Wadsworth City (part 2 of 6)

The township of Wadsworth once shone in wild glory As she came from the workshop of nature, and God. The trees of her forests stood lofty and hoary, Giving .shade to the soil where no white man had trod. But we took her, and gave her a thorough reforming; lier children are now her unrivaled adorning. We present them, all happy and smiling, thin morning; Out jewels are here, in the image of God.

Memorial Sermon, By Rev. E. Browv

-'That the generation to come might know them, even the children whicli should be born ; who should arise, and declare them to their children ; that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God ; but keep His commandments." - Psalm Ixxviii : 6, 7.

The law of the universe is a law of progress, involving eternal change. Unchangeableness can reside only in infinity, and infinity can belong only to the Author of the universe. Hence, change is written upon all things.

Ail the researches of science are but discoveries of phenomena, or changes, th.at are ever taking place. Kot even the landscape, seemingly the same in its features, can ever be pointed twice alike, or the swift beams of light stamp the same photograph twice, with the same features, the same lights and shades, with no variation. Nor is this confined to this world : but the telescope and the spectroscope are continually recording the evidence written in the great book of the universe, that the Creator, through these changes, is forever working oat his wonderful counsels,

A godless science may see only a fortuitous evolution, working life out of death, and anon death resuming its ancient dominion. It sees only a universe going to decay and ruin. But true science takes account of the demands of our higher nature, and looks for the wisdom and power that is behind all phenomena, and moving them, and having found an infinite God there, sees in all these changes, the working out of a great and glorious plan, worthy of a God. This thought comforts in the consideration of the fact that the world is thus changing, and that we are changing with it. That though youth is bright and joyous, we can not stay young. That though middle-age is strong and hopeful, we can not retain our manly vigor. Nor can we even settle down in the tranquility of old age, for the inevitable law can never change.

Tlie earthly mission must close. Tho hands must wax feeble. The strong must bovr. The vital current must cease to flow, and the wheels of life must stop. The dugt return to dust again ; and the demands of the soul of man^ dding with revelation, tells us, <hat, though matter must change, there is a higher nature, that must still live, to experience uew changes, in conscious existence forever. It IB this nature that makes us so fond of living on in the hearts of those with whom we were associated, and desirous of leaving some memorial of ourselves, something to keep the name on earth, sometimes to be repeated, though it be only a name, carved on a stone, to be read by generations who knew nothing of him who bore the name.

But there is another inevitable law ; that we value the memory of the dead only by the consideration of what tho life was worth. A worthless life can have only a worthless remembrance. Hence, it is a merciful Providence that provides in our nature,, as declared in revelation, that, ''The name of the wicked shall rot;" while all nature says amen to another declaration - "The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.''

We pass among the gorgeous mausoleums of Mount Auburn, and Greenwood, and how soon tlie eye tires with the «ight. The mind wearies with the contemplation of the folly of lavish wealth, trying in vain to counteract the law of nature. Kich' v/orthlessness, by money alone, keeping up a mute contest with the oblivion that claims all that can leave no worthy memorial behind. Not only are monuments proverbially false, but proverbially neglected. Yet you will see in Greenwood a plain shaft, unpretending enough, compared with its highly wrought surroundings, aromid which the path is ever well worji. It perpetuate-S only a name and a deed - the (ireman, who sacrificed his OTrn lilfe to cavG an unknown infant from the fiame*. Thouf k

OTity an uukiio vrn laborer, that one worthy act will leave a remembrance that will far outlive the name of him who only represented a mass of wealth. Though the world ea-gerly pursues atter wealth as the chief good, how little interested is the world in knowing who held the coffers in which ihi^ gold of other days was hoarded. Yet, when * great or good work h done, all desire to know who did it

Men are, after all, ^'only remembered by what they have done." If they^ have been monsters in wickedness, they live "in the long-lived annals of infamy," to becomeja byword and an execration. If they have lived to bless the world, though Ihey have rested from their labors, their mrorks do follow them, and their memory is blessed.

Wo have been for a few days recalling the history of the years that have passed, calling to remembrance the toil, the labors, the self-denials, sacrifices donejand endured by dax-- ing and hardy pioneers, who opened in the wilderness these pleasant homes of yours, in the first of these three-score years since thi^f became the abode of civilized man. We have recalled the long and toilsome journeys from their Ibrmer Eastern homes, of those who came, impelled, some of them by^ necessity, some by the spirit of adventure, some in the pursuit of wealth, and some, as we may believe, with a sincere desire to extend their opportunity to do good to their fellow-men, and bless the w^orld.

All tell a similar story, of hardships, privations, and labor; yet all, of the happiness they enjoyed, in that which dignifies man far above empty titles, or ill-gotten honors - the nobility of honest labor. The fruits of all this you see in a beautiful and flourishing town, an enterprising and intelligent community, and material prosperity on every hand, and you have vied with each other in bestowing honor upon the memory of those who have passed away.

alone, but of uther worlds: not of tiuie. but of eteinity, we see that there are interests that rise above these material oueg, as far as spirit is above dear! matter: that reach beyond these years, as eternity out-nn^asures lime. The niosr important historical question concerning: the annals of this place, then, is the one which we liave reserved as the last : What is the spiritual heritatre left you, by the pioneers of this community ?

To the gross niind, who can see no /i^ood but in material things, this may seem an unimportant question. IJut to those who have studied the history of communities and suites, in the light of their religious and moral principles, the question is not unimportant. I have heard the remark fiiade, since I came here, " It is our railroad that has created our prosperity." Rut, though not as large a place, it was the center of a prosperous commimity, before a railroad was thought of in the dreams of the most sanguine.

It has been my lot tu have lived Die life of u pioneer. To have been borne on the advance wave of emigration ; to have seen the begiuijing of things, and actively to have participated in them, in five States ; and I have learned that it is not richness of soil, or material wealth alone, that make a prosperous community. I can point you to towns situated on leading thoroughtarcs of business and travel, with material advantages equal to this, that never can be prosperous till :? better race, like Israel, shall crowd off those miserable Canaanites, and form a better community.

The founders of commtmities leave their impress upon those communities, that seems ineft'aceable from generation to generation. It seems to have been incorporated with the laws of our being, that what was the free will of the ancestor, becomes the destiny of his posterity. It was not an arbitrary decree, that '^ the iniquities of the fatherr* should be visited upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation." It was, rather, the enunciation of an existing fact, growing out of the nature of man. disccrni- ble without ihe light of revelation ; seou more clearlyj indeed, where that light has never shone ; like the writing with phosphorus upon the wall, the more legible the thick' er the darkness ; while with a free Bible and the Sabbath worship, if there has ever been an exception to the script* nral rule, *' Happy is the people whose God is the Lord/' the historian has failed to record it. I can see w^here the elements of prosperity came from, long before the building of the railroad, or the discovery of your mines.

I will suppose - a thing that J have more than once seen - -that the first business house had been only a grog-shop. and the people for miles around had had no other resort on tiie Sabbath than that sink of pollution ; that the Sabbath worship had been only Bachanal orgies - would it have been the prosperous, pleasant. de8ii*able location we now find it? It might have attracted business and intelligence bv its natural advantages, but it would have obtained a good and desirable population only by a better class buying out the impoverished settlers, who. with their equally worthless children, whose only inheritance had been sin and shame, would have moved on. to curse some other place. You have, many of yon. seen just such places. 1 liave Heen scores of them.

Though, before the agitation ol the temperance question, ardent spirits were in common usc. the tow n never had one of those unmitigated curses, that, fifty years ago, made so many neighborhoods to be moral wastes; that brought a thriftless, hopeless, drunken rabble around them, as crows and buzzards flock nround :\ })utrid carcass. 1 mean a country distillery, or "stillhouse." I'.s it Avas then called. Instead of that, from the hrst. tin* worship of God was established. To-day. all unite in the most afl'ecting (ributi? of respect to those old ('hriatian pioneers, who. like the father of tlie laithful. erected tlu*. altar of God wheiever they went. The Ibuiuhitiou <»f the prosperity of the place Was laid in the oliservam-e of the Sabbath, and th<^ erection of the log .scboolliouye. in the wilde^t^aeiA, t© iserve the double purpose of a seminary ot learning, ajatj a yanctuarv for the pure worship of God.

The first religious meeting was held at the houBe of Oli*- ver Durham, in July. 181-1. The attendance was by the ianiilies of Messrs. Dean and Durham, and Mr. Salmon Warner, a brother-in-law of Mr. Dean, and father-in-law of Mr. Durham, who had visited the place to select a farm for himself. Moving there the next February, regular prayer-meetings were established at his house ; so that public worship may be considered to have been established in February, 1815, the familes of the first three settler*? composing the assembly : that of Mr. Dean being of the Baptist, aud those of Mr. Warner and Mr. Durham of tbo Methodist denomination. These meetings were continued at the house of Mr. Warner, until the erection of the first schooihouse, inl81(). In May of that year, emigrants from Connecticut, the families of Frederick Brown, Benjamiu Agard,and Joseph Loomis, having arrived, they with s«»m.« other new arrivals, help»>d to sustain these meetings.

1 have heard my father, in my youthful days, relat<? tbo pleasing incident of liis first introduction to avtr. Warn<'r, and the arrangement they made together to set tip the Sabbath worship, in a more public and permanent manner. Ue had just arrived the previous week, and with his family was slaying at the liouse of Benjamin Agard. who had preceeded him a few months. Hearing that religious meetings were then hdd at the house of a man by th<» name of Warner, the three families went on Sabbath uu.»rning, titrough the wouds to his house. The meeting w^a* conducted by Mr. VV' arner ; tliose who were singers assisting in that part of the worship, and my father taking part in speaking and pj-ayer.

