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MANTUA TOWNSHIP.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
MANTUA TOWNSHIP.
FIRST SETTLER OF PORTAGE COUNTY -- FIRST WHEAT – AMZI ATWATER -- ELAS HARMON -- OTHER SETTLERS -- ORGANIZATION --
FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH -- PRIMITIVE INDUSTRIES -- A PECULIAR CHARACTER -- ANOTHER QUEER ONE --
JUDGE ATWATER'S BEAR FIGHT -- CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS -- BUSINESS, SOIL, ETC. -- MANTUA STATION -- MANTUA CORNERS --
MASONRY -- STATISTICS.
Mantua received the first settler that entered Portage County, anticipating four other townships by about six months.
It was originally the property of the "Suffield, Cuyahoga & Big Beaver Land Company," all the members of which, some
sixteen in number, lived in Suffield, Conn. This company owned three other townships, but at the drawing the land now
comprising Mantua fell to the lot of David, Fidelio and Ebenezer King, Jr., and Martin Sheldon, Gideon Granger,
Thomas Sheldon and Oliver Phelps, also owned small parcels of the land, and Ebenezer Sheldon afterward purchased a part
of Martin Sheldon's interest. It was then known as Town 5, Range 8. The township was surveyed by David Abbott into
tracts of 420 acres each, there being forty-two lots. Abbott took two quarter lots, northwest quarter of Lot 29 and
southeast quarter of Lot 23. He was a member of the convention that formed the first constitution of Ohio.
The first man to drive a stake, put up a cabin, make a clearing and settle down to business was Abraham L. Honey, which
he did in the fall of 1798, and although it has been asserted that a man by the name 'of Peter French came in the fall
of 1798, cleared off some land on the northwest quarter of Lot 24 and put out a small patch of wheat, he also cleared
some land on the southwest quarter of Lot 29. After making those improvements lie moved to Mentor. That a small crop of
wheat was harvested the next season by Rufus Edwards, who came in and took possession of Lot 24, the lot settled upon
by Honey, is beyond dispute. How he got possession of Lot 24 does not now
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
appear. Honey remained only two or three years in Mantua, when he moved to Hiram and from there to Cuyahoga County.
The wife of Honey was a sister of Rufus Edwards, and it is possible that Honey made the improvements for his
brother-in-law, himself settling on a portion of the land, there being plenty of room on 420 acres for three or four
families in those times. At any rate Rufus Edwards was the second settler, for in the notes kept by Elias Harmon of
those early days he says that just after he came in he chopped for Edwards and hewed for Crooks. Crooks by this appears
to have been the third settler, though not a permanent one, as he only arrived at Mr. Honey's on the 12th of June, 1799.
David Crooks, the person referred to, settled on the southwest part of Lot 29. He remained there until November, 1799,
when he went for his family, who refused to return to Ohio with him. William Crooks died in Aurora, some time in the
fifties at the aue of eighty-two years. He located in Warren, then at Nelson, next at Parkman, and ultimately in
Aurora.
Elias Harmon, who can be set down as the fourth settler, was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1773, and started for the
Reserve in February, 1799, in a two. horse sleigh, going as far as Pittston, N. Y., where he remained till May, when,
in company with Benjamin Tappan, David Hudson and Jotham Atwater, started for their future home-Tappan for Ravenna,
then Town 3, Range 8; Hudson for what is now Summit County; Atwater for Euclid. and Harmon for Mantua. After a long,
tiresome and perilous trip, partly by lake, partly by land and partly by river, Harmon landed at the clearing of Honey,
as stated, on the 12th of June, where he stopped awhile, and then went to the place of Ebenezer Sheldon, who had engaged
him before leaving home to help him in boarding and aiding the surveyors in their allotment of Aurora, afterward
returning to Mantua with his wife in September, 1799, and settling on Lot 18. One of two or three entries in his diary,
shows that the erection of a habitation in those days was a matter to be accomplished in short order; he says:
"July 1, began to cut timber for our house. July 2, put up and moved into house. July 3, got timber for floor. July 4,
laid the floor." ...
MANTUA TOWNSHIP.
479
In the fall of 1799 Paschal P. McIntosh came in and settled on Lot 23. He was a half-brother to Gen. David McIntosh,
and came from Haverhill, N.H. The fact of his being here at that early date is shown by the notes kept by Elias Harmon,
where he says: "October 2d, 1799, helped McIntosh to raise his house." In this year also came Elisha Edwards and
Samuel Burroughs. The next year, 1800, brought in a number of settlers, among whom were doses Pond, who settled on
Lot 85, and afterward moved to Mesopotamia; Jonathan Brooks also came, but soon went to Burton and settled. The Windsor
family came in this year, Basil Windsor, Sr., being the head. Samuel Pond, who also came at this time, shortly before
they moved away, got lost on a trip to Burton and was almost without food for nine days. It was in the winter, and all
his toes wore frozen off, crippling him for life. Seth Harmon, John Blair and Jothana Atwater were among the settlers,
but the man who more than any other left his impress on the township and county was Amzi Atwater. Jotham and
Amzi Atwater came from Hamden, Conn., in the spring of 1800, and settled on 200 acres of the west part of Lot 41, where
now is Mantua Station. On the 21st of November, 1801, Amzi married, in Aurora, Huldah Sheldon, daughter of
Ebenezer Sheldon, the couple being married by the father of the bride, which was the only official act performed by
the old Squire during the first three years of his holding that position. At the first election, on the organization
of the county, Atwater was one of the Judges, and the Legislature appointed him one of the Judges of the Court of
Common Pleas, which position he hold for a long time, filling it with marked ability, impartiality and dignity. He had
received a liberal education in his Dative State, had selected civil engineering and surveying as his profession, and,
joining the party under Cleveland, came to the Western Reserve first in 1796. Being of a hardy constitution and
determined will, combined with a buoyancy of disposition, he was specially adapted to the life of pioneer and surveyor.
