillett, Cyrus Prentiss, L. Day and John N. Skinner.

Church Histor3^ - In the very early days there were no regular religious services held in Ravenna, and the settlers had to depend upon the stray crumbs that fell from the table of the Lord for their spiritual sustenance. Occasionally some hardy old Methodist circuit rider, or some missionary of the Connecticut Society of Hj)me Missions would come along, but their visits were very infrequent, yet when the^' did come the occasion was one of great joy and satisfaction. The preacher was well taken care of, and if it was a Sabbath when he preached, the entire township would turn out to hear the word. Denomination, sect and particular belief were all dropped; immersion and sprinkling were not thought of, and the rigid Predestinarian and the absolute Free-Wilier clasped hands around the Altar of the Lord, beneath the overarching branches of some grand old oak, or at the humble cabin of the pioneer. Occasionally Rev. Shadrach Bostwick and old Father Shewell preached in the Court House, and afterward a minister from Beaver, Penn., would call every month or two. Rev. Caleb Pitkin, of Charlestown, Rev. Nathan B. Darrow and Rev. Mr. Seward, cf Aurora, Rev. Hanford, of Hudson, and Rev. Woodruff, of Tallmadge, all paid visits to Ravenna and ministered to the hungrj' souls of the settlers. About 1816 Seth Day, Dr. Isaac Swift and Daniel Dawley began conducting religious services, adopting the Episcopalian form. Seth Day read the service. Dr. Swift led the singing, and Mr. Dawley led in the responses. Those young men had been reared in the Episcopal Church and were taught to respect the Sabbath in their Eastern homes when they were boys. This embryo Episcopal Church, therefore, can lay claim to being the first organization for religious services in Ravenna. Matters went on this way for several years, but one day, in 1822, an event happened that shaped in large measure the future of the township and village.

First Co tig relational Church. - On a Saturday afternoon, early in May, 1822, a traveler on horseback rode into the village of Ravenna by the eastern road, and hitching his horse in front of one of the taverns, applied for accommodations till the following Monday. As a stranger in those days, traveling on horseback and alone, was not an every-da^' occurrence, the identity and business of this person soon became known. He proved to be Rev. Charles B. Storrs, a Congregational minister, sent out by the Connecticut Home Missionary Society to carry the glad tidings into the Western wilds. He was a polished gentleman, a man of culture and refinement and a zealous worker for the Lord - a knight errant in the cause of religion, in search of spiritual adventure and to give succor to the weak. Becoming known to the leading citizens of Ravenna, the young minister was called upon by Darius Lyman and Seth Day and invited to preach the following Sunday, which he did, the service being so highly appreciated and the hearts of the people so thoroughly enlisted in the preacher, that he was solicited to remain a few days, which resulted in the formation of a church of twelve members, and a call for Mr. Storrs to become its pastor.

A call was issued June 25, 1825, by Rev. Chai-les B. Storrs, of the Congregational Church, for the citizens to meet in the Court House on the following Sabbath to take into consideration the establishment of a Sunday-school. All persons were urged to lend their aid to the cause, bring their children, and be prepared to act as teachers. A sufficient number went to the meeting and a school was formed, but it was a new thing - these schools on the Lord's Day - and the sturd}' old descendants of the Puritan fathers did not entirel}' fancy the idea, so it languished along for about seventeen weeks, and, November 6, closed for the season. Mr. Homer C. Frazer, of Ravenna, is the only person now belonging to the Congregational school, who was a member of that little school of 1825.

Ravenna Toavnship. ' 533

The first regular pastor of the church after Mr. Storrs was Rev. Alvan Nash, ordained and installed in September, 1829, at which time there was a membership of sixteen. The other pastors in order of service were Eev. Edward Atwater, Rev. Nutting, Rev. W. D. Saunders, Rev. J. P. Hart, Rev. E. B. Mason and Rev. A. M. Hills. The present church building was erected in 1837, and the present pastor is Rev. Clarendon A. Stone, who began his labors August 1, 1884. The Sabbath-school was organized in 1825 ; present Supei'intendent, H. B. Coe.

