Select County Adams Allen Ashland Ashtubula Athens Auglaize Belmont Brown Butler Carroll Champaign Clark Clermont Clinton Columbiana Conshocton Crawford Cuyahoga Darke Defiance Delaware Erie Fairfield Fayette Franklin Fulton Gallia Geauga Greene Guernsey Hamilton Hancock Hardin Harrison Henry Highland Hocking Holmes Huron Jackson Jefferson Knox Lake Lawrence Licking Logan Lorain Lucas Madison Mahoning Marion Medina Meigs Mercer Miami Monroe Montgomery Morgan Morrow Muskingum Noble Ottawa Paulding Perry Pickaway Pike Portage Preble Putnam Richland Ross Sandusky Scioto Seneca Shelby Stark Summit Trumbull Tuscarawas Union VanWert Vinton Warren Washington Wayne Wood

Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. I

©1888

 

ASHTABULA COUNTY Continued

 

 

Page 271

 

played old-fashioned base ball here in Jefferson.  He also was fond of ten-pins.  On an occasion when he was in Congress he and Mr. Bliss, another member, engaged as partners in a game of ten-pins with Mr. John A. BINGHAM and my brother Grotius.  BINGHAM was a poor player and always beaten; but Grotius excelled. In the result they 'skunked' the others, when BINGHAM was so overjoyed that he cheered and then tumbled and rolled on the floor in excess of hiliarity.  Grotius was an officer in the regular army and in one of the battles in which he was engaged, although the men lay most of the time flat on the ground. 400 of the 1,200 engaged were killed and wounded."

 

When in Congress Mr. GIDDINGS' physical strength and commanding person gave him great advantages over ordinary men. This with his power of denunciation and indomitable pluck and habit of plain speaking, made him an object of intense hatred by the Southern fire-eaters.  As it was his habit to carry a heavy cane, they stood in wholesome awe of the Ashtabula giant.  And well they might; for one who had passed his young life in felling big oaks down in Wayne and occasionally "toting" live rattlesnakes around on logs could not but be an object of wholesome respect even with a fire-eater.

 

"My father, said Mr. G., "after his famous encounter with Black, on the floor of Congress, met an amusing incident which he used to relate with glee.  He was walking on Congress avenue, as usual swinging his cane, when he met Black coming toward him.  The latter happened to have his head down and did not see father until he got within about three rods of him, when on looking up he suddenly stopped short as if astounded, and then in a twinkling dodged down an alleyway."

 

Another anecdote is told of GIDDINGS. Preston Brooks challenged him to personal combat. Mr. GIDDINGS did not wish any harsh means used with his political enemies if he could avoid it. Brooks continued his threats. Finally one day when he was having a wordy combat with the bully, he got out of patience and told him he would fight him and he could choose his time, place and weapon. To this Brooks replied, "Now is my time and my weapon a pistol." "Very well," rejoined GIDDINGS; "all I want to settle this affair is a York shilling raw-hide." With such a contemptuous expectoration of speech as this, but two alternatives were left the bully; assassination, or a howling and gnashing of his teeth. Mr. GIDDINGS was not assassinated.

 

Joshua Reed GIDDINGS was born in Athens, Pa., in 1795, and at eleven years of age came to Ashtabula county with his parents.  In 1838 he was elected as a Whig to Congress, but soon became prominent as an advocate of the right of petition and the abolition of slavery and the domestic slave trade.

 

In 1841 the "Creole," an American vessel, sailed from Virginia to Louisiana with a cargo of slaves, who got possession of the vessel, ran into the British port of Nassau and in accordance with British law were set free; whereupon Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, wrote to Edward Everett, United States Minister to London, saying that the government would demand indemnification for the slaves.  In consequence Mr. GIDDINGS offered in the House a series of resolutions in which it was declared that as slavery was an abridgement of a natural right it had not force beyond the territorial jurisdiction that created it; that when an American vessel was on the high seas it was under the jurisdiction of the general government, which did not sanction slavery, and therefore the mutineers of the "Creole" had only assumed their natural right to liberty, and to attempt to re-enslave them would be dishonorable. Although he temporarily withdrew the resolutions the House passed a vote of censure, 125 to 69, whereupon he resigned and appealing to his constituents was re-elected by an immense majority.  For twenty years he held his seat in Congress, opposing every encroachment of the slave power with a boldness and strength that won the fear and respect of its advocates. Whenever he spoke he was listened to with great attention, and had several affrays in which he always triumphed.  He declined re-election from ill health in 1858 and died at Montreal in 1864 and while holding a position of United States Consul in Canada.  His disease was atrophy of the heart. Towards the close of his Congressional career he had one time, while speaking, fallen to the floor.  The members gathered around, thinking he was dead. For eight minutes his heart ceased to beat. He was the author of several political works, mainly essays bearing upon the subject of slavery.