He was possessed of great versatility of talent, vigor of intellect, having withal a genial temperament and a fund of
quiet humor that made him popular. He was courageous rather than daring, persevering, resolute and of sound judgment,
qualities which rendered him useful in those early times. He was very ready with his pen, and wrote many letters to his
relatives in the East, entirely in rhyme, covering ten or a dozen pages of foolscap, several of which were published
some years ago, but which are too long for reproduction here.
Joseph Skinner and William Skinner came at an early day: also Samuel Moore and his son, who killed the last wild deer
in the township in 1845; Moore came with an ox-team from Southwick, Mass., in 1806, bringing his wife and six children;
a family of Rays came in at the same time. Quite a noted character in his way came in December, 1812, from Windham,
whence he had moved from Nelson, coming originally frora Massachusetts. This was Wareham Loomis. He brought his wife
and family, and worked afterward for Judge Atwater. During a couple of years, covering the period of the war of 1812-14,
there was a comparative stoppage of immigration, but in 1815 and 1816 a large number came in. Chester Reed, with his
wife and four children. and three other families came in 1815, and in 1816 Sylvester Reed, in company with twelve other
young men, came and settled in different localities; also the Frosts, Marvin and James, the latter walking the entire
distance from the East, with an ax on his shoulder, Capt. William Messenger, with his wife and six children,
Jonathan Foster, the Roots, the Sanfords, the Ladds, the Judsons and others. Peter Carlton came in 1811.
March 5, 1810, the County Commissioners issued an order creating the
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
township, and shortly afterward an election was held, but the records of the township were destroyed in a fire which
occurred in 1815, and the names of the officers elected cannot now be ascertained. At this time Shalersville was
included in Mantua, but in 1812 Shalersville was erected into a separate township, and cut off. The name Mantua was
given by John Leavitt, in honor of Napoleon, who had in 1796 captured the city by that name in Italy. In 1806 there
were but twenty-seven men in the township, but in 1810, at the organization, there was a population of 234. Elias Harmon
was appointed United States Marshal in 1810, and took the census of that year. In his enumeration of Mantua he gives
the following names of heads of families and the number of each family: Rufus Edwards 6; Samuel Moore, 8; Silas Penney,
8; Moses Pond, 5; Thomas Bright, 6; Franklin Snow, 5; Virgil Moore, 3; Silas Tinker, 5; Elias Harmon, 6; Gersham Judson,
5; James Ray, 10; David Pond, 5; Jotham Atwater, 5; Amzi Atwater, 6; Oliver Snow, 6; Paschal P. McIntosh, 7;
Enoch Judson, 5; Samuel Judson, 5; William Russell 7; John Blair, 9; William Johnson, 9; Ella Wilmot, 2; Basil Windsor,
7; William Skinner, 6, and Seth Harmon 6. The total population was 152 in the fall of 1810; a great decrease within
that year. Dr. Jason Moore and Mrs. (Blair) Patterson are the only persons now living in the township who were
enumerated in this township. Orrin Harmon resides at Ravenna.
Simeon Sheldon, Lister, in 1825, stated in the Western Courier that up to June 11, 1825, there had been 38 marriages,
369 births, and 22 deaths of three years old and upward, and 45 deaths under three years. They took 41 newspapers from
11 different presses, and 10 religious periodicals from 5 different presses. In the earliest days, when there was no
mill Dearer than Burton, the little crop of wheat raised had to be husbanded 'with great care, and there was so little
of it that it could all be sent off to mill at once. Rufus Edwards on one occasion collected all the grain and took it
in a canoe to Burton, and had it ground, but arriving late at night he left it in the boat, intending to get it as soon
as daylight appeared, but when he went for it the next morning he found that some prowling Indians had carried it all
off. It was all the flour there was in the township.
In 1803 the men of Mantua, Hiram, Aurora and Nelson Townships were organized into a militia company, with Ezra Wyatt,
Captain, and Rufus Edwards, First Lieutenant. On his removal to Hudson, Edwards was elected Captain. He began the
erection of a distillery on the Honey farm, but never opened one there.
The enlisted and drafted men from Mantua in the war of 1812 were Enos, Zacheas and John Harmon; James Ray, Mark Moore,
John A. Smyth and Zenas Judson's substitute were in Campbell's company. The drafted men were Eleazer Ladd, David Pond,
Horace Ladd, John Gardner and Virgil Moore. During this troublous time the "Fourth" was celebrated with eclat at
Rufus Edward's house. This was the first regular celebration here. The first child born in the township was Eunice, a
daughter of Elias Harmon, who made her first appearance in this world of trouble July 16, 1800, being the second child
born in the county. She married Simeon Sheldon, and raised a family. The first male child was Horace, born to Moses Pond
in 1803. The first wedding took place also in 1803, when Rufus Edward married Letitia Windsor, Amzi Atwater, at that
time Justice of the Peace of Hudson, performing the ceremony. The first death was that of Mrs. Anna Judson, who had but
recently been married, and just moved in with her husband. She had arsenic given to her through mistake, which caused
death in a short time. This occurred July 2, 1804, and the next was during the winter of 1806, when Jacob Blair was
killed while assisting in the raising of a house.
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The deaths in Mantua from 1799 to January 1, 1825, were as follows: Enoch Judson's first wife in 1804; Wareham Loomis'
child, two years old, in 1805; Jacob Blair, killed at a "raising" in 1807; Mark Moore died in 1812; Samuel Judson's
wife in 1813; Ichabod Payne in 1813; Melissa Reed in 1816; Enoch Judson's second wife died in 1816; Amzi Atwater, son
of Amzi, Sr., in 1810; Caleb, son of Rufus Edwards, about 1817; Leonard, son of Lorenzo Chapin, in 1818; wife of Basil
Windsor, Sr., in 1818; Martha, daughter of Seth Harmon, in 1820: Franklin Snow's first wife in 1820; Lorenzo Chapin's
second son, Leonard M., in 1820; Persis, daughter of Dan Ladd, Jr., in 1822; Ezekiel Ladd in 1822; Ezekiel Squires in
1822; Zenas Kent, Sr., in 1822; Caleb Carlton, Sr., in 1823; Thomas Mayfield, Sr., in 1823; Basil Windsor, Sr., in 1823;
Polly, daughter of Silas Penney, in 1823; Mr. Bacon in 1824; and Harvey, son of Jotham Atwater, in 1824.