After the meeting, Mr. Warner called my fattier into the other part of his double log house, for private conference. "First," said be. -' 1 wisl^ to kuov.- who and what vou art\"

Wadsworth Memoeial

My father replied, " We are Congregatioualists, from Cotiftecticut." Mr. Warner replied, " My parents were Congregationalists ; I am a Methodist, and have been almost alone in keeping np meetings the year past; and now I propose that we unite, and we can sustain meetings every Sabbath. I see you are singers ; that will be a great help. And now your people have a practice that I like ; that of reading a sermon when you have no preacher. Have you any volumes of sermons you can bring to read from ?'* My father replied, " I have, but many of the sermons are highly Calvinistic, and you may not approve their doctrine ; so I will hand you the book beforehand, and you may select such as you can call orthodox, and they shall be read." The next week, he handed Mr. Warner this volume of sermons I liave in my hand, and here exhibit to you. (Holding up an old volume of sermons, printed by Hudson and Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., 1797).

The meetings were conducted jointly by those two men, in the manner agreed upon, at the house of Mr. Warner, until the erection of what was called the south school - house, in the autumn following (1816), when they were held in the schoolhouse. Here began a fraternal union between those two old pioneers, who may, without any injustice to others, be termed the first founders of the Methodlet and Congregational churches. A union that was never broken. Though then, as now, and always, there were narrow-minded bigots who sought to break up such a union ; though an outside influence was brought to bear so powerfully as to compel a separation about a year afterwards, ihe particulars of which I. need not give to the public, nothing ever occurred to create any estrangement or jealousy between those two old fathers. To the end ot their pilgrimage, tliey loved each other as brothers, and consulted together for the social, moral, and religious wellare of the settlement. In 1810, a Methodist class was formed, consisting of Bnl^ mon Warner. Mrs. Luciiia Warner, Miss Harriet Warner, Oliver JJurliam and Mrs. Lainira JJurliam, Wm. H. Wriglit and wife, and Mrs. Polly Kirkuni. As no record remains, tlie name of the minister who ori^anized the class is not preserved, nor can 1 learn the names of the tirst Methodist preachers, except Ezra Booth, and Wm. Eddy.

The Congregational chnrch was organized August 8, 1819, llev. John Treat the olRciating- minister. The original members were Frederick Brown, Mrs. Chloe S. Brown, Augustus Mills, Mrs. Martha Mills, George Lyman, Mrs. Ophelia Lyman, Benjamin Agard, Sherman Loorais, and Jacob Lindley.

On the 25th of Aug., 1817, a Union churcli and societ7 Avas formed, by members of the German lleformed, and Lutheran denominations. The names of tlie original members can not be obtained. The ehiers were Peter Waltz, sr., and Christian Everhard. Trustees, Jacob Everhard, Adam Baughman. Benjamin Eaust, iirst i)astor.

A Baj^tist church Avas organized under tlic i)astoral charge of Obadiah NcAA'Comb, in 1821. This Avas afterAvard the nucleus of the Disciple churcli. Of its original members were Obadiah Newcomb and Avife, AVilliam Eyles and Avife, Samuel Green and wife, and Mi-s. Battison and Mr. and Mrs. Donor, of ChippcAva. Another Baptist churcli Avas afterAvards organized in tlie northwest part of the toAvn, by Elder ])immock, in 1836. The original members of the Disciple church Avere Obadiah NeAvcomb, Satira NcAVComb, Matilda NeAVComb, Victory Clark, Samuel Green, A. B. Green, and Polly Eyles.

About the time of the separation of the Methodists from the Congregationalists, Mr. Brown Avas joined by George Lyman, a young man, from Torrington, Connecticut, a\ bo took an active ])art in sustaining the meetings. They Avere held every Sabbath, tAvice a day, in the old style of Ncav i^ngland. After singing and prayer, and singing again, tlie leader either read a sermon, or called upon some other to read. The most frequent reader was Sherman Loomis, whose musical voice and rhetorical delivery is still one of the pleasant memories of those days. Of those who were occasionally readers, I can recall George Kirkum, Harry Lucas, Lemuel North, John Sprague, Allen Pardee, Dr. Geo. K. Pardee, Aaron Pardee, and George Lyman.

On the erection of the next schoolhouse, then called the north schoolhouse, the meetings were held alternately in each place. From 1821 to 1824, Mr. Lyman was absent from the township, and Mr. Brown was assisted in conducting the meetings by Ebenezer Andrus and William Graham, of Chippewa, a portion of the time being occupied by Rev. Obadiah Newcomb ; the Baptists and CongTegationalists uniting in his support. He preached a part of the time in Norton and Coventry. He was a man of ability, much respected, and his services much demanded on funeral occasions.

The Congregational church, through the Deacons' meetings, as they were called, was the tirst to maintain public worship on the Sabbath, for several of the first years of the history of the township. Tlirough these earlj' beginnings I have sketched, the Sabbath has ever been kept as a day of rest and worship, and a moral and religious atmosphere created; the soil broken up and prepared, from which the churches of to-day have sprung up and grown. It is no injustice to others to say that Salmon Warner and Frederick Brown were the ones who cast the grain of mustard seed into this field, which their subsequent co-w^orkers nourished, till it has grown into a goodly tree, whose various branches have spread far enough to furnish a grateful shelter for Christians of different names.

The Western part of the township, and Eastern part of Guilford were settled by members of the Mennonite denomination. I have no record of their churches (embracing each of the divisions known by that name). The College established by that denomination, stands within th limits of this village ; their only one in the United States. The Universalists maintained preaching for several years, from 1824. Their first minister was a Mr. Williams, who afterwards became a minister of the Disciple church. The next was a Mr. Tracy. The next, a Mr. Rodgers. But no church w^as ever formed.

The tirst Congregational minister who preached statedly In Wadsworth, was Rev. Joseph H. Breck, in 1823, alternating with Harrisville. In 1826, Rev. Amasa Jerome was settled as pastor of the church. He was installed November 1, 1826. The services were held in Benjamin Agard's barn; sermon by Rev. Giles H. Cowles, D. D., of Austinsburg ; text - 2nd Cor., v : 20. The choir was led by Richard Clark, James Newcomb playing the bass-viol. (This was^the first use of a musical instrument in public worship). In 1828, declining health compelled his resignation, and he returned to Connecticut, where he died, about three years afterwards. , The next settled pastor was Rev. Gilbert Fay, from 1830 to his death, in 1835. He was a good man, highly respected by all classes of people. The next year, the pulpit was supplied by Revs. Asaph Boutell, and W. Johnson ; then Revs. Boswell Brooks, and Joel Talcott, each one year ; then Rev. A. K. Wright, who died in 1844.

Up to 1828, the Congregational church met, on alternate Sundays, at the the south schoolhousc, on the corner opposite the Spragues, and the north schoolhouse, near Judge Eyles's. The Baptists used the north schoolhouse, and tho Methodists the south, on alternate Sabbaths.

In 1828, a log house belonging to Judge Brown, at the Center, and used for a schoolhouse, began to be used, and in 1829, the north schoolhouse went out of use, and the meetings were held at the Center alone. The Methodist* meeting at the town-line schoolhouse, and the west school* house, on the Medina road, and the Disciples meeting at the town-line, and the north schoolhouse, near Lemuel North's. /

Ttie first house of worship was the Lutheran and German Reformed log meeting-house, built on the Chippewa road, on the line between Wadsworth and Chippewa. The next,, the old Congregational church at the Center, on the site of the present one, built in 1830. The Methodist house was built in 1835.

It may be interesting to the present generation to give a history of the building of the first Congi-egational house ; the first house of worship' erected within the limits of the township. In March, 1820, finding a house of worship a necessity, a society meeting was called, and it was resolved to build a house 24 bv 36 feet in dimensions, to build it with our own hands. We met at the house of F. Brown, a company of thirteen. Frederick Brown, Joseph Looniis, Shennau Loomis, Benjamin Agard, Roman L. Agard, Geo. Lyman, William Beach, Levi Blakeslee, James Piatt, Geo. Walcott, Caleb Battles, John Brown, and Edward Brown. We felled, scored, and hewed the timber, drew it to its place - Mr. Battles and Hezekiah Ward laying out the work - framed it with our own hands, with the exception that some other citizens worked with us a part of the time, of whom, I recollect Cyrus Hard, H. A. Mills, Alvin Agard ; Dr. G. K. Pardee, and some others, contributing money and nails. The lumber was procvired in the same way ; cutting the trees, hauling them to the sawmill, and each one sawing his own part of the lumber, Messrs. J^omis and Beach, the proprietors, giving the use of the mill. The first lumber was burned in kiln-drying, necessitating the hauling and sawing of a new lot of logs, in midsummer. The shingles, also, were made by the same hands, tVom chestnut trees, and the shingles, siding, and lathing put on by them. A joiner was hired to lay the floor, and make the doors and windows. All else was done by volunteer work.

thing that had never been attempted before. Notice was sent throughout the town, inviting everybody to come, saying no spirits would be furnished, but a good dinner provided by the ladies. Some refused to come, but when the day arrived, a large crowd was upon the ground, and never had a building been put up with such ease and facility. All repaired to the rich dinner, i)rovided by the Wadsworth ladies, with the best of feeling. The day was closed witli an old-time game of baseball, and the new fashion established, of raisings wiihout intoxicating liquors.