Free Congregational Church of Ravenna was organized under State law November 12, 1852. L^-man W. Hall, Fred W. Seymour and J. B. Moll wain were elected Trustees, and Homer C. Frazer, Clerk.

3Iethodist Episcopal Church. - In the 3'ear 1824 the first regular services of the Methodist Episcopal denomination began in Ravenna. Rev. Ira Eddy was eno-ao-ed to preach every four weeks, he belonging to the Deerfield Circuit. This gentleman and other itinerants supplied the spiritual wants of the few Methodists here at that time till July, 1830, when Rev. John Wesley Hill, who had preached in the brick schoolhouse on Prospect Street, formed a class, which was only temporary, but in October, of the same yeai-. Rev(^ Cornelius Jonespormed a permanent class of probationers, who continued sei'vices and class meetings until March 31, 1831, when the same minister organized the class into a church organization, in a little log schoolhouse about two miles north of the village. Eight persons composed this society, viz.: Dennis Sutlifl", Edwin Bostwick, Darius Ely, Hannah and Sarah Sapp, Samuel Foljambe, Mrs. Eliza Foljambe and Mrs. Susan Brown. During the following summer Cyrus Prentiss and wife, Ashbel Bostwick and wife, Mary Carter, Lucy Burnham and Pha?be Mason joined this class. At this time, 1831, Ravemia was included in the Ohio District, Deerfield Circuit, and Revs.'^ornelius Jones and the famous John N. MaflBtt were the circuit riders.

Rev. Ira P. Eddy was the Presiding Elder of the church at this time. Early in September the congregation got the privilege of using conjointly with the Congregational Society the brick schoolhouse in the village, but they had it all to themselves, for the Congregational brethren thereafter held their meetings in the dining-room of Maj. Shaler's tavern, on the present site of the Etna House. The Sunday-school of the church was organized at this time, also. The society continued to occupy the schoolhouse till their first church edifice was erected, it being dedicated December 15, 1832, Rev. Wilder B. Mack officiating.

In August, 1832, the church received its first appointment from the Conference. Revs. Eddy, Hill and Horton being the preachers on the circuit, and Rev. W. B, Mack, Presiding Elder. In July, 1833, Ravenna was made a station, with Rev, John McLean pastor. In 1834 Rev. Aurora Callenan was sent as pastor, and Ir 1835 Rev. Hiram Gilmon took charge.

In August, 183G, Ravenna was raised from a station to the dignity of head center to a circuit, around which revolved Franklin, Brimfield, Cuyahoga Falls and Northampton. The circuit preachers were Revs. William Stevens, W. S. Warrello, and Isaac Winans, Presiding Elder. In 1837 Revs. William Stevens and E. J. Kinne^' were on this circuit, and in 1838 Revs. A. G. Sturges and E. J. L. Baker were the preachers. In 1839 Revs. E. J. Sturges and William F. Wilsoii were sent by the Conference, and in 1840 Revs. L. D. Mix and D. M. Stearns were the pastors in charge, and Rev. John Chandler was Presiding Elder. In July, -18-1:1, Ravenna was again made a station, and Rev. L. D. IMix was appointed pastor. A quarterly meeting, held in Ravenna October 31, 1841, was the initial point of a very remarkable revival, unprecedented in its results before or since. Rev. A. M. Brown, of Cleveland, was present, and during the service he and Rev. L. D. Mix became so warmed up by their feelings that they embraced each other within the altar. The act seemed to fire the audience, and a series of meetings followed, resulting in the conversion of a large number of persons, eight}' of whom joined the church, William Coolman, George Robinson, Israel Foraker, John Wait anS

R. S. Elkins, and their wives, and Recellus Root, George Somerville, Isaac Hudson and Dr. Carter being among the number. Seventy-four of the probationers became members in full connection.

The first building, erected in 1832, was used till 1856, when it gave place to the present edifice, which was dedicated with impressive ceremonies on Friday, Jannary 30, 1857, by Bishop Simpson. Thus from so small a beginning as that little class of 1830, has grown a large congregation of the leading citizens of Ravenna, with a church edifice that is a monument to their Zealand liberality. Rev. Freshwater is the present pastor.