In 1799 Rufus Edwards constructed a band grist-mill, which he opened in October of that year. A small building called
the tannery was established by Moses Pond in 1802, and continued until 1812, when Dan Ladd, Jr., built a house and
established a regular tannery. Pond, having no tools, had the hides finished at Burton. It was he who brought the first
sheep into the township, and also apple seeds.
In 1810 William Russell purchased the distillery apparatus of Gersham and Samuel Judson, and erected a building in which
he made whisky until the spring of 1817, when he sold the farm, cabin and distillery to George and William P. Young.
Orrin Harmon remembers Russell's whisky in connection with sheep-washing days, before the manufacturer moved to
Pennsylvania. In 1818 Young failed, and Russell then re-purchased his property, which he sold to Ezekiel Ladd in 1821.
In 1822 Ladd died, when Russell resumed possession, and ultimately sold it to Patrick Ray. This Ray was one of the seven
sons of James Ray. In 1819 Hezekiah Mooney and Dr. Ezekiel Squires erected a distillery. In 1819 Joseph Skinner built
a distillery for which he made the machinery himself. This was burned in 1824, and the same year he erected a new
distillery near his grist-mill, on the northwest corner of east half of Lot 30. This grist-mill was built in 1820.
Thomas G. Washburn established an ashery, near the public square at Mantua Center, in 1818, and continued it for about
ten years.
The first saw-mill was erected by the Dresser family in 1818, on the north line of the county, and the next mill, a
grist, was erected by Joseph and William Skinner, shortly after 1820. It was on the Cuyahoga, where the diagonal road
to Garrettsville crosses that stream.
In 1821 David Ladd built a brick kiln; but in the fall he secured a glass-blower named Jonathan Tinker, rented his
brother Daniel's tannery (erected in 1812), and began the manufacture of bottle glass December 1, 1821, under the title
of the Mantua Glass Company, continuing here until 1828, when he moved the plant to Kent, where he built a factory.
Noah and Noble Rogers settled south of Mantua Center in 1825, and erected a tannery on a lot bought of Oliver Snow. In
1829 they sold to Elias Converse, whose sons now operate it.
The first tavern was built and kept by Jotham Atwater, about one mile north of Mantua Station. It was a log building,
and was for years a noted tavern stand. A brick building was afterward erected at the same spot, but has since been
modeled into a dwelling, and is now occupied by Lewis Turner. There were two pail factories, one owned by Charles Bates,
and the other by Joseph Skinner, and the ware made by Skinner was first class. It is claimed that he invented the
process of turning pails and other hollow ware. The
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
manufacture of choose from the earliest times has been a source of great revenue to the township, and the raising of
fine potatoes has also boon an industry that has grown to large proportions.
Dr. Ezekiel Squires was the first physician in the township, having, with his family, settled there in 1815.
Subsequently Drs. Whipple and Pierce came in, the latter leaving the medical field open to Whipple until 1828, when Dr.
Edwin Cowles came. In 1825 Dr. Whipple lost all his children during the epidemic of that year.
Daniel Bidlake was the first blacksmith, early in 1815. The people bouoht him an outfit, for which he paid by easy
installments.
Alonzo Delano opened out at Mantua Corners in 182D, as successor to Joseph Skinner. In 1826-27 Childs had a store at
the Corners, while Orrin Harmon taught school there.
Calvin White opened the first store at the Center in June, 1835. His wife was Sabrina Harmon. Mr. White died in
January, 1848, and his wife died in October, 1849.
In 1814 the first bridge over the Cayahoga, on the Center road from Mantua to Hiram, was built by Rufus Edwards, the
county contributing $100. That bridge is standing still. Orrin Harmon states "it's the same old jack-knife, with a
number of now handles and new blades."
In the spring of 1816 the first colored people came to Mantua. They were Benjamin Sharpe and wife, Lucy and
Thomas Hughes. Flora, a colored woman in the employ of the Garretts, formerly a slave of Mrs. Garrett, married Hughes,
also colored, in 1818.
Samuel Sanford, who settled in Mantua in 1817, and died September 27, 1858, was the last survivor of the Revolutionary
war veterans who settled in this county.
Mark Moore suffered so much while in the hands of the British in 1812, that on his return to Mantua he died, and was
the fourth person buried in the cemetery one mile and a half south of Mantua Center.
Elizabeth Kent taught the first school at Mantua Center in the winter of 1815-16.
W. A. Smith established the manufacture of pails, butter-tubs and cheese-boxes, besides operating a saw-mill and
planing-mill at Shalersville. On removing this industry to Mantua he erected the buildings now devoted to the several
branches of his manufactory. The capacity of the saw-mill is 10,000 foot; the machinery is valued at about $8,000. The
works stand on six acres of land just east of the railroad station at Mantua. This industry gives employment the year
round. A portable steam saw-mill is also operated. H. A. Turner is in charge of the saw-mill, and F. H. Hains in charge
of the pail factory.
The building known as the Goddard Foundry is one of the old industrial structures of this portion of the township. It
is now operated by Ed. Goddard as a foundry and cider-mill,
The Centennial Mills were founded by John Frost and Peter Kines in 1876, in buildings where the Hancock Basket Factory
was carried on previously. There were three run of buhrs in use until 1881, when ten Bets of rollers were introduced.