I have thus given you a sketch of the early religious history of Wadsworth, illustrating these great truths, '-'that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.'' That costly temples, or an ordained or appointed ministry, though among the important means of grace, are not absolutely essential to the mainlennnce and true preacJiing of the gospel. The gospel preached in low, hesitating words, in his own house, or by the sick-bed, or at the funeral in the log cabin, by Salmon Warner, was refreshing, as draughts of pure water to the pilgrim in the descrl. And although an ordained minister of the gospel, in duo formality, I can never feel myself more truly called of God as his minister, than was ]'\*ederick Brown, in these wilds, almost three-score years ago. As I listened to those sweettoned Sabbath bells that this lovely morning rung their musical call to pleasing, solenm worship, what a mingled train of solemn, pleasing, and sad emotions tilled my thoughts ! How the buried memories of half a century welled up from the depths of the soul ! I was more than twelve years old before I ever heard the sound of the church-going bell, and that in a distant town. It was many years before I ever saw a house that was erected especially for the worship of God. Yet my memory can not go back to the time when I did not expect to repair to the rough, log" schoollioiise sanctuary ; and I have thought tliat had our spiritual eyes then been opened, as were those of the servant of Klisha, we should have seen angelic listeners, as those old sernrions were read, and the '' Glory of the Lord" resting upon those rude white -wood tables, as truly as on rhe mercy-seat, in the holy of holies. No memory of my childhood now comes up before me, in the day dream or night vision, surrounded by such a halo of heavenly light as that of the family gToup - the mother on horseback, the father and children threading their way along that well-worn forest path of two miles to the north schoolhouse. When the squirrel chattered a good-morning from the tree above us, and the wild bird sang a voluntary, as our prelude to prepare the heart to worship God; when, a barefooted boy, I often stopped and sat down to i)ick the spines of the chestnut burs from my foet^ and then ran on, in gleefulness that would sometimes break forth in such boisterousness as to call forth the gentle reminder, from iny father, that it was the Sabbath day. And now, let me drop the remark, that I have somelimcs heard, with pain, the Sabbath keeping views of Judge Brown caricatured, as though he held it a day of such awful solemnitv as made it a burden, such as not even a Jew of old could have borne ; that even set sacrilice before mercy ; but the best commentary upon this, as upon most of the caricatures so fashio)iable ux)on the Puritan Sabbath, is that his own family never made the discovery. Xo day of the week was one of such home delight, towards which we looked with such eager joy, in that day when parents and children must fill ui) the week with wearisome toil, as the Siibbath.

Then, citizens of Wads worth, was the seed-sowing time in the wilderness. You are reaping the harvest. The matured fruit always testifies to the sowing, whether the flower wills it or not. You enjoy the fruits. I leave it io you to say whether good seed was sown. Ah! again and again have I found my self-command of small account to me, as I have grasped the hand of the octogenarian, and as he looked into my face, already beginning to show the fun'ows of time's ploughing, and the harrowings of care? and said with choking emotion, " How you remind me of your father, that good old man whose memory is so precious ;" fully as often, too, from those who differed from him on almost every subject, in former years. 1 ask no better monument to his memory. It will live in hearts in higher worlds, long after marble has crumbled to dust. Why do we hear the names of Salmon "Warner and Frederick Brown still repeated with reverence, so many year« after they have rested from their labors ? Because their works do follow them. I do not mention them so prominently to set them above other noble workers, of different names and denominations, but because they planted, the first seed. One old veteran,* now beyond four-score years, then a youthful co-worker, who took up the burden after they laid it down, still lingers, waiting to see a few more sheaves gathered, and report the harvest. Other pilgrims, who traveled the same road with them, rest in the land of Bculah, waiting for the messenger. And soon, the company on the shore will wave their adieu as the boat leaves with the last of the pioneer band. May no degenerate descendant ever bring a blot upon their honored names, and may the time never come when those now living here, or those to rise up hereafter, shall blush to own that Wads worth was tlieir birthplace, or their home.

By a Stranger. Ti> call the v\ audeiiug exile back across the guir uf years. To welcome him, from near and far, with gladsome soug and cheers. Back to the home he loved so well, when he and home were young; That home of memory's rainbow tints, the home his Iieart has sun^^ - Another claimed the graceful muse, fit for so grateful task. And but the graver, sadder one is left for me to ask.

Each has left, soul-liiled, every least, not oueghul moment lost; But now, ye'll know, if we do not;, the conllict it has cost, For ye must part; and while these scenes are swiftly flying past, An under current whispers, too, that this must be the last.

Old friends, for wliom tliese double feasts have been so nobly planned, I ween that hearts so tried and true are not to be unmanned. But few the days that wait you here - our years are few at best - Ye who laid hence those early friends must soou be lairt to rest.

But there's a brighter thought tliau ihis, O pilgrim, brave and true! A home above, surpa.ssi ng all, is ^:till reserved for you. Happy the greeting, glad the home, where change mars not its bliss; Where joy is full, and faithful ones ye will not grieve to miss.

From this ye went with hounding step; with staff iu hand ye come. The Shepherd's '-rod and staff" shall guide you to that better home. Hopeful ye went, with eye umlimmed; chaugetl is your visage now. At that next home-reunion sweet, no sorrows line the bi'ow.

Ye went fortli young; ye came back old; new youth will I)]os='om there; And all that grieved, and all that >v'ore, no more shall grieve or wear. This home ye left knew joys and griefs; but love has made it bright; That home is happiness unmixed; and love divine its light.

Hopeful and trusting, llien, old friends, we give the parting iiand; Thankful that 'twas our liappy lot to meet this noble band. May influence of these precious days best blessings on us .sjied; To better deeds, and truer lives, by them may we be ]ei!|

Acdljoii. old heroes of the pat-t, may they light up for rou All the bright way to that blest home where ye shall greet an?w. Ab<1 they - these later b;indP~for whom ye these rich fields prepared: And who in turn prepared for you thepe gifts wliii-li we iiave. ^h!«-ed;

I herewitJi send yoii, for publication in vour pioneer his- Tory of oitr beloved township of ^^adsworth, niv contribntioii of note- for the same, in accordanee with yonr retp.est on the 2(;th inst., and which J have had to conlpile and aiTano-c witJiin (hat short space of time, givino- nie no time to ]-e-write or revise them. \ have made'up my statement from memory of what my father and brothers told me many years ago, when a small lad ; and I am aho indebted to the late Kenbeu F. Warner, Jacob Miller, and JJenjamin Dean, and to other pioneers yetlivino-, for those portions of it that happened before T was born ; eo that! in the main, it may be relied on as correct, and I havfi endeavored in my hasty composition to relate what I hav,- in plain, simple I.qn^qrna-e ; and while I know the narrative may be subject to criticism, yet T venture to submit it to my dear old friends in Wadsworth, and a generous and indulgent public. Faithfully your Friend.

Sherman Blocker. The first settlement made in the present boundaries of W^adsworth was in 1814, and among the first settlers wert* ' the Deans, Durhams, Warners, Jacob Miller, and Samuel Blocker. At that time, there was no township organization, but in the year 1810, the present territorv embracing Wadsworth and Norton townships, was erected into a township, and named Wolf Creek.

The first election in the iil)ovc township was in 1816, at the house of Philemon Ivirkum, Esq., in what is now Norton township, on the town line between Wadsworth and Norton townsliips, as at present located. At said meetinjj-- of the electors, Henry A^anllyning-, Theodore Parmelee, and Salmon \Yarncr were chosen judges, and Pliilemou Kirkum clerk of election. An old beaver hat was used, in which the ballots a\ ere deposited. The election occupied but a short time, as there was no discussion about the merits of the candidates. Aln-ahani VanHyning, Nathan Bates, and Jacob Miller were chosen Trustees ; John Cahow and Daniel Dean, Overseers of the Poor; Reuben Warner and Deiuiis Bates, Constables; Christopher Rasor and John Bryan, ]'\nice Viewers ; Samuel M. Hayden and Gurdon Prior, Listers and Appraisers of Property; Nathan Bates, Treasurer ; Salmon Warner, Samuel M. Hayden, John Bryan, John Cahow, and Gurdon Prior, Supervisors; Salmon Warner and Henry VanHyning w^ere chosen Justices of the Peace ; each of the the foregoing officers had 22 votes, which constituted the electoral strength of Wolf Creek township. The following are the names of the electors at that election : Henry VanHyning, James Cahow, Lyman Bates, Gnrdon I'ricr, John Bryan, Dennis Bates, Christopher Rasor, Oliver Durham. George Cahow, Wm. H. Wriglit, Wm. Rasor. Talcott Bates, Christian Ritter, R. F. Warner, Daniel Ware, John Cahow, Christian Everhard, Samuel Blocker. Sanniel M. Hayden, T. H. Parmelee, Phineas Barnes, and Pliilemon Kirkum.

The first death in VV^olf Creek township was that of Seth Lucas. Mr. Lucas came to the township in the early part of the summer of 1815, and died in the month of September following. He had erected his cabin on the lot next east of Kirkum's.