 

          

Page 272

 

from North Carolina, hypothetically described himself as wishing to emigrate to the new territory and to carry his old colored mamma with him – the slave woman who had nursed him in infancy and childhood, and whom he has loved as a real mother – and he could not take her. The enemies of this benevolent measure forbade him.  "We are unwilling you should take the old lady there," interrupted WADE; "we are afraid you'll sell her when you get her there." Roars of laughter followed this stinging reply, which was said by Judge Jerry BLACK to have been the most effective single blow ever dealt a man on the floor of Congress.  As chairman of the Committee on the Conduct of the War no words, says Whitelaw Reid, can give an idea of the value of his services, the energy with which he helped to inspire the government, of the zeal, the courage, the faith which he strove to infuse. He was elected President of the Senate, and consequently acting Vice-President of the United States, shortly after Mr. Johnson's accession to the presidency, and had the attempt at his impeachment been successful, would have become President.  In person Mr. WADE was six feet in height, very finely proportioned and of great physical power. An original thinker, bluff, hearty, and plain spoken, he withal under this rough exterior carried a tender heart, as is illustrated by his once discovering a poor man, a neighbor, entering his corn-crib and carrying off his corn, when he quietly moved out of sight so he should not pain him with the knowledge that he saw him, no doubt reasoning in this way: "Poor devil, he has a hard enough time any way, and I don’t care if he does now and then help himself to my abundance."

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe, 1846.

PUBLIC SQUARE, ASHTABULA,

 

[On the left is shown the City Hall, in front the Baptist church, and in the distance the tower of the

Public School building, an immense structure, where one morning we found the front yard black with

Little people; they seemed a thousand strong.]

 

Ashtabula in 1846 – Ashtabula is on Ashtabula river, on the Buffalo and Cleveland road, eight miles from Jefferson.  It is a pleasant village, adorned with neat dwellings and shrubbery.  The borough contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist, and 1 Baptist church, 10 merchantile stores, and a population estimated at 1,200.  The harbor of Ashtabula is two and a half miles from the village at the mouth of the river. It has several forwarding establishments, twenty or thirty houses, the lake steamers stop there, and considerable business is carried on; about a dozen vessels are owned at the port. – Old Edition.

 

 

Page 273

 

fortune about forty lives were lost. This boat was built at Ashtabula harbor, and most of her stock was owned by persons of moderate circumstances in this place.

 

Ashtabula, on Ashtabula river, and line of four railroads, is the principal town of a large agricultural and dairying district. It has about 7,000 inhabitants and is growing rapidly, owing to the development of its natural advantages as a point of shipment of coal to the lake cities of the west, and ore from the Lake Superior mining districts. Ashtabula has 4 newspapers; Ashtabula Telegraph, Republican, James REED, editor; News, Independent, E. J. GRIFFIN, editor; Standard, Democratic, J. SHERMAN, editor; Record,daily, Republican, F. V. JOHNSON, editor; also 2 Finn, semi-weeklies.  8 churches-1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Presbyterian, 2 Congregational, 2 Episcopal and 1 Catholic.  Banks: Ashtabula National, P.F. GOOD, president; J.SUM. Blyth, cashier; Farmer's National, H.E. PARSONS, president; A. F. HUBBARD, cashier.

 

 

Manufactures and Employees – Ashtabula Tool Co., agricultural implements, 96 hands; L.M. Crossby & Son, Fanning Mills, 15; Phoenix Iron Works Co., machinery and castings, 18; Ashtabula Hide & Leather Co.,32; Ashtabula Carriage Bow Co., London Rubber Co.,  rubber clothing, 74.- State Report 1886. Population in 1880,4,445; School census 1886, 1,172. Supt., I.M.Clemens.