The capacity is seventy-five barrels per day, employing four men annually. The value of buildings and machinery is
$10,000. John Frost & Co. are the present owners. The mill does custom and merchant work. H. O. Kitselman has been the
miller in charge since 1880.
National Transit Company of Bradford, Penn., established pumping works at Mantua, with Fred. Tinker in charge. C. H.
Rider is the present Superintendant.
MANTUA TOWNSHIP.
483
There are two powerful engines; the line of five-inch pipe from Hilliard, Butler County, Penn., to Cleveland is about
104 miles. At the Mantua works the oil is contained in a large reservoir, of 12,000 gallons capacity, from which it is
pumped into the reservoir at Cleveland, thirty-one miles distant. A. P. Carlton's carriage and wagon shop was
established in 1880; the present shop was erected in 1884. The work of the shop is mainly repairs, giving employment to
two men.
George Allen was engaged in wagon and carriage work for a number of years prior to 1880. His shops have been rented
since that time, and are now occupied by Emery Simpson as a horse-shoeing establishment.
The first hotel was built by Amzi Atwater, and first established as a hotel by Lewis Turner about the time the Cleveland
& Mahoning Valley Railroad was completed to this point. Shortly after this Homer Frost purchased the house, then sold
to Austin S. Beecher, who built the present Cuyahoga House in front of the old Atwater House, now conducted by H. T.
Barnum. The house is the property of J. T. Spink.
The Mantua House was built by D. Santori, who conducted it as a hotel until rented to H. S. Sage about a year ago.
L. S. Turner established a livery at Mantua Station in January, 1885. The buildings cost about $2,000. In this building
is Russell's photograph gallery and G. Franklin's harness shop.
Theo. Burnett, who was the pioneer of livery business here, died about two years ago, since which time the business
has been carried on by J. H. Ditto & Sons.
Mantua Station. -- This flourishing little town has about 700 population, and is on the site of an old
settlement, but was laid out more extensively about the time the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad, now a branch of
the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad, was built by Darwin Atwater. It grow rapidly, and is now an exceedingly
live village, having a good class of buildings and progressive citizens. It is a large shipping point for potatoes,
cheese, onions, some cattle and sheep, and considerable garden truck. There are large shipments of potatoes, one dealer
alone handling about 50,000 bushels during the season. Another provision shipper placed upon the cars during last spring
an average of 300 calves per week. Great quantities of pails and other wooden-ware are also shipped, and in the matter
of cheese Mantua stands as one of the leading points on the Reserve, there being three large factories for that product
in the township, besides being the shipping point for the greater part of three other townships.
The business at the Station is as follows: Smith's pail and wood work factory, which employs about twelve hands;
Smith's lumber yard; Centennial Flouring-Mills, Frost & Knowles; general stores, Bowen & Sons, A. A. Gilbreath; drugs,
O. P. Hays, C. W. Brainerd; groceries, S. Beecher, Kyle & Davis, Ditto & Sons; livery stable, Ditto & Sons; hardware,
A. Barber; tinware, W. Westpeaker; millinery, Mrs. Mattie Smith; furniture. F. Bard; clothing, Choeker & Muncy; dealer
in hides, pelts, etc., Will Croft; dealer in produce, W. H. Bradley; shoes, Philip Baldinger; foundry, Ed. Goddard;
cider-mill, Ed. Goddard; Mantua House, C. H. Sage; Cuyahoga Hotel, H. T. Barnum; Taylor House, A. H. Taylor; carpenters;
blacksmiths; restaurant; barber shop; physicians, Dr. George C. Way, Dr. Erwin; dentist, Dr. A. A. Carlton; lawyer,
Cheny Ingle; Postmaster, Cbeny Ingle; there is a fine Opera House.
Mantua Corners. -- General stores, C, H. Ray, J. W. Foster & Co; grocery and notions, Mrs. Frazier; Postmaster,
C. H. Ray; Dr. S. K. Wilcox.
The township is high and rolling, especially in the southern portion, and unsurpassed for fruit-raising and dairying,
it standing next to Aurora in the
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
manufacture of cheese. It is well watered, and the soil is a sandy loam, making it splendidly adapted to the production
of potatoes, where the finest in the world are raised.
Methodist Episcopal Church of Mantuawas organized in September, 1807, by Rev. R. R. Roberts, with Paschal P. McIntosh
and wife, Basil Windsor, Rufus Edwards and Asahel Mills. The first building was erected in 1820-21 at the Center, 24x32
feet. This log-house was used for eighteen years, when a new meetinghouse was erected. This house was burned, and the
same year a third Methodist Church building was erected. The old pastors were Joshua Windsor, 1810, Henry Ferris,
John L. Ferris and Joseph Ferris, William Bump, Milton M. Moore, H. H. Moore and Albert Reed. In 1825 Paschal McIntosh,
one of the founders 'was dismissed, owing partly to his hostility to the United States. In 1815 he returned to Mantua,
and his children were the first who had the whooping-cough in the county.
The Congregational Church of Mantua was organized by Revs. Seward and Darragh, May 31, 1812. The first members were
Daniel Ladd and wife, Joel Walter and wife, of Shalersville, William Russell and wife, Daniel Ladd, Jr., and wife,
Eleazer Ladd and wife, Eunice Harmon, the grandmother of Orrin Harmon, Lois Atwater, mother of Judge Amzi Atwater,
Mrs. Eunice Moore and Mrs. Sally Pond.
In 1816 a brick church was erected at Aurora Center for this society. Justus Parrish and others supplied the brick.
Previous to 1816 this society held meetings in the first schoolhouse.
The Baptist Church was founded at Mantua in 1809 by Elder Jones, the meeting being held near the
Judson cabin. The first persons baptized were Oliver Snow and wife, Jotham Atwater and wife, and Rufus, Edwards and
wife, Mr. Edwards leaving the Methodist Church. Those persons were baptized in the Cuyahoua near Judson's.
