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Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. II

©1888

 

MEDINA COUNTY

 

Page 199

MEDINA COUNTY was formed February 18, 1812, "from that part of the Reserve west of the 11th range, south of the numbers 5, and east of the 20th range, and attached to Portage county until organized." It was organized in April, 1818.The county was settled principally from Connecticut, though within the last few years there has been a considerable accession of Germans. The surface is generally rolling, with much bottom land of easy tillage; the soil is principally clay and gravelly loam—the clayey portion scantily watered, the gravelly abundantly. The soil is better adapted to grass than grain.

 

Area about 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres. cultivated were, 103,232; in pasture, 80,523; woodland, 34,475; lying waste, 427; produced in wheat, 391,559 bushels; rye, 641; buckwheat, 54; oats, 647,262; barley, 414; corn, 447,268; broom-corn, 3,240 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 26,527 tons; clover hay, 14,785; flax, 362,664 lbs. fibre,, potatoes, 68,019 bushels; tobacco, 87,311 lbs.; butter, 847,995; cheese,          860,715; maple sugar, 92,162; honey, 17,140; eggs, 472,338 dozen; grapes, 5,200 pounds; wine, 5 gallons; sweet potatoes, 20 bushels; apples, 71,504; peaches, 4,807; pears, 1,160; wool, 241,748 pounds; milch cows owned, 8,828. Ohio mining statistics, 1888: Coal mined, 198,452 tons; employing 370 miners and 43 outside employees. School census, 1888, 6,572; teachers, 273. Miles of railroad track, 48.

 

 

 

Population of Medina in 1820 was 3,090; 1830, 7,560; 1840, 18,360; 1860, 22,517; 1880, 21,543, of whom 15,111 were born in Ohio; 1,805, Pennsylvania; 1,379, New York; 68, Kentucky; 57, Virginia; 18, Indiana; 590, England and Wales; 587, German Empire; 144, British America; 125, Ireland; 66, Scotland; and 39, France. Census, 1890, 21,742.

 

The first regular settlement in the county was made at Harrisville, on the 14th of February, 1811, by Joseph HARRIS, Esq., who removed from Randolph, Portage county, with his family, consisting of his wife and one child. The nearest white people were at Wooster, seventeen miles distant.

 

 

Page 200

 

is now Elyria, and at the mouth of the stream found a settler, named READ, whose habitation; excepting that of Mr. HARRIS, was the only one between there and Wooster.

 

In the June following Mr. HARRIS’S arrival he was joined by Russell BURR and George BURR and family, direct from Litchfield, Conn. In the summer after, on the breaking out of the war, Messrs. HARRIS and BURR removed their families for a few months to Portage county, from fear of the Indians, and returned themselves in October to Harrisville. The following winter provision was carried from the Middlebury mills, by the residence of Judge HARRIS, to Fort Stephenson, his cabin being the last on the route. The season is adverted to by the old settlers as "the cold winter." Snow lay to the depth of eighteen inches, from the lst of January to the 27th of February, during which the air was so cold that it did not diminish an inch in depth during the whole time.

 

An Indian trail from Sandusky to the Tuscarawas passed by the residence of Mr. HARRIS. It was a narrow, hard-trodden bridle-path. In the fall the Indians came upon it from the west to this region, remained through the winter to hunt and returned in the spring, their horses laden with furs, jerked venison and bear's oil, the last an extensive article of trade. The horses were loose and followed each other in single file. It was not uncommon to see a single hunter returning with as many as twenty horses laden with his winter's work and usually accompanied by his squaw and papooses, all mounted. The Indians often built their wigwams in this vicinity, near water, frequently a dozen within a few rods. They were usually made of split logs or poles covered with bark. Some of the chiefs had theirs made of flags, which they rolled up and carried with them. The Indians were generally very friendly with the settlers, and it was rare to find one deficient in mental acuteness.