 

  The principal feature of Ashtabula is its harbor, which promises to lead all the lake ports in the amount of iron ore received.  From thirty to fifty vessels arrive weekly with cargoes of ore, while the shipments of coal nearly equal those of Cleveland or Erie.  From 700 to 1,000 men are constantly employed on the docks, a large proportion of them being Fins and Swedes – a thrifty people and good citizens, most of them owning their homes.  The harbor is three miles from the main town, but it is a part of the same corporation; it is connected with it by a street railway.  The rapid development and growth of Ashtabula in the past twelve years has been owing to the enterprise of the citizens, with the aid of the National government in developing its natural harbor.  When the work now in progress is completed it will have a channel with a uniform depth of eighteen feet.

 

Along the banks of the Ashtabula river are thousands of feet of docks, from which twenty to forty vessels are constantly loading or unloading their cargoes.  The iron ore is shipped to the manufacturing regions of Youngstown, Pittsburg and farther east, while thousands of tons of coal are conveyed here by the railroads from the great coal field of Ohio and Pennsylvania and shipped to Chicago, Duluth and other lake cities in the west.

Ashtabula harbor is supplied with the most improved machinery for handling coal and ore of any of the lake ports, and it is not unusual for propellers carrying 2,400 tons of iron ore to be unloaded inside of twelve hours.

 

In 1872 this district about the river and harbor contained less than 200 inhabitants, two or three struggling stores, and one or two old decaying warehouses, relics of former industry.  Now it has more than 2,000 inhabitants, is a

 

Page 274

 

The Ashtabula Railway Disaster, which occurred at this place early in the night of Dec.29, 1876, was one of the most memorable in the history of railway tragedies.  The night was cold and bitter, a blinding snow-storm blowing at the rate of forty miles an hour in full progress, as the Pacific Express No.5, westward bound over the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, broke through the iron bridge over the Ashtabula river and plunged into the chasm, just seventy-five feet from rail to river.  The time was exactly 6:35, as afterwards ascertained by a clock in the engine.

 

RUINS OF THE ASHTABULA BRIDGE.

 

 

The train was composed of eleven coaches, drawn by two heavy engines, having on board 156 human souls.  The span of the bridge was 165 feet long between abutments. At the moment of the crash one engine had gained the west abutment, while the other engine, two express cars, and a part of the baggage car rested with their weight upon the bridge.  The remaining eight cars were drawn into the gulf.  Of the persons on board at least eighty perished in the wreck; nearly all the others were wounded; five died after rescue. The wind was at the time blowing a perfect gale, the cars caught on fire and those unable to extricate themselves perished in the flames. From the burning mass came

 

 

Page 275

 

                        Two weeks later Charles COLLINS, chief engineer of the railroad, shot himself with a revolver.  He was universally esteemed, and lost his mind through an undue sensitveness that the public would hold him responsible for the calamity.  Nineteen of the unrecognizable dead were buried by a public funeral in the Ashtabula cemetery; the sad procession was over a mile in length. Among these were supposed to be the remains of P. P. BLISS, of Chicago, and his wife.  He was the author of the famous hymn "Hold the Fort."  One of the engravings shows the bridge before the disaster, the other the spot after it. The debris was about fifteen feet deep. The railroad company promptly paid all claims for damages, the disbursements amounting to nearly half a million of dollars, averaging about $3,000 per head the for killed and wounded.

 

TRAVELING NOTES.

 

                Ashtabula, Thurs.Oct.8 – A pretty custom is that of a hotel in this town where I am stopping. The house itself is an ordinary two-story, wooden structure standing off on a little side street, but its appointments are excellent.  Its name is the "Stoll House," but it is known far and near as the "Bouquet House." This because at each guest's plate is placed a freshly-plucked button hole bouquet neatly wrapped in tin foil, with a pin thrust through it.  The pretty waitresses often volunteer their services to pin these on the lapels of the gentlemen guests, an extra pleasant duty, I fancy, where they happen to be fine, fresh-looking young men, as I find them to be now. I know not how there can be a more fragrant prelude to tea and biscuit. In the evening the hotel office is filled with a dozen commercial travellers, each with the inevitable bouquet on his lapel, all apparently happy and full of joviality; a natural effect of the combination of a good supper with feminine smiles and flowers.