John Rudolph and William West were also members. in 1826 Sidney Rigdon, subsequently Joe Smith's
Lieutenant, was preacher to this society. In 1827 Sidney Rigdon left the Baptist Church and organized a Campbellite or
Disciples Church, and succeeded in taking almost all the members of the old Baptist Church with him.
Disciples Church of Mantua was reorganized July 6, 1850, P. N. Jennings, D. Atwater and Edwin Sandford were elected
Trustees, and C. D. Wilber, Secretary.
The Universalist doctrine was preached at Mantua by Rev. Reuben Jones, from 1815 to 1831, when he died.
Mantua Association of Spiritualists; was incorporated July 9, 1881; Samuel S. Russell, Joel B. Gilbert, Reuben O.
Halsted, David M. King and Henry Cobb, members.
Camp-meeting Association of Spiritualists of northern Ohio was organized October 2, 1881, with Ira Lake, President;
A. Underhill and Mrs, Amon, Vice-Presidents; Mrs. Sarah Rockhill, Alliance, Mrs. M. A. Merrill, Recording Sec.;
Silas Crocker, Treasurer; Samuel Fish, Melon; Reuben Halstead, Mantua; Mrs. Mercy Lane, Braceville; Frank Maloy,
Hudson; Jesse, Erwin, Alliance; Frank Rily, Warren; M. V. IvIeller, New Lynn, and Lewis King, Cleveland.
The Catholic Church was built at Mantua Station in 1872-73, under contract with the congregation, by Squire Fair.
The building cost about $1,000, and the altar, pews and furnishing, about $1,500. The congregation numbers about 150
members.
Union Church. -- The first Protestant Church building at Mantua Station is that now known as the Union Church, which
is open to all Christian denominations for religious service.
MANTUA TOWNSHIP.
485
The first school was taught in the winter of 1806-07, at the house of Amzi Atwater, by John Harmon, and the next one
was in the summer of 1807, the teacher being Patty Cochran, from Aurora, who af Lorward became the wife of Ebenezer
Sheldon. The school was near where Rufus Edwards had formerly lived. In 1808 John Harmon opened a school in
Amzi Atwater's house. There is at present a fine graded school at the, Station, in charge of Prof. William Thomas, in
addition to the district schools in various parts of the township.
Mantua Township Schools. -- Revenue in 1884, $3,225.83; expenditures, $1,916.37; eight school buildings valued at
$3,600; average pay of teachers, $34 and $26; enrollment, 96 boys and 73 girls....
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXV.
NELSON TOWNSHIP.
COMING OF THE PIONEERS -- THE MILLS BROTHERS -- TWO LONESOME FAMILIES -- IMPORTANT ARRIVALS -- HEADS OF
FAMILIES IN 1815 -- FIRST BUILDINGS -- FIRST ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES -- CHURCHES AND SCHOOLD -- TAVERNS, MILLS AND
ROADS -- Fiat Justitis, Ruat Coelum -- -- EXPLOITS OI,CAPT. MILLS- SUMMARY -- TOWNSHIP OFFICERS -- THE LEDGES --
STATISTICS.
Nelson, when the first settler arrived in it, and for seventeen years thereafter, was included in the territory
comprised in several of the adjoining townships under the name of Hiram, but in the surveys was laid off as Town 5,
Range 6. The original proprietors, who purchased from the Connecticut Land Company were Urial Holmes, Ephraim Root,
Timothy Burr and Appolos Hitchcock, Holmes being the principal owner.
In the spring of 1800, three sons of Deacon Ezekiel Mills, of Becket, Mass., started out to seek their fortunes in the
Western Reserve. They were Delaun, aged twenty-four, who had married at the age of sixteen, and had three children;
Asahel, who had been married two years, and had one child; and Isaac, nineteen years of age and single. These three men
with the two wives and four children started out in two covered wagons, each drawn by a yoke of oxen. Several weeks
elapsed before they reached Youngstown, then a very diminutive hamlet, containing only a few log-cabins. By this time
the money of the brothers had dwindled down to less than 25 cents, so they had to seek employment, and, as luck would
have it, Urial Holmes, the principal proprietor of Nelson, happened to be on his way to his land for the purpose of
having it surveyed, so the brothers were engaged as ax-men to the surveyors, who were led by Amzi Atwater, afterward
one of the most noted citizens of the county, and Roger Cook. Leaving their families at Youngstown, the brothers went
forward to their work, and returned in the following September. Delaun immediately removed his family to a cabin on
100 acres of land given to him by Holmes as a reward for his settling thereon, which land was on the north side of the
road, just west of the Center; Asahel remained in Youngstown till the following spring (1801), and then settled on 100
acres on the north and south road, which, it is thought, was also a gift from Holmes; Isaac returned to the East.
Asahel in after years became a Methodist preacher and died in Deerfield. Delaun had an extremely adventurous life, and
some of his exploits and experiences will be given in this sketch further along. He was a man of not only great physical
strength, but of unusual sturdiness of character, as brave as a lion, and perfectly fearless of consequences, having
withal a coolness of temper that to a foe was exasperating. It is said that one of the blandest of smiles would
overspread his features when drawing a bead on some cowardly savage who had waylaid and missed him. He was a man of
little education, but possessed of extraordinary common sense and correctness of judgment.