Church of Disciples. - In the year 1827 the religious movement in which Alexander Campbell and Thomas Campbell, his father, were the most prominent actors, found the Western Reserve its most fruitful field of labor, through the evangelistic work of Walter Scott. The whole Reserve was kindled to a blaze of religious interest never known before. Scott never visited Ravenna in person, save to preach one discourse in the summer of 1830, but he had sown the seeds of his faith in the mind of one of his opponents, Aylett Raines, a minister of the Restorationist Societ}', so deeply, that Raines came to Ravenna, had a discussion with Ebenezer Williams, the acknowledged champion of a sect opposed to the Disciples, convinced that dought}' foe of the correctness of Scott's teachings in a four days' canvass, at the end of which time they both, Raines and Williams, repaired to Sand}' Lake and immersed each other. This was June 1, 1828. P]benezer Williams immediately began preaching the new doctrine.

March 12, 1830, William Hayden converted seven persons in the Clements district' in the northwest part of the township, and baptized them in the run flowing through the Clements farm. They were Thomas, Mary and Margaret Clements, Mrs. Jonathan Stewart, Mrs. Sophia Hurlbut, Mrs. Mary Austin and Henry Sturdevant. Shortly afterward Marcus Bosworth came and baptized two others, Misses Eliza Clements and Almira Austin. On the second Sunday of May, 1830, William Hayden organized the little band, now numbering twent3--six, into a society, and the infant church was placed under the cai'e of Abijah Sturdevant, who was elected First Elder. Regular meetings were held in the old log schoolhouse on the Clements place, and from that day to the present the members of that church have not failed to meet on the Sabbath, with but half a dozen exceptions, when they have adjouraed to attend the 3'early meeting or a funeral. First Congregation of Disciples in Ravenna was reorganized January 26, 1860, with Charles Judd,E. B. Reeves, Henry J. White, William Price and D. W. Jennings, Trustees,

The log schoolhouse was used for the church services for a few years, when a frame schoolhouse was erected, which they occupied for some time and then removed to another schoolhouse, whence they came to Ravenna and used the brick schoolhouse of the village till they built their present structure in 1843-44, it being dedicated by Elder A. B. Green in December of 1844. Soon after the dedication Elders 0. E. Brown and Symonds Rj-der preached for the church, after whom came Charles McDougal, John T. Smith, who were followed successively by Prof. Thomas Munnell, Joel W. James, 0. P. Miller, C. C. Foote, A. B. Green, J. S. Lowe, Prof. Amzi Atwater, J. L. Pinkerton; then for three months previous to the commencement of the ministrations of George Darsie, H. J. White and C.

F. W. Cronemeyer oflSciated. Mr. Darsie took charge April 9, 1871, continuing till 1876, when J. M. Van Home became the pastor, dui'ing whose career the church was rebuilt at a cost of over ^9,000, and dedicated on the 18th of November, 1877, Elder Isaac Errett, of Cincinnati, officiating. In 1881 M. L. Streator succeeded Van Home, and labored two years, when the church was without a pastor for nine months, but in Jixly, 1883, Elder W. H. Scott became the pastor, under whose charge it still is. The church is in a prosperous condition, free of debt and has an enrolled membership of 370.

JJniversalist Church. - Among the early settlers there were a considerable number of persons holding to the faith of Universalism, but they had no church edifice until 18-42, during which year they built a small one in Ravenna, and on November 25 it was dedicated. This church in the course of thirt}- years became too small to accommodate the congregation and measures were then taken to remodel it. Accordingly, by July 29, 1877, the building had been so materially repaired that it was substantially a new church, and on that date it was rededicated. The services opened with music by the choir, followed by Scripture reading by Rev. C. L. Shipman, prayer by Rev. J. S. G-ledhill, and a sermon by Rev. A. Willson. In the afternoon the pastor, Mr. Willson, was installed, the services consisting of music, pra^-er and reading of the Scriptures, in addition to the installation rites. A sermon was also delivered by Rev. C. L. Shipman in an eloquent and forcible manner. The address to the pastor was made by Rev. J. S. Gledhill, and the address to the people by Rev. A. Canfield. The building is a creditable structure, has a fair membership, and the pastor. Rev. Mr. Willson, is one of Ravenna's best citizens, he being connected by marriage with one of the leading families.