 

                The Fins.- What largely tends to render our country increasingly interesting is the great variety of people arriving among us, so we need not go abroad to study foreign customs and ideas. A new element has lately come into this region, emigrants from Finland; but recently subjects of the Czar.  Down at Ashtabula harbor is a large colony of Fins and Swedes, numbering several hundred, who are employed as laborers on the docks. They are highly thought of; their religion is Lutheran. Fins, young men and women, are scattering on the farms in this part of the State as laborers and domestics, and are noted for their industry and honesty. Their marriage ceremony is peculiar, lasting half an hour, it is partly kneeling and partly praying.  The festivities run through several days, consisting of dancing and carousal, during which the dancing capacity and endurance of the bride is taxed to the utmost; each gentleman is expected in turn to dance with her and at its conclusion to pass her over fifty cents as his contribution to her dowry. Those able dance many times with the bride. On their first arrival they wear their own home-woven garments, woolen and linen. Instead of bonnets the women wear shawls; also home woven and plain black silk. In their own country a man's yearly wages on a farm are twelve dollars and his boots! Ohio says for them "Come! we welcome you and at your option, with boots or without boots.

 

            Geneva is three miles from Lake Erie, forty-five miles east of Cleveland, on the line of the L. S. & M .S. and N. Y .C. & St. L. Railroads.  The P .A. & L .E .R. R. is expected to complete its line to the harbor, three miles north of Geneva, within the coming year. It is forty-five miles east of Cleveland. Free gas and free fuel are offered by its enterprising citizens as inducements to manufacturers to locate here. The Eastern Division of the Black Diamond Railroad passes through the town.

 

            Newspapers: Times, Republican, J. P. TREAT, editor; Free Press, Republican, Chas. E. MOORE, editor.  Churches: 1 Congregationalist, 1 Methodist, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, and 1 Disciples.  Banks: First National, P .N. TUTTLE, president, N. H. MUNGER, cashier; Savings Exchange, J. L. MORGAN, president, L. E. MORGAN, cashier.

 

            Manufactures and Employees. Geneva Manufacturing Co., carpet sweepers, 12 hands; Eagle Lock Co., cabinet locks, 110; Enterprise Manufacturing Co., house furnishing, etc., 27; Geneva Manufacturing Co., carpet sweepers, 15; Geneva Tool Co., forks, hoes, cultivators, 95; Goodrich, Cook & Co., planing mill, 25; Eagle Lock Co., locks, 26; Enterprise Manufacturing Co., hardware, 31; N.W. Thomas, planing mill; Geneva Skewer Co., skewers, 26; Geneva Machine Co., machinists' tools, 75; M.S. Caswell, flour and feed; Goodrich, Cook & Co., planing mill, 13. – State Report 1886.

 

Among the other industries are Dickinson's nickel plating

 

works, Anderson's flour and feed mills, Maltby's extensive apple, jelly and cider manufactory, Waters & Wade’s bed spring factory, Lane & Moreland's steam injector factory, Tibbet's machine shop, Jackman's flour and feed mills, C.R.Castle's fruit basket factory, Cadle's bottling works, Bedell, Bartholomew and Co's lumber mill, Reid's extensive brick and tile works, Geneva prepared chalk works, and W.P. Simmons & Co., wholesale florists, growers and importers. Population in 1880, 1,903; school census in 1886, 577.

 

            The village of Geneva until the year 1888 had long been the home of Miss Edith M. THOMAS, the noted American poetess, a notice of whom, with portrait, will be found under the head of Medina county, in which she was born.

 

 

Frank Henry Howe, Photo., 1888

CENTRAL VIEW IN GENEVA.

The Soldier’s Monument appears in the distance.

ARTICLE:  Garfield On the Soldier Dead (New York Times 1880)

 

TRAVELLING NOTES

 

 

Page 277

 

unhappy dreams. Paper being a luxury rarely attainable in those days he had recourse to other materials. The bark of the birch tree, the sand beds by the brook and the ice and snow of winter formed his practice sheets.