 

In the fall of the same year that Mr. HARRIS settled at Harrisville, William LITEY, a native of Ireland, with his family, settled in Bath township, on or near the border of Portage county. In the winter of 1815, after the close of the war, the settlements began to increase. Among the early settlers are recollected the names of Esquire VAN HEINEN Zenas HAMILTON, Rufus FERRIS, James MOORE, the INGERSOLLS, Jones, SIBLEYS, FRIEZES, ROOTS, DEMINGS, Warner, HOYT, DEAN and DURHAM

 

Medina in 1846.—Medina, the county-seat, is on the stage road from Cleveland to Columbus, twenty-eight miles from the first and one hundred and seventeen from the latter. It was originally called Mecca—and is so marked on the early maps of Ohio—from the Arabian city famous as the birth-place of Mahomet. it was afterwards changed to its present name, being the seventh place on the globe of that name. The others are, Medina, a town of Arabia Deserta, celebrated as the burial-place of Mahomet; Medina, the capital of the kingdom of Woolly, West Africa; Medina, a town and fort on the island of Bahrein, near the Arabian shore of the Persian gulf^. Medina, a town in Estremadura, Spain; Medina, Orleans county, N. Y., and Medina, Lenawee county, Michigan.

 

On the organization of the county in 1818, the first court was held in a barn, now standing half a mile north of the court-house. The village was laid out that year, and the next season a few settlers moved in. The township had been previously partially settled. In 1813 Zenas HAMILTON moved into the central part with his family, from Danbury, Conn. His nearest neighbor was some eight or ten miles distant. Shortly after came the families of Rufus FERRIS, Timothy DOANE, Lathrop SEYMOUR, James MOORE, Isaac BARNES, Joseph NORTHROP, Friend IVES, Abijah MANN, James PLAMER, William PAINTER, Frederick APPLETON etc., etc.

 

 

Page 201

 

were standing, forming a part of the forest, and in the afternoon Rev. Mr. SEARLE preached a sermon in the finished church.*

 

From an early day religious worship in some form was held in the township on the Sabbath. The men brought their families to "meeting" in ox-teams, in which they generally had an axe and an anger to mend their carts in case of accidents, the roads being very bad. The first wedding was in March, 1818, at which the whole settlement were present. When the ceremony and rejoicings were over each man lighted his flambeau of hickory bark and made his way home through the forest. The early settlers got their meal ground at a log-mill at Middlebury; although but about twenty miles distant, the journey there and back occupied five days. They had only ox-teams, and the rough roads they cut through the woods, after being passed over a few times, became impassable from mud, compelling them to continually open new ones.

 

Owing to the want of a market the products of agriculture were very low. Thousands of bushels of wheat could at one time be bought for less than twenty-five cents per bushel, and cases occurred where ten bushels were offered for a single pound of tea, and refused. As an example: Mr. Joel BLAKESLEE, of Medina, about the year 1822, sowed fifty-five acres in wheat, which he could only sell by bartering with his neighbors. He fed out most of it in bundles to his cattle and swine. All that he managed to dispose of for cash was a small quantity sold to a traveller, at 122 cents per bushel, as feed for his horse. Other products were in proportion. One man brought an ox-wagon filled with corn from Granger, eight miles distant, which he gladly exchanged for three yards of satinet for a pair of pantaloons. It was not until the opening of the Erie canal that the settlers had a market.

 

From that time the course of prosperity has been onward. The early settlers, after wearing out their woollen pantaloons, were obliged to have them seated and kneed with buckskin, in which attire they attended church. It was almost impossible to raise wool, in consequence of the abundance of wolves, who destroyed the sheep.

 

The view given on the annexed page of the public square in Medina was taken from the steps of the new court-house; the old court-house and the Baptist church are seen on the right. The village contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Bap­tist, 1 Free Will Baptist, 1 Methodist and 1 Universalist church, 7 dry goods, 5 grocery, 1 book and 2 apothecary stores, 1 newspaper printing office, 1 woollen and 1 axe factory, 1 flouring mill, 1 furnace, and had, in 1840, 655 inhabitants, since which it has increased.—Old Edition.

 

MEDINA, county-seat of Medina, twenty-eight miles southwest of Cleveland, about one hundred miles northeast of Columbus, is the centre of a farming region, the principal products of which are grain, butter and cheese. It is on the C. L. & W. R. R.

 

County Officers, 1888: Auditor, Alfred L. CORMAN; Clerk, Nicholas VAN EPP Commissioners, Richard FREEMAN, John PEARSON, Noah N. YODER; Coroner, Aaron SANDERS; Infirmary Directors, William F. NYE, Henry MILLS, Samuel B. CURTIS; Probate Judge, John T. GRAVES; Prosecuting Attorney, Jesse W. SEYMOUR; Recorder, Jacob LONG; Sheriff, Norman P. NICHOLS; Surveyor