Oakwood Chapel Sunday-school was reorganized November 11, 1883, and incorporated. Samuel F. Butts was Superintendent and Miss Mary Musser Secretary. G-eorge Sadler, Gr. S. Husted, H. C. Frazer, W. C. Lacey and W. H. Lepper were incorporators.

Church of the Immaculate Conception. - This congregation was formed November 9, 1 854, by a number of railroad emplo\-es, who removed from Earlville to Ravenna. As Father McG-ahan, of Akron, Summit County, had visited this small congregation of eight families for eighteen months previous to their removal from Earlville, the same monthly visits were continued by him until the spring of 1856. Father Walsh, his successor in Akron, visited monthl}- until 1857, when the increasing interests of that town and its nearer- home missions rendered it necessarj' to have Ravenna' attended from some other available source. About this time Ravenna became an out-mission of the Cathedral at Cleveland, and was visited b}' Rev. Father O'Connor from September, 1857, to September, 1858. He was succeeded by Rev. Father O'Sullivan, who ministered to his charge for some three months, when he was assigned to other duties. As circumstances would permit, the congregation was visited during the year 1859 by various priests from the Cathedral, among whom were Fathers Hannan and OCallahan. The latter gentleman seeing the necessity of a church for his rapidly increasing flock, set about raising subscriptions for that purpose when he was removed to Youngstown. The Catholics having sufficiently increased in number during the past five years in the Missions of Hudson, Kent and Ravenna to maintain a pastor. Rev. P. H. Brown was assigned in 1860 to the pastoi'ate of the church at Hudson, with the two last-mentioned towns as out-missions. Ravenna and Kent having in the meantime acquired sufficient growth to demand the services of a pastor independent of Hudson, Father Brown, in 1863, was placed in charge of these two congregations. The year previous to his permanent location at Ravenna, he resumed the work of raising funds, which had been alread}- begun by Father O'Callahan to prosecute the erection of a church. Up to this time mass had been frequently celebrated at the Town Hall and the houses of Peter King and Bernard Kinney.

During the administration of Father Brown the corner-stone was laid by Rt. Rev. A. Rappe, of Cleveland, on the 15th of August, 1862, on which occasion the Rev. T. P. 'Thorpe preached an appropriate discourse, and a little later on the completion crowned his efforts with success. The estimated cost of the structure was about $7,00.) To the untiring zeal of Father Brown is largely due the present flourishing condition of the congregation of the Immaculate Conception. Few can realize the amount of labor performed by this noble priest in his endeavors to promote the welfare of his charge. He knew no rest until he saw a fitting tem- pie erected in which the Hoi}- Sacrifice could be decently and worthily celebrated. He was frequently away from home for weeks collecting along the railroads to defray the expense in this, at that time, great undertaking. In his travels he was obliged to mingle with the poorest of the poor, and share their scanty fare and meager accommodations. But what would have been almost an impossibility to other men was to him a pleasure, so long as it afforded an opportunity to accomplish the work of building up his mission. This life of privation and sacrifice soon told upon his once robust and vigorous constitution. Shortly after his promotion from Ravenna to Youngstown in 1872, he was stricken with paralysis, and died at St. Vincent's Hospital, Cleveland. The church schools (except the frame building erected by Father Bowles) and cemetery are all monuments to the zeal and labors of Father Brown, whose name is a household word, and whom none mention but to praise.