 

                In his twelfth year he for a time enjoyed the privileges of a school in Conneaut. He then began as instructor in penmanship for his fellow-pupils. Being anxious to complete his studies in arithmetic he walked barefooted twenty miles over frozen ground to borrow a copy of Daboll.  On his return night overtook him, when he slept in a settler's barn, too timid to ask for lodgings in the cabin.

 

                Mr. SPENCER was for twelve years county treasurer: was a strong advocate of the temperence cause and that of the slave. He was the pioneer in the establishment of commercial and business colleges.  His copy books have been sold into the millions, and the Specerian pens are widely favorites with rapid writers.

 

                Interesting and strange are often the little minor surprises of life.  We all have them. In conclusion I will relate one to myself. Twelve years since I happened to be one evening at the home of a lady in Washington City of whom I had never before heard. Accidentally a book of exquisitely graceful penmanship from her hand met my eye. I could not help expressing my admiration, whereupon she replied, "I ought to be a good writer, for I am the daughter of Platt R. SPENCER." "Ah! I was once at your father's house – do you remember me?" "I do not – when was that?" "In the summer of 1846." "Therein," she replied, "you had quite the advantage of me – got there several years before I did."

 

 

 

P. R. SPENCER

 

 

Page 278

 

            Morse’s Slough.-There is a stream in Geneva, called "Morse’s Slough," and it took its cognomen in this wise: For a time after the SPENCERS, AUSTIN, HALE, and MORSE commenced operations clearing the woods on the lake shore, in the northeast corner of Geneva, they plied their labors there only a week at the time, or as long as a back-load of provisions, that each carried, might happen to last.  Whatever time of the week they went out, those having families returned on Saturday night to the settlements, and those without returned whenever out of provisions. The main portion of provisions by them thus transported consisted of Indian or corn bread; and whoever has been used to the labors of the woods, swinging the axe, for instance, from sun to sun, and limited to that kind of diet almost solely, will know that it requires a johnny-cake of no slight dimensions and weight to last an axeman a whole week. It must, in short, be a mammoth of its species! Such a loaf, baked in a huge Dutch oven, was snugly and firmly pinioned to the back of James. M. MORSE, as he, with others, wended his way to the lake shore, intent upon the labors of the week.

 

            The stream was then nameless, but nevertheless had to be crossed, and MORSE must cross it to reach the scene of his labors.  Although a light man, he had become ponderous by the addition of this tremendous johnny-cake. The ice lay upon the streams, and men passed and re-passed unloaded without harm. Not so those borne down with such encumbrance as distinguished the back of MORSE, who was foremost among the gang of pioneers, all marching in Indian file and similarly encumbered. They came to the stream. MORSE rushed upon the ice – it trembled- cracked- broke – and in a moment he was initiated into the mysteries beneath, with the johnny-cake holding him firmly to the bottom.

 

            The water and mud, though deep, were not over his head. The company, by aid of poles, approached him, removed the Gloucester hump of deformity from his shoulders, relieved him from his uncouth and unenvied attitude, and while he stood dripping and quivering on the margin of the turbid element – amid a shout of laughter they named this stream, "Morse's Slough."

 

            Fights with Wolves and Bears – A young man by the name of Elijah THOMPSON, of Geneva, was out hunting in the forest with his favorite dog. While thus engaged, his dog left him as if he scented game, and soon was engaged with a pack of seven wolves. Young THOMPSON, more anxious for the dog than his own safety, rushed to the rescue, firing his rifle as he approached, and then clubbing it, made a fierce onset upon the enemy. His dog, being badly wounded and nearly exhausted, could give him no assistance, and the contest seemed doubtful. The wolves fought with desperation; but the young man laid about him with so much energy and agility, that his blows told well, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing wolf after wolf skulk away under the blows which he dealt them, until he remained master of the field, when, with the remains of his rifle – the barrel – on his shoulder, and his bleeding and helpless dog under his arm, he left the scene panting and weary, though not materially injured in the conflict.  Mrs. John AUSTIN, of the same township, hearing, on one occasion, a bear among her hogs, determined to defeat his purpose.  First hurrying her little children up a ladder into her chamber, for safety, in case she was overcome by the animal, she seized a rifle, and rushing to the spot saw the bear only a few rods distant, carrying off a hog into the woods, while the prisoner sent forth deafening squeals, accompanied by the rest of the sty in full chorus. Nothing daunted, she rushed forward to the scene with her rifle ready cocked, on which the monster let go his prize, raised himself upon his haunches and faced her. Dropping upon her knees to obtain a steady aim, and resting her rifle of the fence, within six feet of the bear, the intrepid female pulled the trigger. Perhaps fortunately for her, the rifle missed fire. Again and again she snapped her piece, but with the same result. The bear, after keeping his position some time, dropped down on all fours, and leaving the hogs behind, retreated to the forest and resigned the field to the woman.