Delaun and Asahel Mills and their families were the only inhabitants of the township fill the spring of 1803, when
quite a number arrived from Massachusetts
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and Connecticut and made settlement. Among those were Stephen Baldwin, Benjamin Stow and his two sons, Daniel and
Caleb, John Bancroft with four sons, Rudolphus, John, Artemus and David, Daniel Owen, two brothers, Stiles and William,
Thomas Kennedy and Asa Truesdale, making seven families in all, which constituted the entire population of Nelson in
1804. In this year came Isaac Mills, the father of Mr. Albert Mills, of the Center, who is now seventy-eight years of
age, and well preserved in all his faculties. The old gentleman has been a great singer in his day, and led the singing
in his church for over forty years, having only within the past two or three years ceased to do so. Isaac, in company
with a friend, Origen Adams, both being single men, made the journey on foot from Connecticut, but the former, doing
quite well the first year, returned to Connecticut and on November 27, 1805, married his pretty little sweetheart, Miss
Polly Adams, a damsel of only fifteen years. It was a fearful undertaking for the child-wife to come to this far-distant
wilderness, but of such stuff were some of the women of those days made, that the little girl became a splendid pioneer
wife, equal to all emergencies, content and happy, a blessing to all who know her, and the mother of stalwart sons and
buxom daughters.
In July, 1804, also settled Col. John Garrett, from Delaware, for whom was named Garrettsville. A German from Delaware,
named Johann Noah, came about the same time as Col. Garrett; also Abraham Dyson, from Delaware, who settled near Col.
Garrett, on the spot that afterward became the village of Garrettsville. In 1805 came John Tinker and Nathaniel Bancroft,
sons-in-law of Benjamin and Daniel Stow, Martin Manly and Daniel Wood.
In 1806 Asahel Mills, having fitted up accommodations for his aged father and mother, brought the old couple out, but
the Deacon died in 1809 and his widow followed him several years later. Oliver Mills, a brother of the above, also
settled in the township about 1809, and about the same time came Charles May, the Rudolphs and Rev. William West, a
Baptist minister.
In 1810 or thereabouts came Charles Johnson, from Connecticut, bringing three sons Erastus Alanson and Charles, Jr.
In 1811-12 a large company, mostly Presbyterians, came in from Connecticut, prominent among whom were Deacon
Joshua B. Sherwood, Wells Clark, Bridsey Clark, Theron Colton, David Beardsley, Titus Bonney, Hezekiah Bonney,
John Hannah, David Goodsell and a large connection of the Hopkins family. Emigration then ceased almost entirely till
the close of the war, 1812-14.
In 1815 an enumeration of, the settlers of the township resulted in a showing of thirty-three heads of families, as
follows: Hezekiah Higley, John Bancroft, Jr., Adolphus Bancroft, Titus Bonney, Benjamin Stow, John Bancroft, Sr.,
William Kennedy, Thomas Kennedy, John Hannah, Rossitter Hopkins, Stephen Baldwin, Delaun Mills, John Tinker,
Alanson Johnson, David Beardsley, Benjamin Pritchard, Theron Colton, Rev. William West, John Rudolph, Widow Garrett,
Joshua B. Sherwood, Isaac Mills, Robert C. Bennett, Sylvanus Hewlett, Elisha Taylor, Sr., Martin Manly, David Stow,
Johann Noah, Asa Truesdale, Brastas Johnson, Bridsey Clark and Wells Clark.
From the date of the above enumeration till 1820, the township rapidly settled up, and among those who came in were, to
give a good heading to the list, Jeremiah Earl Faller, who was six feet four inches in height, bringing two sons;
Charles Whiting, Charles Hewlett, Marcus and David Morris, Thomas Barber, Thomas Perry, Benjamin Brown, one of whose
sons was Probate Judge, another a prominent lawyer, and another a well-known physician; also, came
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
the Merwins, Eatons, Merritts and others. From 1820 onward, emigrants from the East still came in till the price of
land began materially to advance. Among those coming about this time were Harry Spencer, Jacob and Ashbel Haskins, Jr.,
sons of Ashbel Haskins, Sr., Jared W. Knowlton and family, Ira Fuller, who lived to be ninety-four years of age, and a
number of the Pritchards and Taylors. As soon as the surveying party under Atwater arrived in Nelson, they set to work
and erected a log-cabin for their use whilst in the township.
It was, of course, a rude affair, built of unhewn logs, and stood just east of the present house on the land afterward
donated to Capt. Mills. This was the first human habitation in Nelson, and was erected in the early spring of 1800, When
Delaun returned with his family in the fall, be made considerable improvements in the surveyors' cabin, and put it in
the best condition possible for wintering his wife and her three young children. Capt. Mills afterward erected a double
log-cabin, quite a commodious affair, and it was the admiration of the whole settlement. Asahel Mills erected the next
cabin after his brother, and, was soon followed by many others. But one of the most noted events of the time was the
erection by Thomas Kennedy, about 1811, of a frame house. It was located about three-fourths of a mile north of the
Center, and when it was finished some of his neighbors said that Thomas was getting too proud. The father of Thomas
Kennedy was William Kennedy, who was ninety years of age when be came. The old gentleman was considerable of a drinker,
and on one occasion came to his son and told him that the spring back of the house was not water but Santa Cruz rum.
In the spring of 1804 Enoch Judson, of Mantua, married Anne Kennedy, this being the first marriage in the township,
but the married life of the unfortunate lady was short, for in June following she became slightly sick, and applying
to Mrs. Rufus Edwards for an emetic, was given, through mistake, arsenic, which caused her death. The second marriage
was that of a sister of Anne Kennedy, Mrs. Norton, to Joseph Nourse, a lawyer of Burton.
It has been generally supposed that Harmon Mills, son of Delaun Mills, born in November, 1801, was the first child born
in the township, but we are sorry to annul that claim by stating that the reputed "previous" Harmon had a little girl
cousin named Dianthea, who antedated him by almost a month, she having made her appearance on the 14th day of October,
1801. She was the daughter of Asahel Mills.
The first death in the township, like the first birth, has been wrongly stated. A son of Col. Garrett died in September,
1804, and to this youth has usually been given the honor of departing the earliest, but an infant of Asahel Mills died
a year or two before the date of young Garrett's death, as is proven by the Mills' family record. The first man to die
in the township was Col. John Garrett, who departed this life in January, 1806, at the age of forty-six years, after a
career of usefulness to his fellowman and honor to himself. He left a widow, who survived him forty years, and four
children who became honored and distinguished citizens.