The wiiole country was a primitive wilderness. There was no sawmill nearer than sixty miles, through an unbroken forest. Tlie hardy pioneers needed but little timber, and what they did need, they had to depend on themselves to produce. The ax, maul, wedge, and froe were the tools used and depended on to produce shingles and puncheons with which to supply their limited wants. Tools of every kind were very scarce, but, happily, Mr. Lucas had brought with him from his New England home a few tools, consisting of two or three augers, a couple of chisels, one adz, froe, handsaw, jackplane, aud two or three gimlets. At the death of Mr. Lucas, the question stared each one of his fellow-pioneers in the face : Where were the boards to come from to make a coffin, and where was the cabinetmaker to build it? Let us think of it a moment, and transport ourselves back to that period, and imagine ourselves in that position. Suppose there Avere only a dozen of us together, from a region ten miles square, with no cabinet shop to go to for a coffin, no sawmill to make boards, and no road to travel on except a path, as it wound its lonely way through the dense forest. This is indeed but an imperfect picture of the situation in which the sympathizing friends of Seth Lucas were placed at his decease. The inventive genius of his fellow-pioneers soon obviated the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of obtaining a coffin for their lamented friend. Although there were but few of them, and severely feeling the loss of one of their number, being thus early cut down in his wilderness hgme. in the prime of life, they resolved to give him as decent a burial as was possible under the circumstances. Reuben F. Warner, Daniel Dean, and Benjamin Dean volunteered to make a coffin. Selecting a large whitewood tree, they felled it to the earth, measured the right length for the coffin, chopped the log off, and with maul and wedge puncheons were split. The broad-ax was then used to hew them to the right thickness, after which, the jackplane of their deceased friend put on the finishing touch. The body was then arrayed in the habiliments of the grave, and dex^osited in the primitive coffin.

All tiie pioneerti within (en milos had cohk* to attond his j'lmeral, and pxpi'pss their sympathy to Iho lamilV; and lo each other, Aiter |)i'ayor and siuijlii.ii'. tlif solemn march to the p]a(Mi of sepuh-her licgan. ft was a sad and sohMun liineral procession, in the wilderness. Less than twenty souls formed the procession, aside from the family of the deceased. The cofHn Avas placed in a one-ox cart, and hauled throufjch the dense forest about one-fourth of a mile east from the cabin, and there, in the lonely forest, deposited in the silent gTave. A hard-ma])lo tree stands near the head of the grave, one of the orioinal forest-trees, left, no donht. as a monument to ctmimemorate the place of interment.

This was the first funeral in tlie wildei'!ie.'?.s. and a ren- «>rable pioneer, now deceased, who assisted on that occasion, informed the writer of this sketch, that it was the most still and solemn scene he had ever witnessed. Not a loud word was spoken, but all were awe-stricken at this sudden and unexpected visit of the Kin.!? of Terrors, who had sought them out in their wilderness homes, and snatched one of their number from their midst. Thus died Seth Lucas, and thus he was buried ; the first among' as brave and devoted a band of pioneers as ever settled a country.

For the first few years, many of the settlers had to depend on the wild animalB of the forest for their meat. Bears, deer, turkeys, raccoons, wolves, and wildcats, and the large, yellow, spotted rattlesnake, together with the smaller varieties of game usual to a new country, abounded by thousands in Wndsworth, and the surrounding territory.

There are many anecdotes preserved of the huntingexploits and adventures of the early pioneers. There wa!s an Englishman of Indian habits, by the name of Holmes, fPOTl whom Holmes' Brook derives its n»me., who was an early and famous hunter in this region, and among the most celebratpfl pioneer liunt('r> were Oriii Looiuis, David Blocker, Jolin ^^^aItz, and Phiiieas^Biitler. These men were celebrated rangers ot" the wilderness, lithe, hardy, and resolute." and had some perilous adventures with the wiM animals of those days. Dressed in buckskin breeches, with linsey or linen oversliirts^that reached nearly down to the knees, with [buckskin] moccasins snugly fitted to the foot and uukle, witli a leather belt buckled about the waist, i)i which Vv-^as a sheath for a tomahawk and a stout liunting-knife ; with shot-pouch and powderhorn ; with a flint and ''punk" to start up a lire anywhere ; with a good rifle, and a couple of well-trained huntingdoge, and about a loaf of bread, or "johnny-cake,'' and a little salt, these menjwouid sall\ out into the boundless forest and dense thickets and swamps, day after day, and pursue the bears and deer, with a zest unknown to modern spoitsmeii. If they were belated in the^cliase, and night overtook them in the woods, they w^ould roll a couple of logs together and build a tire, and roast a chunk of bear, venison, or turkey, seasoned with thc^salt, which with the bread made them a hearty and whob^some meal, and which was devoured with^an appetite and^relish unknown to the present dyspeptic generation. After flnisMng thejmcal, with leaves for their bed, and the starry canopy of the sky for a covering, they would lie down and sleep in the forest, wherever night overtook them.

Many times these men slept in the forest, with the howling of wolves, screaming of wildcats, and the hooting of the great horned owls all about tliem, whicli dismal music lulled them to sleep. The sharp howl of the wolf and the mewinii' and screaming of the wildcats w^as pleasant music to them, as thev lay bv the fire in the dark woods.

It was supposed that the late David Blocker, from' the year 18i('» to 1833. killed and dressed over SOU deer, within the limits of Wadsworlh and adjoining townships ; and as fht' rein j or of these rtMninisceuc-es is more familiar \A'ith the hunting exploits of David Blocker (being a brolher) than with the others, he will confine himself to a rehearsal of some of his adventures in the forest.

"When quite a little bo)-, the writer can remember when David Blocker shot and killed, in one day, six fine deer. On one occasion he was hunting deer in the Eiver Styx Bottoms, just south of the east and west center road where it now passes, accompanied by his two faithful dogs, Cuft' and Eange. CuiY was part wolf, and possessed all the cunning of that animal in a hunt for game, llange was a large yellow mastiff; bold and resolute, good natured, and obedient to his master, while Cuft' would sneak off slilv and hunt on his own account. At the time of which I am speaking. Cuff had stolen away, and was ranging tlie woods as usual, while liange was carefully following tlie footsteps of his master. They had proceeded carefully a short distance through the brush, Avhen a noble buck wjis discovered, with massive antlers. The hunter took aim, pressed the trigger of tlie deadly rifle, and drove a ball crashing through the buck. The shot was not fatal, and Kange was let go to catch the deer, and being a last runner, he soon caught the buck, which turned and gave battle to the dog, and in the skirmish got the advantage, and by the time his master arrived at the scene of the conflict, had nearly finished the dog, by goring him with his horns. Just at this juncture. Cuff', who had heard the fight, came bounding uj), and instantly seiz(;d the infuriated buck by the throat, when a desperate struggle ensued between the dog and the deer. It resulted in the buck getting Cutf under his horns and goring him almost to death in a moment. It was now high time for the hunter to interfere, and save the perishing dogs. He drew his hunting-knife, and springing with the agility of a cat up : on the deer, dispatched him while he was over the prostrate dogs. l;pon examination of tlie dogs, Cuft' was so severly Avoiinded that it was thought he would die on the

Spot, while Range was eo deeply gashed by tlie horns of the buck that a part of his intestines protruded from the wounds. With his fingers the hunter pushed back the insides, and stopped up the aperture with leaves, and tied his handkerchief around th(^ dog, and although he weighed upwards of eighty pounds, picked him up tenderly, and carried him a mile and a half to a neighbor's house, where his wounds were dressed and cared for until he could come to his own home, several days atfer. The hunter returned to dress the buck, but Cuff was gone, and could not be found, but next day came crawling home, to the great joy of his master. Both dogs recovered, and did good service in hunting.

About twelve years before this adventure occurred, David Blocker had a desperate hand to hand fight with a bear, near where Yoder's gristmill now stands, about one mile southwest of the Center. It happened about the year 1817. The cows were wanted, and one of them had a bell on, and they would stray along the brooks and swails for tood, and David Blocker went in pursuit of them without his rifle, or weapon of any kind, which was strange, for in those days of pioneer life, few persons ventured from their cabins without the trusty rifle, and pouch filled Avith balls and powder, ready for business.

The trail of the cattle led down Blocker's Creek, and when he got near where the first mill stands he passed near a large treetop which had fallen the season before, when the leaf was in full growth, and in its fall had crushed a numfcer of small saplings, which together formed a thick nlass of leaves and brush, making a cozy home for a wild animal; and sure enough, as he was walking around this bevy of treetops, out rushed a large, haggard looking black bear, right at him, with ponderous jaws wide oj en. ready to seize him on the spot. Having no weapon with him, and having no means of defense except his hands, and twQ small dogs about as large as raccoonS; and being shod with Indian moccasins, and a swift runner, he concluded to run for his life, and thus escape the ugly embrace of the bear ; but Mrs. Bruin was too fast for him, and he had to turn and fight, and dodge about as best he could, to keep out of the clutches of the sharp claws and ponderous mouth of the bear, which seemed determined to destroy him on the spot. In his extremity he got behind a tree, and ran around it with all his might, with the furious brute close at his heels. The day was hot, and in that dense forest extremely sultry, and he was fast losing his breath and strength, when his two little dogs, heari^i^ the fu&s, came bravely to the rescue of their master. The little iellows seized the bear in the rear and tugged and bit with such vigor that the monster would have to stbp and whirl round and brush them off, as one would a fly or mosquito from the hand or face, and then instantly renew the chase to catch the hunter. But these momentary lull^ in that close and desperate chase gave him a moment for fresh breath, and reflection what to do in that desperate condition of afiairs; but it would only be for a mo-^ ment, when the angry brute would renew the chase with increased rage and growls. Finding that with all his powerful exertions to escape her, she would seize him, he broke for a larger tree, with the bear close to his heels, -and the little dogs doing all they could to help their master.-

It now seemed to him that he must give up, and be torn to pieces by the ferocious brute. Being taint from the tremendous exertions of nerve and mind to keep out of the clutch of the bear, he felt that his time had come, and his heart and frame shuddered at the thought of being-mimgled to death by an animal he would not have feargd to encbitnter if he had had his hunting-knife in hand. The little fist-like dogs seemed to know, at tliis gurictlire, the peril and fatigue of their master, for they pitclfed at the bear with renewed vigor, and made such good use of their sharp teeth that the bear had tq turn and tussle with them long enough to give their master a little respite, and new breath ; but the moment she had freed herself of the dogg, she again came at him with increased rage, and it required his utmost exertions to keep clear of her jaws.

