Loss of Clement N. Dorland.

     On a Thursday morning in June, 1816, John Dorland, aged sixteen years, (whose mind had been considerably impaired in consequence of bodily disease,) left home with his little brother Clement, aged two years and seven months, on an excursion in the woods, and after a few hours the two became separated, John returning home alone.  The country at this time was very wild and the settlement sparse.  The alarm, however, was immediately given, and a search commenced by the whole neighborhood, engaging in the work people from Wooster, twelve miles distant.  The first, second, and third days passed without any reward for the labor of the two hundred men who had been anxiously enlisted in the generous and humane work; and, as the forests were alive with wild beasts, the painful conclusion began to take possession of the minds of the family and friends of the little boy that he had fallen a victim to their savage hunger.  On Monday morning, however, the fourth day after his disappearance, Jonathan Hayes, whose own illness had prevented him from participating with his neighbors in the search, discovered the boy  under the following circumstances: he was out looking for his horse, and, just as he had found him, and while engaged in putting on the bridle, he heard a strange but subdued sound, among some fallen timber near him.   He concluded that it proceeded from a wild beast, and not being physically able to grapple with a savage animal, he determined to first mount his horse, and then reconnoiter the vicinity whence the sound had proceeded.  In putting this design into execution he soon discovered the lost child, the life of which, owing to hunger and exposure, was almost extinct.  Although in the month of June, there was a frost, as there had been every morning since the loss of the child.  Mr. Hayes took it up, wrapped it in his own coat, and conveyed it to Mrs. Chandler, the nearest neighbor, as related in another place.  Nicholas Carr was the bearer of the glad tidings of the discovery of the boy to his parents and friends.  The distance from the child's home to where he was found was about five miles.

Killed of Fright.

     Daniel, aged eight years, son of John Raver, during the year 1815 was killed of fright under these circumstances: he was engaged at play with other children, when a mouse darted up the inside of his pantaloons, causing such fright as to produce convulsions and his death within a few hours.

The War of 1812 Predicted by an Indian.

     While Mr. Dorland was residing upon Salt Creek, twelve miles south of Wooster, he was visited by an Indian acquaintance named Lyons.  This was in the fall of 1811.  He expressed to Mr. Dorland the  opinion that within a few months Great Britain and the United States would be engaged in a war, and in case this should occur, that the Indians generally would take sides with England.  He, however, gave his voluntary pledge to Mr. Dorland to protect him and his family to the full extent of his power, warning him at the proper time of his danger, etc.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 456