About the first preaching ever listened to in Nelson fell from the lips of Asahel Mills, who at the time he settled in
the township had made up his mind to be a Methodist preacher. His sermons may have simply been exhortations in the
Methodist sense, but we have the word of Albert Mills that he was the earliest preacher who lifted up his voice in the
township. Rev. William West, a Baptist minister, came in very early, probably 1807 or 1809, and of
course delivered a sermon to the settlers occasionally, but the first church organization occurred in 1807, at the house
of Johann Noah, the services
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491
being conducted by Rev. Thomas G. Jones, of the Baptist denomination, Mr. Jones was afterward a member of the Ohio
Legislature. and President of a bank in Wooster. Rev. R. R. Roberts, afterward a leading Bishop in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, was a circuit rider in those early days, and preached every two weeks at the cabin of Capt. Mills.
A preacher by the name of George Lane, a noted singer, came in an early day. He had a powerful voice and always led
the singing. William West, the minister spoken of above, became the first settled pastor in 1809
or 1810, he having preached irregularly for the settlers some time before. The original proprietors donated him
fifty acres of land. Mr. West was an excellent man and much beloved. He has no descendants in the township, but one of
his daughters married Prof. Brainard, of Cleveland. The large company that came from Connecticut in 1811-12, organized
a Congregational Church in 1813, all of the members having belonged to the same church before they came West. In 1822
the Presbyterians erected a very fine church at the Center, and it stands there to-day. Rev. Benjamin Fenn was the
first regular preacher to occupy the, pulpit, he coming there in The first Methodist Church was built in 1882, and the
first minister to preach in it was Rev. J. W. Davis. The church still stands in good condition at the Center.
The first school opened in the township was taught by Hannah Baldwin, at the Center, in 1804. Not one of those who
attended this primitive educational institution is now alive. The next school was taught by Oliver Mills, in 1806. He
was a brother of the famous Captain, and is said to have monopolized all the "school larnin'" of the early Mills family;
he was a farmer, mechanic, teacher and doctor, all combined. Nelson Aademy Association was permaneiatly organized
January 6, 1852; Charles Goodsell, D. Everest, David Hanners, Josiah Talbot, C. C: Fuller, Silas Clark, John Martin,
A. J. Eldred and Albert Mills were elected Trustees. At the annual meeting, January 3, 1853, W. R. Knowlton,
J. W. Spencer and G. B. Stow were elected Trustees. C. C. Fuller was Clerk of the first annual meeting. The condition
of the township schools at the close of 1884 is shown by The following statistics: Revenue in 1884, $3,947.10;
expenditures, $2,344.62; eight school buildings valued at $5,000; average pay of teachers, $36 and $22; enrollment,
88 boys and 91 girls.
Capt. Mills for many years kept his house as a stopping-place or tavern. It being located on the route to the farther
western country, it was very convenient, especially as he always hact on hand a supply of whisky and rum. Another
tavern was kept on the road north of the Center by Artemus Bancroft.
The first mill was erected by Col. Garrett, at Garrettsville, and it was the greatest convenience with which the
settlers had been supplied, as previous to its erection long journeys had to be made to get their little grists ground.
The mill was both saw and grist, and was built in 1805.
This same year Amzi Atwater surveyed a road from his place in Mantua, along the south line of Hiram Township, to
Col. Garrett's mill, and in 1806 another was cut out to Aurora, westward, and one through Windham and Braceville,
to Warren. Abraham Dyson, who came in at the time Col. Garrett did, was the first blacksmith, and had more than be
could do repairing guns for the Indians. The first wheat raised was forty-three bushels, from three pecks of seed,
sown in the turnip patch of Capt. Mills in 1801. It was threshed out on a sheet in the wind. An epidemic of a fearful
nature prevailed in 1842, and carried off many persons. The patient would be taken with something like the ague, after
which a peculiar fever would set in, when death would shortly ensue. It baffled the skill of some of the best
physicians.
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
Mr. Pike, the oldest man in the township, now ninety-one years, was in the war of 1812. Capt. Mills commanded a company
at the battle of Mackinaw under Col. Croghatt. He was the first militia Captain, also.
The township was organized in September, 1817, and named Nelson. The first Justices of the Peace elected were
Daniel Stow and Elisha Taylor, Jr., the latter declining to serve. One of the first cases was Delaun Mills vs.
James Knowlton, action to recover the price of a bear. Mills had a bear trap, Knowlton baited it, caught a bear and
took it home. Mills claimed the bear, as it was caught in his trap. Judgment, 25 cents, awarded Mills for the use of
trap; plaintiff and defendant to divide costs.
Before the township was regularly organized, and while Benjamin Stow was Magistrate, Thomas Kennedy and Wareham Loomis
got into a fight, and the one who was whipped had the other arrested. When the case came up for trial, the prosecuting
witness, defendant and spectators were all greatly surprised at the decision of the Judge. He fined both parties
$5 apiece, and made each pay half the costs. Being remonstrated with by a friend of the prosecuting witness at the
apparent irregularity of the proceeding -- that it was not law -- he replied, "I am Chief Justice of this domain, and
am here to deal out justice; I don't care a fig for the law."
Another case, showing that in those early times justice, rather than the strict technicalities of the law, prevailed,
occurred during the time Capt. Mills had his tavern. The accommodating Captain, as has been stated, sold whisky, but
he forgot to got out a license. He was arraigned before the Trumbull County Court for selling liquor without a license,
and plead guilty to the charge. Judge Kirtland, who had often been refreshed at the hostelry of Mills, remarked to
Judge Pease that he did not think the defendant guilty within the meaning of the statute, whereupon Pease asked Mills
if he could not change his plea. "May it please the Court, your Honor, I am not guilty," promptly replied the
accommodating Captain, and he was as promptly discharged.