The "iime had now come when something besides running had to be done, or he would certainly fall a victim to her^rage. He had no time to spring up a small tree, and e\%y moment his strength was failing him, while from the biting and worrying of the little dogs, the rage of the bear seemeUto be increased. ' He watched his chance, and ran to another tree near by, with the bear close to his heels. In looking about for a club, or anything with which to defend himself, he espied a stick cut off a young hickory, which had been cut by some one to make a splint broom. It was within twenty feet of him - a good, sound club, about three feet long ; and O, if he could only get thia club ! Encouraging his little dogs to seize hold of the bear, when on the side of the tree next to the stick, he sprang for it with all his might, and picked it up and darted behind another small tree, just as the bear was ready to grasp him with her paws and mouth. The brut« now raised upon her hind legs, to grab him with her paws around the tree. With all his remaining strength, he stepped to^ the side of the tree and with the club in both hfends, aimed a blow at her head, when, quick as a flashy the "bear met the club with one of its paws and knocked it clear out of his hands, several feet away. He ru*shted for his club and just got it, when the monster again rai%i on her hind legs to clasp him with her paws, her mouth wide open, ready to tear him to pieces. Summoning all his powers for another desperate effort to strike her head with his club, she again met the descending blow with her paw and directed it from hitting her snout ; but iu its descent it struck the point of her under jaw and broke it off. Another blow followed this, and with a roar of rage the bear sprang to a large oak close by, and crawled

The eonsciousness of safety from this tremendous fight, and the great fatigue produced by the mental and physical strain on the system, so overcame the hunter that he went into a sort of swoon, and lay in a dreamy and partially unconscious condition for a number of minutes, before he was able to return to his home, where he got his rifle, a,nd with his father, Samuel Blocker, Israel Ritter, and Jacob Miller, returned to the scene of the conflict.

The faithful little dogs had staid at the foot of the tree^ barking up at the ])ear, which had not come down. Taking aim, a bali irom his rifle went crashing through her head and killed her. Three beautiful cubs, nearly as large as raccoons, were found in the treetop, which acconnted for her fierceness.

At another time, David Blocker, in company with Indian Holmes, was in pursuit of a huge bear, with a pack of six dogs. The bear was a clumsy runner, and the dog8 soon brought him to bay at the foot of a great sycamore tree. With his ponderous paws he would brush the dogs away as if they were mere insects, and one or two of the dogs who did not understand bear tactics, especially wheu it is close quarters, in their eagerness to seize the bear by the throat, got themselves within good reach of his paws^ and were struck by him with such force that they tiimbled away, heels over head into the weeds, howling and yelling with pain and rage, and could not be tempted to again get themselves within reach of those dangerous bear-haAd«r, which had left the imprint of their claws in their tough hides. Bracing his back against a tree, he bade defiance to his enemies. The hunters came up, but could not shoot him for fear of hitting some of the dogs, which kept jumping at him continually. Holmes had an Indian battle ax, heavier than a tomahawk, with which Blocker proposed to go behind the tree, and dart suddenlv around and

Bii^lL% t|k« .b«w* in, the head and knock him down, and wh^n oac« 4owiji, with the aid of the dogs, they could easily dispatch himi Holmes looked upon it as a dangerous nndertftkitif, and said he would have his rifle cocked, resdj to ftw in8t«iitly at the bear, if anything went

Blocker sprang around the tree, but stumbled over one of the dogs as he was in the act of striking the bear, and only gove Mm a slight blow as he fell headlong in front of the 1^M% which Instantly seized him by the thigh, witli the gpjsed of ft tiger. Holmes, who was ready, sprang up, and placing itifi muzxle of his gun close to the ear of the bear, sent an Qunfe ball through his head, whicli killed him on thft epQt,b*|tore lie had fairly closed his teeth on the leg. The marTcs- of th>t bite were carried to the grave. They found this to |)e |he largest bear they had ever seen, and estiaiftted Win to Weigh 500 pounds.

At anothe*" , time, meat became exceedingly scarce, in consequence of the game all leaving the neighborliood ; and the want of this indispensable article to the pioneer, produced a lamehtable aching about the stomach of each. Bnddenly, one. Sunday afternoon while David Blocker wa» lying on- a bed of deer and bearskins, in the cabin, the dogs sang out? "^Turkeys!" and bounding otl' his bed and seizing the rifle and shot-pouch, he rushed to the door just in time to see the turkeys flying and alighting among the trees in ev*ry direction from the cabin ; for the dogs had rushed a^iDnj^ tliem at first sight, and kept uji a tremendouf din of bpwlfl and yells at the turkeys, while the rifle went crabk; craGk, as fast as he could load and shoot, until sixteen fat turKey* had fallen before liis unerring aim. By this t\me the flock had disappeared, and in their place came Judge Brown (father of Rev. Edward). Esq. Salmon Warner, Reuben F.Warner, and Jacob Miller (father of Qm}u ICiUWr Biq.r Ot Akron) ; all of whom had been at a ^ffiyftTrpm^i^mf, fl K«q. Warner's, half a mile east of where mentioned above, approved the dctest{ib}er^3rftf^tice;^fSuij- , day hunting and shooting, as now carried ^n'^^^'fa--'! ay ^es$.^ class, seeming determined to ruin the mbral^^i^r tk\s.pountry. On the contrary, the necessity of the^<im'e^*juf?'Uficcl. ^ the act; for, let me here sav, while tliei-e^ero'^me thfeofij logical differences of opinion, yet taken «s '<a^*'t;pnxmiinity! together, there never was a more h.onorafelerui>^ht, aiid^ conscientious set of people found on this b^oad c6iitihent, tlian were the early pioneers of Wadswoi'ltM' ;-'''-%. ^;'; '

At first there may have been somedistrust ^fc^tft in ay^r^' short time all distrust, if any, that pfie secljl^njlisuk^f tlie. other, vanished into thin air as soon as £hgy j^i^ie td kA'ow/ each other ; and soon, the mass of early pioneers came to

Wadswojrth Memorial

''half- Of tjife to.WHship ; while those from the Eastern States located f^aihly: in th6 north half of the township ; thus for d, fcort tifn^^maki'rig the east and west center road a sort of ^-Masdn and-Dixon's line." But this, as before remarked, was'Of vei-y-short duration, for a social comity and pure friendshi:^ soon cemented them together in a common bond

.'Tlte early ^pioneers of the south part of the township taking- the eflst and tvest center road as the boundary, were the DQai«i^^Waniel-s Durhams, Christian Bitter, Daniel .Ware, Israel Ritter,' Adam Baughman, Lorenzo Baughman, Henry* Falconer, Jacob Miller, Samuel Blocker, Christian EVfei:hax-dpSa^iuel. M. Hayden, Benjamin Simcox, James Re^d, Sain u'^L Ffilconer, Adam Smith, Jacob Smith, John :feverhW, Jonathan Everhard (now of Sharon), and their fatheilJaVobrivfi'rhard ; James Giftbrd, Geo. Rasor, Christiari\Rasor,;".>^t(>fel'^'Rasor, Wm. Rasor, Wm. Simcox, and

-the exireme sotitheast part of the township, where a meeting'house'had been' erected by the joint eftbrts of the pioneers of'mi-tonf fehippeAva, and Wadsworth townships, ^^ ill whieil two, and' perhaps three, denominatio}ial forms of worship wpi-e maintained. But I maybe mistaken about this;.neitl^er anil certain whether the first house of reli- (rious- worship stood on the Wadsworth side, or just across the voha in- Cl^ipp.QWa ; and it is not material on which side it didvkaiid.; n^^^^ it material whether one or more divine worship were as pious, as honeBt^fttl'd'lil'g'ood'cHr^rjr clay Christians as ever assembled in a meetl]fg«)tOttte^ Attd while they were generally unobtrusive in ib«ir tfAbitfi tuid tastes, and unwilling to thrust themeelTes UitlftSrA In th6 early administrative affiiirs of the township, yet th«y did their full part toward its physical and intellectual derelopmejits, and are entitled to an award of jnst "ftttd equal praise to everything that went to the rapid and tro^erfully developed history of the township. 'No one Will ^nestion this. Neithei- in making up this do I seek to mstkls an invidious distinction, or draw comparisons Of Vbe chai*flc« teristics of the early pioneers of the totmebip. 1 Virt^h in my feeble way to do justice to the memory of th'0««*nobl6 men and women, most of whom I can ' fenidtnb^r ; and this article would be entirely incomplete witbont referencii in a more open manner to the women wbo^tflBrd'ifaie WiVM of the early pioneers of the township.

They were indeed helpmates, in eVer^ ' I$efi8e ' ef tbat word. They not only discharged their dntiea to ihecabina of their husbands, but bravely went into tbe WoOdl8**rid fields, and labored with their husbands 'to sabduetlie '"forest, and convert the grounds into blootlrting fitXxXt. ^<St many years they spun and wove, and indde most <$f tji'e cloth worn by the family ; and they never shrilnic from'dssistiug in-doors and out-doors as Was needed, abd' it ts not too much to say that to these mothers belong ttost of tb'4 praise for the morality and piety Of ttie'to^jnof^ihip, in its early liistory, and for the impress of thoeeVi*1;w6s Which still cling to some of their descendants. '^

But I must close. I am loth to do '80, fOTsitice I 'commenced this writing, it has seemed as if my b^ftH" Would burst while thinking back thirty to fO'rty-flYe y^rs, in which time I knew these men and vrom^, and knetv them only to love and adore them. And tb^Se metnoriljs of them cling about my heart like sweet clUfttCts dfilOWCrs, which I pray may never lose their fra'gpttinc« i^ 'ftenhiiess ^

Wadswortii Memorial

Nearly all of tliein have yielded up their spirits to Him who gave them, and their mortal remains have been consigned to mother earth. Blessed be their memory forever ! as I hope and believe that each one is in immortal bliss, in that better state, set apart for all who love the Lord.