The Rev. W. J. Gibbons became pastor in 1872 and continued in charge until August, 1874. The Rev. J. T. Carroll was next installed and directed the afiairs of the congregation till March 9, 1876, when he was succeeded by Rev. J. D. Bowles. The growing wants of Ravenna and Kent requiring a pastor for each. Father Bowles was relieved of Kent July 6, 1878, and given sole charge of Ravenna. In April, 1883 he was removed from Ravenna to Fremont, Ohio. The present incumbent, Rev. John T. Cahill, succeeded Father Bowles. The pioneer families of the congregation, and likewise those who have generously maintained it with their means and counsel, are Peter King, John McNamara, Edward Broderick, Michael 3IcMahon, George Jennings, Charles Murphy, Edward Breen and Patrick Keene. A short time after the formation of the congregation the following families settled in Ravenna and helped to forward the work in hand, viz.: Frank McGoorty, Michael Quirk, Patrick Lee, James King, Patrick Bergiu, Daniel Gary, Matthew and Thomas McTighe, Bernard and Thomas Kinney, Christopher Jennings, George Madole, Garrett Herley and Michael Donohue. Among the citizens of Ravenna who generously aided the congregations in their early struggles to obtain a place of worship, are the Hon. Luther Day, ex-Supreme Judge of Ohio, and Mr. Isaiah Linton, Civil; Engineer of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad. The congregation at present comprises 125 families, who support two large schools, respectively primary and grammar, ably conducted by lay teachers. The present enrollment is 125 - girls, 65; boys, 6li. The Sundayschool has a membership of 130 children. The cemetery is located a short distance outside the corporation on the southwest side of the village and contains five acres. When Father Cahill assumed charge of the congregation, he found it indebted to the amount of $1,040, but under his earnest and indefatigable labors this debt has been canceled, and steps taken toward the enlargement of the church to meet the growing wants of tlie parish.

Grace Protestant Ejnscojml Church, Parish of Ravenna, was organized April 10, 1865, with the following members: W. E. Smith, ^. C. Ranney, E. Spalding, E. S. Comstock, senior and junior, H. D. Sejmour, f. M. Jones/j. M. Kelly, P. Banon, Charles B. Stowe, T. J. Bailey, Charles Rogers, S. H. Ferry, L. E. Hotchkiss, J. H. Ferry, F. J. Ferry, H. W. Riddle, D C. Coolman. W. L. Coolman, J. L. Ranney, B. J. Wells, Daniel B. Wells, Francis L. Clark, M. Stuart, H. M. Clarke and C. W. Brainerd. Rev. Levi L. Holden presided. Their present beautiful edifice was built in 1873-74, at a cost, including lot and fixtures, of $8,000, and was consecrated April 10, 1883, by Bishop G. T. Bedell. The rectors have been, in their order of succession, Revs. Levi L. Holden, Edward Hubbell. George S. Davis, T. J. Taylor, W. H. Capers, A. J. Brockway and J. W. Gilman. First Vestry: P. Banon, Senior Warden; W. E. Smith, Junior Warden; and E. S. Comstock, H. C. Ranney, B. J. Wells, E. Spalding. Present Vestry: G. Fairchild, Senior Warden; A. B. Fairchild, Junior Warden; and D. C. Coolman, H. D. Seymour, J. C. Beatty, E. S. Comstock, D. L. Rockwell, E. S. Comstock, Jr., J. H.

Jones, F. S. Comstock. Superintendent of Sunday-school, J. H. Jones. The late rector. Rev. J. W. Gilman, resigned November, 1, 1883, since which time the parish has been without a rector.

In the fore part of January, 1826, there was not a school of any kind in Ravenna, although the population more than justified one or two schools, and business was increasing at a very rapid rate. Xew stores were starting up, some little manufacturing was being done, and altogether Ravenna had a "boom" with a full head on, that lasted several years. The great canal was being rapidly pushed forward to completion, the mails were increased to tri-weekly arrivals and departures, a good weekly paper was being printed in the village, yet there was no school.

The Legislature the year previous had passed the act providing for common schools, so May 29, 1826, a meeting was called to be held at the house of Almon Babcock, where the Opera House now stands, for the purpose of taking measures to build a schoolhouse in the First (Ravenna) District. A house was shortly afterward built, and from that time to the present Ravenna has always had schools suitable to the necessities of all its citizens. There are two more than ordinarily handsome and conveniently arranged buildings in the city of Ravenna and the curriculum is particularly good under the charge of Principal Pickitt and his able assistants. Throughout the township, at suitable distances, there are comfortable schoolhouses with good teachers and full attendance.

Unity Lodge, No. 12, F. d- A. M. - This lodge commenced work under dispensation from the Grand Lodge of the State of Ohio, May 28, 1810, and organized under charter signed by Lewis Cass, Grand Master, January 15, 1812. The charter members were Rial McArthur, Joel Walter, George Darrow, Jr., George Darrow, Sr., Joseph Hart, Joshua Culver, William Throop, Timothy Culver, Gideon Chittenden, Jeremiah Root and Elijah Blackman.