 

            The early settlers experienced great difficulty in preserving their swine from the ravages of wild beasts. Messrs. MORGAN and MURRAIND, who, with their wives, dwelt in the same cabin, had with difficulty procured a sow, which, with her progeny, occupied a strong pen contiguous to the dwelling. During a dark night, their husbands being necessarily absent, the repose of the ladies was disturbed by a very shrill serenade from the pen; arousing from their slumbers, they discovered a large bear making an assault upon the swine. They attempted by loud screams and throwing fire-brands, to terrify the animal; but not succeeding, they took an unloaded rifle, and having heard their husbands say it required two fingers of powder, they poured liberally into the muzzle, one of them in the meanwhile measuring lengthwise of her fingers, until the full amount was obtained, then driving in a ball they sallied out to the attack. One lady held the light, while the other fired the gun. Such another report, from a tube of equal capacity, is seldom heard. The ladies both fell prostrate and insensible, and the gun flew into the bushes. The bear was doubtless alarmed, but not materially injured.

 

            A War Alarm.- On the night of the 11^th of August, 1812, the people of Conneaut were alarmed by a false report that the British were landing from some of their vessels.  A sentinel, placed on the shore, descrying boats approaching, mistook them for the enemy. In his panic he threw away his musket, mounted his horse, and dashing through the settlement, cried with a stentorian voice: "Turn out!  turn out!  save your lives, the British and Indians are landing, and will be on you in fifteen minutes!" The people, around from their beds, fled in the utmost terror to various places of covert in the forest.  Those of East Conneaut had sheltered themselves in a dense grove, which being near the high road, it was deemed that the most perfect silence should be maintained. By that soothing attention mothers know how to bestow, the cries of the children were measurably stilled; but one little dog, from among his companions, kept up a continual unmitigated yelping. Various means having in vain been employed to still him, until the patience of the ladies was exhausted, it was unanimously, resolved that that particular dog should die, and he was therefore sentenced to be hanged, without benefit of clergy. With the elastics supplied by the ladies for a halter, and a young sappling for a gallows, the young dog passed from the shores of time to yelp no more.

 

            Austinburg, five miles westerly from Jefferson, is a small village in a locality of fine historic note.  Edwin COLES, the veteran editor of the Cleveland Leader, was born in Austinburg Sept. 19, 1825, and of Conneaut stock. As a journalist he has shown extraordinary force and fearlessness of character, and has been a leader in many things of great public benefit, a power in the land.

 

            The original proprietors of this township were Wm. BATTELL, of Torringford, Solomon Rockwell & Co., of Winchester, and Eliphalet AUSTIN, of New Hartford, Conn. By the instrumentality of Judge AUSTIN, from whom the town was named, two families moved to this place from Connecticut in 1799.  The Judge preceeded them a short time, driving, in company with a hired man, some cattle 150 miles through the woods on an Indian trail, while the rest came in a boat across the lake.  There were at this time a few families at Harpersfield, at Windsor, southwest about twenty miles, a family or two; also at Elk creek, forty miles northeast, and at Vernon, forty miles southeast, were several families, all of whom were in a destitute condition for provisions. In the year 1800 another family moved from Norfolk, Conn. In the spring of 1801 there was an accession of ten families to the settlement, principally from Norfolk, Conn. Part of these came from Buffalo by water, and part by land through the wilderness. During that season wheat was carried to mill at Elk creek, a distance of forty miles, and in some instances one-half was given for carrying it to mill and returning it in flour.