Among those that I have mentioned, the following pioneers are still living: Jonathan Everhard, of Sharon; George Rasor and wife,* of Wads worth : Mrs. Nancy Harter, of New Portage, late widow of John Everhard ; Mrs. David Loutzenheiser, of Sharon ; George Miller, Esq., of Akron; Mrs. Lydia Franks, of Doylestown ; Henry Ritter, and perhaps otliers unknown to me.

In the early part of the settlement of the township, rattlesnakes were plenty ; and in one day, at a den of the snakes, Samuel Blocker and Jacob Miller killed 128 yellow spotted rattlesnakes. At another time, when my father, Samuel Blocker, w^as reaping wheat, he cut off a monster rattlesnake's head with his sickle, which probably struck at his hand just as he had gathered in the wheat straw to cut it oir, for he did not see or know anything of the snake until he had drox)ped his bunch in its place, and finding the snake headless, looked in his handful of wheat, when lo ! there was his snakeship's head, as handsomely cut olf as if done by a surgeon.

At another time, my brother David, in pursuing a wounded bear, encountered one of the largest rattlesnakes ever killed in Medina county. It was in this way : He met a buck, jumping and snorting, with his hair bristled up, and his eyes all aglow as if in some great trouble and anger. He jumped and stamped, without moving much out of his place. My brother walked up within two rods of the deer, and as the buck paid no attention to him, but kej)t on snorting and jumping up and down, he leveled his rifle at liiin, but stopped a moment to reflect on his singular appearance ; when about half way between him and the stamping deer, arose up out of the dense growtli of wild peavines, the head and neck of the largest snake he had ever seen in all his life. The serpent hissed and darted his iiery eyes and tongue at my brother and then at the deer, as if at a loss which to attack ; for he was ready for fight. Almost in a twinkling the fatal rifle Avas directed from the deer towards the head of the snake and dischariied, and when the smoke had cleared away all was still, for the deer only bounded oft* two or three jumps, and then turned and looked back at the place where the huge serpent lay. My brother loaded his gun, and taking a stick, carefully separating the vines so as to see through them, advanced with fear and trend)ling to the spot where he had seen its head. Here he I'ound the vines bespattered with blood and bits of bone and flesh, by which he knew he had struck the reptile with a fatal shot. Separating the vines, there, all coiled up nicely, lay the serpent, with his head torn and shattered all to pieces.

As soon as he saw the head, what reinained of it, as perfectly harmless, he reached down to take the rattles, when, as he touched the tail, what remained of the head quick as a flash darted up, serpent like, and struck the back of his hand, covering and besmearing it with its warm blood, which so frightened him that he fainted. When he revived , carefully washing his hand he found no scar or break in the skin and knew that he had not been bitten. He took a string of 21 rattles from that snake ; and the buck walked away in a majestic manner, seemingly satisfied, and was not molested by my brother.

About the year 1818, Samuel Blocker had a valuable mare and colt which were attacked by bears and driven oft the point of a rock, on the north fork of the sawmill dam. a few rods west of the house and lot now owned l>y Wm. Brouse. It was nearly sixteen feet down perpendicularly, at that time, where the mare and colt lay crushed by the fall, and the indications were that one or more bears had

Samuel Blocker was the first tailor in the township, and cut and made j)ants at from forty-five to sixty cents per ])air, and coats and vests in proportion. lie learned his ( rade in Baltimore.

Hiram C. Kinosbnrv was the first blacksmith in the township, and acquired fame and reputation as an axmaker for the pioneers of the surrounding toAvnships.

In the pioneer times, produce was wonderfully low in price, as compared with present rates, and all sorts of merchandise was very high. Wheat was sold at from twentytive to thirty cents per bushel, for articles of necessity. Luxuries were not to be tliought of. Pork, dressed, was $1.00 to $1.25 per 100 pounds, and as fat beef as was ever ottered in market, sold at one and a half to three cents per [)ound, bntter at six to nine cents, eggs at two to three cents per dozen, and all other articles of farm productions at corresponding rates ; and at these prices no money was paid, but merchandise taken at from 100 to 300 per cent, higher prices than prevail at this day. It is a wonder how the pioneers got along as comfortably as they did.

At the time Judge Brown came to the township, he brought a small chest of medicines with him, which were of great value to the pioneers, for " Aunt Chloe " was always reaily to distribute the contents ot her medicine chest with a lavish hand, as long as she had an article left with wdiich to relieve her sick neighbors. When any of them got sick, Aunt Chloe was sent for^, and, all things considered, she was about as successful a practitioner as any, for she would never receive a cent as a fee, and never injured her patients with wrong prescriptions. * * * * two more, to show what were both the peril and the sport attending- not only the hmiting expeditions, but the every day life of the hardy pioneer.

In 1819, the settlers of Wadsworth had turned out to chop the road through the unsettled township north, then known as "Hart and Mather's town," to meet a similar company from Granger, halfway ; thus making- an outlet to Cleveland. While thus engaged, one of the Bruin family put in an appearance, probably to inquire the meaning of this invasion of his ancestral domain. Several dogs, which liad acconiiianied their masters, immediately left oti' all their petit (contentions over minor dogmas, and made common cause against their common enemy. The bear showed desperate tight, rising upon his haunches and beating back the dogs. Orin Loomis ran up, and, to protect the dogs, stuck his ax into the bear's mouth, while Judge Brown, coming immediately behind him, struck his ax into the bear's head, and the other choppers soon dispatched him with their axes ; and each at evening returned home witli a large piece of bear meat; no small item, in the general scarcity of i)rovisions at that period.

To this we will add the story of a bear-tight by C)rin Loomis and Phineas Butler, and of a conflict with a wolf by Ijeonard Brown, as published by Aaron Bai'dee, Esq., in the Wadsworth Enterprise, in 1806.

In the fall of 1823, as Butler and Loomis were returningafter midnight from one of their hunts, and had arrived within a mile or two of home, it was noticed that the dogs Avere missing. Presently, a noise was heard, far back in the rear.

"Hark! What was that?" said Loomis. They listened awhile, and agreed it was the dogs, sure. " Orr, let's go back," said Butler. "No." answered Loomis, "it is too late." "But," said Butler, " FU bet the dogs are after a bear ; don't you hear old Beaver ? It sounds to me like the bark of old Beaver, when he is after a bear."

Butler was bound to go back, and so they started. The scene of the disturbance was finally reached, after traveling two or three miles. The dogs had found a bear, sure enough ; but it was in the middle ot Long Swamp, and tlie alders were so thick that there was scarcely room for man dog, or bear to get tlirough. This did not deter Phin Butler, however. They got near enougli to find out that the bear was stationed on a spot a little drier than the main swamp, surrounded by alder bushes, and that she was determined not to leave it. The dogs would bay up close, when the old bear would run out after them. They would retreat, and then she woidd go ])ack to her nest again.

"We can't kill her to-night," said Loomis, "we will have to go home, and come down again in the morning."' "No,'' replied Butler, "I am afraid she will getaway. We can kill her to-night, I guess. You can go and hiss on the dog's on ane side, and I will come up on the other; and when she runs out after them, I'll cut her back-bone off with the ax." They concluded to try this plan, and came very near succeeding. As the old bear rushed past, Butlei- put the whole bit of the ax into her back, but failed to cut the back-bone by an inch or so. Enraged and desperate, she sprang upon the dogs, who, embohlened by the presence of the hunters, came too close. With one of her enormous paws she came down on old Beaver, making a large wound in his side, which nearly killed him. Tie was hardly able to crawl out of the swamp.

The fight was then abandoned until the next morning, as without Beaver to lead the other dogs, it was useless to proceed. It was difilcult to get the old dog home, but he finally got well. ICarly in the morning the liunters were on the ground. This time they had their guns with them, but found Ihe old bear was gone. On examining her nest of the night before, her unusual ferocity was explained. She had a litter of cubs, which, however, she had suciteeded in removing, and must have carried them ofl'in her mouth.