Many stories have not only been told orally, but have found their way into print, about Capt. Delaun Mills and the
Indians; they have been added to from time to time so abundantly that one would be led to believe that the exclusive
business of the redoubtable Captain was to hunt and kill Indians. According to some authorities he would shoot a couple
of redskins and throw them on his burning log-pile, just as be would perform any other ordinary work; then be pursues
a party of them into a swamp and dispatches half a dozen or so, before breakfast; again, he would kill one, put him
under the upturned root of a tree, cut the top of the tree off, and let the balance fly back and thus effectually bury
the brave; or again, he would stick the carcass of one of his wily foes into a spring, and ram and jam it down with
his rifle. There is no doubt about the extraordinary bravery of this pioneer, no doubt about his skill with the rifle,
and no doubt about his hatred of the red savages, but he was a humane man, with a loving wife and a number of children
at his fireside, which prevented his being an Indian-slayer by profession, as a man of his good common sense would know
that such careers are short. Notwithstanding the many accounts of his deeds of blood, the only really authentic one is
that written by his son Urial, of Salem, Ill., who in a letter dated August 22, 1879, states: "About 1803 an Indian
got mad at my father and said he would kill him. Father was in the habit of hunting through the fall. One day in
crossing the trail made in the snow the day before, he found the track of an Indian following him; this put him on his
guard. He soon saw the Indian. They both sheltered themselves behind trees. Father put
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493
his hat on his gun stock and stuck it out so that the Indian could see it. The Indian shot a hole through the hat, and
when it fell he ran toward father with his tomahawk in his hand; father stepped from behind the tree, shot him and
buried him. He told my mother and she told me. About the same time the Indians were in camp near the cranberry-marsh,
afterward owned by Benjamin Stow, Asahel Mills was hunting cattle and came past their camp; an Indian snapped a gun at
him, but the Indian's squaw took the gun away from him. Asahel came home badly scared and told his story. We soon saw
ten Indians coming painted for war. They came into the house; all shook hands with father but the last, who uttered an
oath and seized him by the throat. Father caught him by the shoulders, jerked him off the floor, and swung him around.
The calves of his legs hit the sharp leg of a heavy table; he then dragged him out doors, took him by the hair and
pounded his head on a big rock and left him. The Indians scarified the bruised parts by cutting the shin into strips
about one inch wide; they then tied a blanket around him, put a pole through the blanket, took the pole on their
shoulders and carried him to camp. They said that if he died they would kill father. While he was confined they shot
Diver of Deerfield. This created quite an excitement, and tbe Indians all left for Sandusky, leaving the crippled one
in camp. Some time after, when father was away he came to the house in the dusk of the evening and asked if he could
stay. Mother told him he could. She did not sleep any that night, believing he had come to kill us. In the morning he
got up, built a fire and cooked his breakfast of bear's meat; he then went out and soon returned with the hind-quarters
of a fine bear which he gave to mother, then bade her good-by and left. She was as glad to see him go as any visitor
she ever had." He was appointed Captain of the Big Hunt in 1818. Capt. Mills was bitten by a rattlesnake in the summer
of 1812, and it very nearly ended his career. Soon after being bitten the blood began to flow from his nose and eyes,
and he became partially paralyzed. The usual remedy, filling the patient with whisky, saved him, but he always felt the
effects of the terrible virus. He died April 20, 1824.
The township is strictly agricultural, and cheese making is one of the principal industries. The country is rolling
throughout its whole extent, but the land is excellent. Considerable fine stock is raised and handled, and some sheep
and their product marketed. Originally the entire face of the country was covered with a heavy growth of the finest
timber, and game being plentiful it was really one of the best hunting-grounds for the Indians, and some of the
well-known chiefs often hunted here. Big Cayuga, Snip Nose Cayuga, both of whom Capt. Mills is said to have killed,
Seneca, Nickshaw and John Mohawk, who shot Diver, were among the more noted. White hunters, also, more skilled with the
rifle 'than the Indians, stalked those old woods, and many an adventure with bears and wolves is told of the
grandfathers and fathers of the presennt inhabitants.
A beautiful monument stands in the square at the Center, erected to the memory of the brave boys who so nobly laid
their lives down on the, altar of their country, and it is an honor to the patriotic citizens who thus remember the
martyrs who died that they might enjoy the benefits and glory of an undivided country. It cost $1,225, and was made
at Ravenna. Nelson furnished 109 soldiers; twenty died and eight were disabled.
The township is well watered with several small streams. and an excellent market and shipping point is afforded in
Garrettsville.
There are eight good schoolhouses in the township, besides a fine academy at the Center; also one Congregational Church,
Rev. Fowler, pastor -- one
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. E. B. Wilson, pastor, and a small church in southeast corner of township.
Three cheese factories are nearly all the time in operation. There are two general stores, one blacksmith shop and
postoffice at the Center, S. M. Alger, Postmaster.
Township Officers. -- Trustees, A. J. Paine, A. F. Hannah, Edwin Taylor; Clerk, W. W. McCall; Treasurer,
William J. Fuller; Assessor, Charles Allen; Constables, Leon Bancroft, Benjamin Paine; Justices of the Peace,
L. S. Nicholson, Benjamin Knowlton.
The "Ledges," as they are called, in the northern part of the township, have always been a noted place of rebort for
pleasure-seekers and curiosity-hunters, and there is a good hotel at one of the principal points of interest for their
accommodation. This singular freak of nature is attributed to various causes, but there is no doubt of their being the
result of some terrific internal upheaval, when the fierce volcanic fires burst forth, and possibly shot out through
the crevices that now appear in all directions, but which through the lapse of unnumbered ages have been mostly filled
with rock and lava debris, pulverized in after ages to ordinary soil and sand. Carious upheavals of this character are
to be found all over the world, but they generally occur on mountain tops, and are called in two or three 'localities
"the devil's back bone." The Nelson Ledges are well worth a visit....
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A Cabin in the Northern Ohio Woods