 

            On Wednesday, October 24, 1801, a church was constituted at Austinburg with sixteen members.  This was the first church on the Western Reserve, and was founded by the Rev. Joseph BADGER, the first missionary on the Reserve, a sketch of whom is in another part of this work.  It is a fact worthy of note, that in 1802 Mr. BADGER moved his family from Buffalo to this town in the first wagon that ever came from that place to the Reserve.

 

            The Jerks. – In 1803 Austinburg, MORGAN and HARPERSFIELD experienced a revival of religion by which about thirty-five from those places united with the church at Austinburg.  This revival was attended with the phenomena of "bodily exercises," then  common in the West.  They have been classified by a clerical writer as, 1^st, the Falling exercise; 2d, the Jerking exercise; 3d, the Rolling exercise; 4^th, the Running exercise; 5^th the Dancing exercise; 6^th, the Barking exercise; 7^th, Visions and Trances. We make room for an extract from his account of the second of the series, which sufficiently characterizes the remainder.

 

                It was familiarly called The Jerks, and the first recorded instance of its occurrence was at a sacrament in East Tennessee, when several hundred of both sexes were seized with this strange and involuntary contortion.  The subject was instantaneously seized with spasms or convulsions in every muscle, nerve, and tendon.  His head was thrown or jerked from side to side with such rapidity that is was impossible to distinguish his visage, and the most lively fears were awakened lest he should dislocate his neck or dash out his brains.  His body partook of the same impulse and was hurried on by like jerks over every obstacle, fallen trunks of trees, or in a church over pews and benches, apparently to the most imminent danger of being bruised or mangled.  It was useless to attempt to hold or restrain him, and the paroxysm was permitted gradually to exhaust itself. An additional motive for leaving him to himself was the superstitious notion that all attempt at restraint was resisting the spirit of God.

 

                From the universal testimony of those who have described these spasms, they appear to have been wholly involuntary. This remark is applicable also to all the other bodily exercises. What demonstrates satisfactorily their involuntary nature is not only that, as above stated, the twitches prevailed in spite of resistance, and even more for attempts to suppress them, but that wicked men would be seized with them while sedulously guarding against an attack, and cursing every jerk when made.  Travellers on their journey, and laborers in their daily work, were also liable to them.

 

 

Page 280

 

 from Jefferson, on L.S. & M.S. and N.Y.C. & St. L. Railroads, surrounded by a fine farming country.  Newspapers: Tribune, Republican, I. V. NEARPASS, editor.  Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian.  The principal industry is basket making, the Kingsville handle works employing 83 hands.  Population in 1880, 495.  The youth of Judge TOURGEE, author of "The Fool's Errand," was passed in this place.

 

            Albion W. TOURGEE. L.L.D., was born in Williamsfield in this county in 1838, and when seven years of age removed with his parents to Kingsville, near the lake.  At

 

 

the breaking out of the rebellion he was a student in the Rochester University, and enlisted in the 27^th New York; was wounded in the first battle of Bull Run.  In 1862 he was Lieutenant in the 105^th Ohio and served in Kentucky and was taken prisoner and spent several months in Libby and other prisons.  Being exchanged he rejoined his old regiment and was with it until after the battle of Chickamauga, when from his sufferings from his old wound, an injury to the spine, he was discharged.

 

            After the close of the war for twelve years he was a resident of North Carolina; held various offices, among which was that of a Judge of their Superior Court.  Observing the effects of reconstruction on the condition of the blacks and their old masters, the most noted of which were "A Fool's Errand" and "Bricks Without Straw." They had an immense circulation and their influence so great Mr. Garfield wrote a friend that in his opinion they turned the scale of the Presidential election in his favor.  His present residence in Mayville, N.Y.

 

            Ashtabula county was the most noted spot in the Union for its anti-slavery position. The county anti-slavery society was formed in June, 1832, followed by local anti-slavery societies in various parts of the county which continued during the entire period of anti-slavery contest.