In a short time the dogs had tracked her out. She was found half a mile lower down the swamp, where she liad made a new nest. Butler's rifle soon dispatched her, hut her cubs, four in number, and not more than three or four weeks old, were taken alive, and kept for pets. * * *

It was in the month of June, 1827, a full moon and a clear night. I was 17 years old. About eleven o'clock a I night I was awakened by the barking of the dog, which was a common occurrence, and we always went to his relief, and generally found that he had treed either a raccoon, a wildcat, a porcupine, an opossum, or a fox. (The gray foxes would climb trees as readily as cqons). Tin's time his barking was unusually earnest. I got out of bed and ]uit on my pants, but nothing more. Bareheaded and baretooted, I took my ax and started for the dog. When within a few rods of the spot, I found it was in the northeast corner of the field, where stood a sapling about twelve feet high. Supposing the game to be on that sapling, J could get on the fence and dislodge it from the tree, knowing that the dog would take it as soon as it reached tlie ground. I therefore laid down the ax and proceeded within a rod of the place, when a large animal made an attem])t to jump the fence, but the dog caught it by the thigh and brought it back. It then tried to make its escape across the field, but the dog caught it by the neck, when it turned and gave battle. I then discovered that it was a wolf, much larger than the dog, and as they reared upon their hind legs like two dogs in a fight, I caught the wolf by his hind legs, and with the help of the dog laid him on his back; but his jaws 'flew to the right and left so quick, it was very difficult for the dog to get a safe hold. I thouglit I had best get my ax as soon as possible, as I had no knife. So I started for the ax, but before I had gone ten feet, the dog cried out in great agony. I knew he was hurt, so I picked up a stick and went back. The wolf was on top. 1 cauglit him again by the legs and laid him on his back, and by holding- his leg with one hand, I jammed the stick into his mouth with the other, and by that means enabled the dog to fasten to him by the throat. After I had carefully examined the dog's hold and found all right, feeling assured that if he got away he would take the dog along, I hastened for my ax. When I returned, I found the^ wolf on his feet, and the dog on his back, the dog still keeping his hold. On my approach the wolf made a desperate etfort to escape, wiiicli brought the dog to his feet. He then laid the wolf on his back without my help. 1 then tried to knock the wolf in the head, but dared not strike for fear of hitting the dog; and fearing the dog would give out, as he seemed nearly exhausted, as the wolf lay on his back I aimed a blow between his hind legs, and supposed I had succeeded in cleaving the hips, but it proved I had only wounded him in one thigh.

The wolf then lay still, and I thought him dead. I bade the dog to let go his hold. He refused. I then put one foot on the wolf, and took the dog by the nape of the neck with one hand and struck him with the other. The dog flew back as if there was a snake there, and the wolf Jumped up suddenly and attacked me. His jaws came together very near my neck, but the dog instantly caught him by the throat. I then struck him on the head with my ax, breaking the skull ; and the dog released his hold of his own accord.

It was a black wolf of the largest size, measuring from the extremity of the fore to the hind foot, seven feet and nine inches. The dog was bitten through the thick part of the fore leg. I was minus a shirt - some scratched about the breast, with a slight wound on my left arm made by the wolfs teeth. Leonard Brown.

The forej^oiiig pages liave been devoted to tlie early, or l)ioiiccr ijistory of the township ; and as they were chiefly inaclc up from papers prepared with reference to the pioneer celebration, by several individuals, each writing independently of the others, there is necessarily some repetition that at times may have been tiresome to the reader. But as it was intended to be a book of reliable records, for reference in future years, it was thought best to let each go in just as the writer prepared it, in his own words and style. The reader will perceive that the historical part is thus far confined to the twenty-five vears succeeding the tirst settlement, bringing the annals of the town down to the year 1840.

This closes the pioneer history ; designed to give a brief review of the character of the first settlers, of their hibor, sacrifices, and sult'ering done and endured in reclaiming what was a vast, unbroken forest, and preparing it for an abode of enterprise, prosperity, refinenicnt, and intelligence, with educational, social, and reJigious institutions, and growing and pleasant villages.

The remainder of the history will be devoted to its subsequent growth and prosperity, with a sketch of what it now is, together with a brief view of the earlier and later history of the adjoining townships, making up the coun- 1 ry of which Wadsworth is the center.

Wad6Worth Memorial Westebv Star

The village bearing this name, situated on the township line, abont equally in Wadsworth and jS'orton, 2)4 mile* east of WadBworth village, so long a rival to Wadsworth inlhe competition for the chief center of bueiuees for the irurrounding country, deserves a notice at this stage of our history.

About 1816-18, tive brothers by the name of Richards- Mills, Ezckiel. Henry, William {Steward, and William Gulden - came tVom Norfolk, Connecticut. The two eldest locating just upon the west line of Norton, and the others m Wadsworth. Soon after came their father, Jedediah Richards, and his youngest sons, Julius and George W., and still later, his eldest sons, Jedediah, jr., and Robert t7»her.

At tiie time of the establishment of the mail route from Canton to Nor walk, via Medina, post-offices were established on the west lines of Norton and Wadsworth, there being offices at New Portage and at Medina. Capt. Mills Mebards was api)ointed post-master at the tirst named office, and the office called Western Star.

About 1824, Julius Richards erected a dam upon Dean's Brook, for turning and sawing, and built a wagon and cabinet shop that for that period did a large business. He subsequently built a sawmill, run from the same dam.

About 1825, the Richards brothers having exchanged farms, settled around the same locality and laid out a village, with the avowed design, by united effort, of making it the chief place of business. The first store of goods and merchandise between New l*ortagc and Harrisville. was that of Henry E. Morgan k Co., at Western Star.* But not finding the location as good as he anticipated, he goon moved away.

' In 1828, Robert U. Richards (known as Usher Richards) 6ame to Western Star. He was a man -of inVentive genius, and had perfected and patented a process of turning hollow wooden ware, such as pails, firkins, half-bushels and peck measures, and Wooden bottles, entire, from a round log. In company with his brother, W. Steward Richards, he built a large factory for the manufacture of such ware, on the Wads worth side of the village, run by steam. He died from an accident, in Jan.,. 1830, ;

The business was for a time carried on quite extensively by his brother, and his son Robert. But the ware proved impracticable, because of its liability toxrack in seasoning, it being found impossible to dry a stick of timber uniformly through. So the business ran down and was abj^hdoned. The building was afterwards used as a hat factory -by Shaw & Griswold.

In 1829, three brothers, Alfred, Augustus, and Alexander Griswold, under the name of A. and A. Griswold, erected a large store building, and opened an extensile store of goods, and made a clearing of severa-l hundred acres of land on a large tract owned by theni near the. village, and another in Sharon. But in 1831, failing in bnsitiess, they made an assignment of their store and jands.

Atterwards, mcrchantile business was established at Western Star by their brother, Dudly Griswold. Subscquentlv bA' Dudlv and William Griswold and San ford I). Clark, under the name of Griswolds and Clark. Another was for a time carried on by J^zekiel Richards aiid Hari'y Lucas. .,

Dr. Samuel Austin, a i)hysician of considerable note, located at Western Star in 1828, and Dr. A. Fisher, now of Chicago, and for a time his partner, Dr. Amos Warner? bafl an extensive medical praetice.

Wadsworth maintained a rivalry for the . supremacy as centers of business, with about equal results and equal population, till the location of the railroad depot at Wadsworth caused it to distance its rival. But Western Star has always been a pleasant village, with an enterprisingand thriving population, and from the nearness of its location may be considered a part of the same community.' It has two well supplied stores, a tannery, a pump factory and other manufactures, and an excellent public school.

As an illustration of the difterence between the old and thie new in the lifetime of one generation, it may interest the readers of these pages to inform them that Julius Richards, mentioned above, introduced from the East what was then (1823.) a great improvement in the consti'uction of coffins ; fastening the lid with screws instead of nails, and with hinges above the breast to let the top down. The initials of the name, and the age, were also set wath brass-headed trunk nails.

A fact has also been related to the compiler, since closing the pioneer history, that will come in well at this point. On the death' of Mrs. Julia Loomis, near Western Star, in 1820, MV. J. Miller, in making the coffin, could lind but 18 nails in Wadsworth; and Mr. PhineaS Butler, on the night before, by the light of a torch, drew out 14 more from the boards of his new house. Those nails he had brought with him from Onondaga county, New York,

Wad8Worth From 1840 To I860

The next twenty years after the pioneer eia were the least eventt\il in the history of the town ; the farmB being cleared up, and the known material resources developed, there was little scope for new enterprises. The most that could be expected of a country village in such circumstances is that it should hold its own. And it is here that the value of right beginning's in a new settlement is alway* seen. When the novelty of pioneer life has passed away ; when the difl'ering races have begun to coalesce, and a generation growji up together have become harmonious; it' that generation have not deteriorated, the fruit testifies for the seed planted. In this we see the value of the planting of churches and the founding of schools, in the inception of a settlement ; for, though the population may gradually change, still their influence is felt upon succeeding generations.

Every one who has gone through the vicissitudes of pioneer life is aware of the fact that its tendency is to beget a spirit of adventure, to the extent that comparatively but few of the first settlers of a frontier town, or their children, whose earliest impressions were amid the adventui*- OU6 beginnings, are known to remain and spend their livejj there. Especially is this true of those of Anglo Saxon, or Celtic origin. So that the same individuals are often found among the a<l venturous ft-ontiersmen in two or more States: ot\en moving on till old age overtakes them upon the frontier.

The compiler of this work is himselt an illustration of this. Though returning after an absence of nearly thirty - five years, to be the chronicler of the place where he spent his youth, during the interval he has been no le»s than six times, and in four difierent States, auiong tho»e who would be accounted pioneers of the settlement. Even on hii way to address the pioneer meeting, the history of which has been given, he was solicited to stop in another State, where he spent the first ten years and address a similar gathering, on the same week, being claimed as a pioneer there also.

The rapid opening of the States of the interior, westward of Ohio, became an incentive to new emigration, to such as had been among the first settlers, or their children who had grown up while as yet all things were new. This period was consequently marked by great changes of population ; so great that many names of the old lamilies that counted not a few upon the poll books and muster rolls, nearly or quite disappeared. Particularly was this true of the New England portion. Selling out and moving on the ft'ont wave of civilization, and their old homes passing into the hands of the wealthier, but more conservative Teutonic race, or what are sometimes termed " Pennsylvania Germans," till the proportion of the two races was reversed. This also seriously affected the original churches, particularly the Congregational and Methodist, which through these causes became, during* this period, almost extinct ; while a large church of the (rerman Reformed denomination, and another of the Mennonite, the members of both being chiefly of German descent, attracted the major part of the church-going population, till the revival of business by the location of the railroad and the discovery of rhe coal-mines, brought again members of those two denominations, and a resurrection of their churches. During that period also, the old Wadsworth Academy was suspended, and the octagon building occupied for that purpose waa converted into a church.