In 1831 or 1832, in consequence of the intense excitement in regard to the fraternity throughout the northern section of the country, the lodge suspended work. The late Gen. L. V. Bierce, being at the time Secretary of the lodge, took charge of the Charter of the Three Lesser Lights, the Altar and the Jewels, and twenty years thereafter restored them to their former places within the lodge, which resumed work under dispensation on the 23d day of August, 1852. October 22 of the same year the lodge was again instituted under charter, to E. T. Richardson, W. M.; E. Spalding, S. W.; C. Lawrence, J. W.; and members A. K. King, J. G. McBride, Ephraim Clark and Henry Beach. Upon the rolls there are 135 members.

Ravenna Lodge, No. 65, J. 0. 0. F. - This lodge was chartered by the Grand Lodge of the Stat^ of Ohio, April 25, 18-46. The charter members were Horace Y. Beebe, Edward T. Tremaine, Ransom A. Gillette, James D. Watson, Henrv L. Tilden, James W. Clark and A. W. Bruce. The lodge was instituted May 27, 1846, by Edward Downs, D. D. G. M. The first officers were Horace Y. Beebe,

N. G.; R. A. Gillette, V. G,; E. T. Tremaine, Secretary, and Henry L. Tildeii, Treasurer. There is a membership of something over 200. The lodge owns the third story over a building on Main Street, their propert}^ being worth about $3,0U0.

Ravenna Encampment, No. 129, I. 0. 0. F. - This body was chartered by the Grand Encampment of Ohio, at the May term, 1870, the charter members being William H. Beebe, Horace Y. Beebe, Benjamin J. Wells, David E. Wells, William Ward, J. G. Willis and John Phillips. The encampment was instituted Jul}^ 5, 1870, bv Robert B. Innes, Grand Patriarch of the State of Ohio. The first officers were William H. Beebe, C. P.; H. Y. Beebe, H. P.; B. J. Wells, S. W.; John Phillips, J. W.; David E. Wells, Scribe, and William Ward, Treasurer. The membership is 125

Ravenna. Council, No. 376, R. A., was organized August 29, 1879. The first officers were: Regent, G. Seymour; V. R., D. C. Coolman; Past R., W. H. Beebe; Orator, D. R. Lawsmer; Secretarv, C. H. Griffin; Collector, W. S. Krake; Treasurer, B. F. Keller; Chaplain, A. M. Hills; Guide, J. H. Oakley; Warden, D. L. Rockwell; Sentry, A. T. Smith. The present Regent is E. M. Davis; Secretary, C. H. Griffin; Collector, G. P. Reed, and Treasurer, Quinc}^ Cook. Membership, fifty-nine. Place of meeting. Reed's Opera House.

David Mcintosh Post, No. 327, G. A. R., was organized at Ravenna, June 14, 1883, and named in honor of the old militia General of northern Ohio. The members of this post are Philo Bierce, A. D. Bishop, Hiram Bentley, S. P. Barr, H. 0. Barber, George N. Bissell, C. L. Bartlett, G. R. Braden, James Baxter, George W. Barrett, Joel Beery.

George Sadler, Robert Smith, J. C. Shreader, James Sutliff, J. J. Shreader, Charles Sweeney, Henry Sears, J. F. and R. W. Sapp, James Stewart, Marion Sinclair, C. A. Stone and William Stowell.

Western Reserve Hurse Breeders Association was oi'ganized May 2, 1859, with the following : J. B. King, William Ward, J. P. Alcorn, Chris. Green, W. P. Hazen, J. L. Lefflngwell, J. W. Wilson, R. King, F. Willard and Samuel D. Harris, Jr. The capital was $2,000 in $10 shares.

Portage County Park Association was organized February 4, 1878, with Alex. Topping, M. H. Carter, Horace Y. Beebe, H. W. Riddle, R. E. Wait, W. Williamson and A. J. Jennings members, for the purpose of laying out a park, holding fairs, etc. During the last half century many societies have been organized, of which but a few have survived.