 

                The 4^th of July, 1837, was celebrated by two local societies – one at Kingsville and the other at Ashtabula.  The radical element had no great force. When Abby KELLY and FOSTER and Parker PILLSBURY came and proclaimed that "the constitution was a covenant with death and a league with hell," all listened but few believed.  The societies here were mainly formed on the principle of moral suasion, declaiming against slavery as a wrong and opposing its extension. They denounced the fugitive slave law, and as meeting at Hart's Grove in December, 1850, they resolved "a law to strip us of our humanity, to divest us of all claims to Christianity and self-respect, and herd us with blood-hounds and men stealers upon penalty of reducing our children to starvation and nakedness.  Cursed be said law!" Again, "that sooner than submit to such odious laws we will see the slavery Union dissolved; sooner than see slavery perpetuated we would see war; and sooner than be slaves we will fight."  At this time there was a regular underground railway extending from Wheeling to the harbor at Ashtabula.  The people felt that the principle of freedom was fastened to the eternal principle of right and anchored in God himself.  While Benj. F.  WADE and Joshua R. GIDDINGS represented the sentiment of Ashtabula county in the Congress of the nation, a woman, Miss Betsy M.COWLES, by profession a teacher, by her fiery eloquence and intensity of feeling, more than any other person created in Ashtabula the sentiment which upheld them.  She was born in 1810 in Bristol, Conn., and was brought to Ohio an infant when her father, Rev. Dr. Giles Hooker COWLES, removed to Austinburg with his family.

 

                During the entire anti-slavery agitation Miss COWLES and her sister Cornelia were foremost in this work. Often after a stirring address an impromptu quartette would be improvised, Miss Cornelia sustaining the soprano and Miss Betsy the alto; and as their strong sweet voices rang out the touching strains, "Say, Christian, will you take me back? or that other saddest of lamentation,

 

                "Gone, gone; sold and gone

                To the rice swamp dank and lone,

                From Virginia's hills and water,

 

Page 281

 

            Bosoms hardened before thrilled in sympathy with an influence they could not but feel, and melted before a power they could not withstand.

 

            Nor was it alone for the slave that she made her voice heard and her influence felt.  The position of women before the law, and especially married women, early arrested her attention.

 

            "In 1848, in Seneca Falls, N.Y., a convention was called by Lucretia MOTT and Mrs. H. B. STANTON, for the purpose of obtaining from the constitutional convention about to meet in that State juster laws regarding women. Over this convention Lucretia MOTT presided. The next one was held in Salem, Ohio, for a similar purpose in 1850, and Betsy M. COWLES presided. She died in 1876 at her homestead in Austinburg. Useful as was her life, fitting as were her words and deeds, all who knew her felt that she was greater than all she did. She was indeed a perfect women nobly planned. It was not so much what she did, writes one who loved her, as the atmosphere she created which won all hearts. So sunny, genial and hospital was she that she drew all sufferers to her side."

 

 

BETSY M. COWLES.

 

            John BROWN and associates just prior to the raid on Harper's Ferry made West Andover in this county their headquarters.

 

            BROWN’S, Sharp's rifles and other materials of war were stored in the cabinet manufactory of King and Brothers on the creek road in Cherry valley.

 

            After the raid John BROWN, Jr., who resided in Cherry valley, was summoned to appear before the United States Senate and give evidence. Refusing to obey, their sergeant-at-arms was ordered to arrest him.  Apprehensive that an armed force would be sent not only to arrest him but to take Meriam, Owen BROWN and other fugitives in the vicinity, citizens of West Andover and neighborhood, organized a secret society, the "Independent Sons of Liberty," to defend these men with their lives if need be. Signals, signs, passwords and a badge were agreed upon, arms procured and a place of rendezvous selected. A State lodge was organized and finally a United States lodge.  The final object was to act politically and in a revolutionary manner if necessary for the overthrow of slavery.  Members in common parlance were called "Black Strings" from a badge which they wore, a black string tied into the buttonhole of their shirt collar.

 

            Rock Creek, sixteen miles south of Lake Erie, on the Ashtabula & Pittsburg R.R.  Newspapers: Banner, Republican, Scott & Remick, publishers.  Churches: 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist, 1 Disciples.  Bank: Morgan Saving and Loan Association, E.M. COVELL, president, W. W. WATKINS, cashier.  Principal industries are tannery, flouring, saw, planing and handle mills, moulding factory, etc.  Population in 1880, 558.

 

---