In the early part of this period, 1842, the present church edifices for the Disciple and Congregational churches were erected. The architect of both was George Hinsdale, son of Capt. Elisha Hinsdale, and brother of Albert Hinsdale. He was a yo\mg man of good education and superior abilitv. He was taken sick before the first was finished; and died before the last was completed. His last work was the drafting of the design for the singers' gallery in the Congregational chnroh. ITis fnneral was tlie first held in the Disciple chnrch.

The years 1844 and 1848 were memorable for a malignant epidemic that visited the township, carrying otl' by death a large number of its inhabitants. It prevailed very extensively in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, and was known as malignant erysipelas, or erysipalatns fever. The following description, written by Dr. C. N. Lyman, one of the physicians who treated for the disease, may be valuable for a historic reference, both as to the disease and its treatment.

In compliance with your request, I send you a brief description of the epidemic by which this town was visited in the years 1844-48. Yours truly,

During the year 1844, there occurred within tlie limits of the township, an epidemic of erysipelas, very severe in its character and fatal in its results, selecting for its victims some of the best of our citizens of adult age. It was contined mostly within the limits of the township, thougli extending somewhat into the townships of Norton and Chippewa. It began in the month of January, and continued until the following August, when its virulence subsided, with occasional manifestations until the winter of 1848, when it reappeared in the east part of the towns of Guilford and Montville, with its accustomed fatality, and again made its appearance in this township, marking as its own a number of our prominent citizens.

Its mode of attack was almost always in the form of inflammation of the throat and fauces, with a disposition to migrate to other parts of the body, usually selecting the serous membranes. Sometimes, however, the muscular and adipose tissues would be the seat of the metastatic attack. The change from the throat to the point of attack would be sudden, and for a few hours the patient would flatter himself that he was convalescent, when a rigor and restlessness would supervene, telling, too often fatally, that the hope was only a delusive one. When the serous membranes were the seat of the disease, the formation of pus was a rapid process, the patient frequently dying within three days. A post-mortem examination would disclose the serous cavities filled with pus. When the muscular and adipose tissues were the seat of the disease, pus was formed in enormous quantities if the patient survived long enough. Frequently, however, death supervened too rapidly for this process to mature.

That portion of the epidemic which occurred in 1844 was most successfully treated by large and rapid depletion, some patients requiring to be bled to faintness, two or three times within thirty-six hours. This was markedly the case when the serous membranes were involved. When the other tissues were the seat of the disease, bleeding was not of such manifest utility. Some cases were so rapid as to call for the directly opposite treatraenl, and they were as rapidly fatal.

When the disease reappeared in a severe form in 1848 - 19 bleeding and depletion was not tolerated at all. In ihQ few cases in which they were tried, in the commencement of the outbrenk, the results were so unsatisfactory tliat those measures were abandoned immediately. This latter manifestation of the disease showed less predilection lor the serous membranes than the former. In the first epidemic, with a population of about 1200, there were 124 wellmarked cases. 25 of which proved fatal. The later epidemic was spread over more territory, but the proportion of deaths to those attacked Avas greater. Since that time it has not appeared in an epidemic form.

Wadsworth From 1860

'At an early day bituminous coal was known to exist in «^ome parts of the township, before ;dl its uses or its true rommercial value were known or thought of More than fifty years since, small quantitien of coal were found in various localites, in digging wells.

About 1821), coal in beds, cropping out near the surface, was found both In the northeastern and southeastern portions of the township ; and small quantities tor several years were mined for domestic use, and the limited manu- Tacturing of the region. But the location of the Atlantic and Great Western Raili-oad, bringing these mines into connection with the great coal markets afforded by the cities and extensive manutactories of the State, not only made them sources of wealth, but by developing an extensive business added greatly to the growth and prosperity of the village, and of the township at large ; a village by itself having grown up, composed of a population wholly connected with the mining and shipping of coal, at Silver Creek, the point of shipment, a mile and a half southeast of the depot. The first mining of coal for commercial purp(»ses commenced at that point, in Feb., 1869.

The amount of coal sent olf by railroad daily from the Huniplirey & Coleman bank. Silver Creek Station, and from the Wads worth mines, a little larther southeast, is ascertained to average from 400 to 500 tons per day.

Coal-mines have been opened in four localities in the township. The Humphrey &: Coleman mines, the Wadsworth mines, the Town-line mines in the northeast corner (the bed extending into four townships. The coal of this mine is of a superior quality, and being remote from tlie railroad, is mined wholly for home consumption, in the villages of Western Star, Wadsworth, and Bates' Corners, and the country around). The Stony Ridgemines have abundant supplies, but. are not at present worked. Large portions of the Silver Creek mines, that have their outlet in the township of Chippewa, are also located in this township.

The first shipment of coal at Wadsworth was soon after the completion of the railroad, in 1863 ; brougiit from the Silver Creek mines in Chippewa, in wagons, till the completion of the branch road. Those mines are the most extensive Iv worked of anv in the vicinitv - their annual exports amounting to about 100,000 tons. Since the completion of the Tuscarawas Valley E. R.. they have ceased to forward at Wadsworth.

This road is a continuation of the Xew York and Erie road. Like that road it is of broad giiage. It runs from the Erie road, starting at Salamanca, N. Y., and terminating at Dayton. Length, 389 miles. By an ari-angement with the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton road, a third

Closely connected with the location of the railroad, and owing chiefly to this, has been the rapid growtli of tlie town into a place of extensive business. The existence of the coal-mines, and the desirableness of the location as a center of business, had mucli to do in dctermiidng the location of the road here, rather than farther south. The height of the land north determined its location south of the original and present center of business, and built up what is known as South Wadsworth - the seat of the jirincipal manufacturing interest.

Incorporation Of The Village

The increase of population after tlie opening of the railroad soon rendered it expedient to secure an incorporation. Es])ecially was it thought desirable for the benelits to be derived for school [)urposes.

about one and one-half miles; and from east to west, about a mile; the whole area, 896 acres of land; a little over one and one-third square miles, or about one-twentieth of the township.

The incori)o ration of the village necessitated the erection of a huilding for council room, police court, jail, etc. This was provided by designing- a plan for a township hall for holding elections and public meetings, with rooms for post-office, council hall, and " lock-up ;" the last two in consideration tiiat a larger proportion of the tax would be paid by people living upon the corporation.

There was great opposition manifested against the meas-. ure by people living olf the corporation ; but it was carried in a legal form, in a manner somewhat amusing.

The printed tickets had upon them: "For buikting Town Hall - "' leaving it for each voter to add his yes, or n(5. Neglecting to do this, or scratt^hing out the \vord.s, made it equivalent to no vote, it is related that about si»- ty voters of tlie township indignantly scratched off the words ''For building Town Hall/" which instead of being a vote against, made it simply a nullity. So the majority vote was For building Town Hall. A convenience that probably no one in or out of the coii^oration now regrets. It was built by township tax, in 18<>7, at a c^ost of $5,000. It is a substantial brick structure, two stories high. The lower story has a commodious front room for the postoffice, and back of it the room for council room and police and village justice's courts, and a room for securing prisoners, or lodging vagrants j or, in common parlance, " tramps."

Wq Wadsworth Memorial Eevival And Enlargement Of Business

Willi the completion of the railroad, a large and active business sprang' up. Real estate rose in value. Buildingots, both for business houses and residences, were in great demand, and the village was enlarged, and surveyed into streets and lots. Merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen saw this to be a desirable point.

Previous to that time, the place could support but about two retail stores, and manufai.'turing was confined to one wagon and carriage shop, one match factory, tannery, blacksmith shop, cabinet shop, slioe shop, and sawmill.

The place then supported one physician and one lawyer. There was one old, dilapidated^ schoolroom ; and though there were four church buildings, two of them were not statedly used. But from that time a change came over the place. With the revival of business there was also a revival of enterprise, and new channels of business began to be opened, companies for mining and manufacturing to be formed, whose operations were not confined to the town, but in some cases extending even into other States.

The growth of business has from that time been steadily forward ; increasing till the retail business has required the erection of two extensive brick blocks, and other buildings ; till the retail establishments for dry goods, for clothing, fancy goods and millinery, groceries, hardware boots and shoes, drugs and medicines, furnituce, flour and feed, harness and leather, Avatches and jewelry, cigars and pipes, etc., now exceed thirty.

Since that period, also, a large and beautiful structure has been erected for school ijurposes, and graded schools of a superior order established: a College founded, and now in operation under an able board of instructors ; a large printing house established, with two improved cylinder presses constantly running, for newspaper and job work, from which one weekly and three monthlies are reg-

There are now three physicians and three lawyers, six organized churches (five within the corporation), with settled pastors and commodious houses of worship.

Public Education

Before giving an account of the present educational facilities, it may be well to refer to the et!brts of former years to make provision for the education of the youth of the town.

As stated in the pioneer history. Miss Harriet Warner heads the list of teachers, having* taught a private school in her father's house, in 181(i. Marcus Brown first teacher of a pubic school, in the winter of 1816-17. The early settlers from New England and New York had enjoyed the benefits of schools in their Eastern homes, and were not the ones to suffer their children to grow up in ignorance. The German portion were tenacious of the German language, and though they were desirous of educating their children, most of tliem for several years preferred to support German schools.