Josiah Flowers, who preached in 1849, was an undaunted Temperance lecturer.  He delivered a lecture one evening at Geneva, and he pelted the hotel keeper who sold liquor at the bar, with the full force of his tongue.  The next morning the hotel keeper came to him and told him if he did not retract what he had said in his lecture, he would whip him.  Flowers being a very large broad-chested man, pulled off his coat, stretched himself up to his full height, spread his arms, and told his antagonist he was ready, and now was the best time to fulfil his treat.  The hotel keeper walked off and troubled him no more.

     There was very little done by the Episcopalians in Jefferson until 1837.  Occasionally an Episcopal minister preached in Jefferson.  In December, 1836, Samuel Wright of Austinburg, Dr. Almon Hawley and Mrs. A. Hawley his first wife, felt a deep interest in having an Episcopal Church or Parish, organized in Jefferson.  Accordingly Rev. Thomas H. Quinn, missionary to St. Matthews, at Ashtabula, (the name was afterward changed to St. Peters of Ashtabula, and the Plymouth church was called St. Matthews; the church at Rome was also named St. Peters), held services here Dec. 11, 1836, and articles of Association were drawn up for the organization of a

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Parish.  A meeting was held which eventuated in the formation of a Church on the 26th of July, 1837.  The first communion administered in Trinity church in Jefferson, was on Nov. 5, 1837, by Thomas H. Quinan.  From this time on, services were held occasionally by John Hall till 1838; by C. C. Townsend till 1840; from that time till 1845 by John Hall; then by A. Varian, J. Sunderland, A. McLerd; Humprey Hollis accepted the charge of the Parish in 1846 and resigned in 1851.
     The clergy in charge from that time, have been; John Hall, Hmphrey Hollis, H. C. H. Dudley, S. L. Bellam, James Bonner and N. P. Charlott.  Their services were held in Judge Warner's school house and the Court House till 1846.  Then Judge Warner gave them the school house, and they moved it on the lot where their new house now stands.  It was fitted up and services were held in it until they built their present elegant church in 1876.  The building committee of the new church were Mrs. Israel Turner, Mrs. Noah Hoskin and Mrs. C. E. Warner.  When the church was formed there were twenty members, there are now twenty-one.
     I have received no records of the Catholic Church in Jefferson, but from recollection I think they held but very few meetings until 1860.  After that they had preaching occasionally, and held their meetings in the Town hall and in private houses.  About the year 1869 they built a new Church about one-half mile east of the village,  It burned down the same year it was finished.  A priest by the name of Thorp preached to them.  He went away soon after the church was burned.  They then, with their Insurance money received for the burned Church, purchased the house and lot formerly owned by Benjamin Gaylord, nearly opposite the Congregational Church, where they built another Church in 1876.
     There are so many who seem interested in reading bear stories that I will venture to relate a true one which happened on Sunday during religious services in the Court House.  About 1820, Sheriff Atkins had caught a young bear, and chained it to a stake, between the Court House and jail.  Being well fed during the summer, it had grown to be a very large bear.  In those times they had two sermons every Sunday, and had an

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intermission of one hour at noon.  During this intermission the boys would go and plague the bear by punching him with sticks, to see how spiteful he would run at them the full length of his chain.  One afternoon the bear took it into his head (speaking as we would of men under the same circumstances) that he would have revenge for his ill treatment, so with his herculean strength, he gave a leap and snapped his chain, and then he was at liberty.  He did not like to rush into the meeting immediately, when there were so many people, lest he might be overpowered; but seeing a very long ladder from the ground to the eaves of the Court House, he went up that ladder and seated himself on the ridge of the roof, thus to draw the people out and break up their meeting, and he was successful in that respect; some person outside saw him and whispering it in the house, it went from one to another that the bear was loose.  There was a general rush for the door, and the minister had to close his preaching.  Daniel Squires, the great hunter, shot at him but did not hurt him much.  He came down the ladder and then the boys kept at a proper distance.  A Mr. Wheeler lived where Squire Norris lives now; the bear ran over there which frightened the women, and they ran in and fastened the door.  He went into their pig pen thinking to take a pig; Squires shot him and did not disable him; he then ran out of the pen, the men after him, and shortly, with ax and gun they succeeded in killing him.  This may teach us a moral; that if we are misused we should not seek revenge, for if we do, in the end it may prove as bad to us as it did to the bear.
     The people of Jefferson have generally been energetic, earnest and persevering in the cause of education; before they could even get time to build a log school house, about 1812 they employed Miss Clarinda Hickok, daughter of Durlin Hickok, Sen., to teach school in a vacated log cabin about one mile north west of the Court House on the south bank of the creek which runs west one half mile north of the Court House; there she taught all the children in Jefferson, what there were then, both from the village and country, and then the house was not crowded.
     The next school was taught in a small log house near Es-

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quire Chas. Simonds   As soon as there were settlers enough to do it, they built a block, or hewed log, school house, on the corner where the road turned north near Judge Warner's.
     In 1825 a few enterprising citizens formed a stock company for the purpose of building an academy.  They divided the cost of the building into shares of ten dollars each.  The shares were all taken, and the house was completed in 1826.  It was a very good two-story building, the lower part finished for a school room, the upper part for a Masonic hall, and was used for that purpose until after the Morgan excitement.  Then the Masons disbanded and it was fitted up with desks for a school-room.  It was used a number of years for holding religious meetings on Sunday, and also for holding township meetings.  I think Lucius M. Austin, of Austinburg, taught the first school in the Academy.
     The building, after being given up as a school house, for some years was devoted to other uses until it was bought by John Ducro, who with his brothers, carried on the business of cabinet making.  The Ducro's sold it to A. R. Beckwith, and it comprises the east part of his block.  The lower part is used for his shoe store, and the upper part for a family residence.
     In 1836, the village, by an at of the Legislature, became an incorporated town, and the borough became a separate school district from the township.  About 1843 the School Directors of the borough built a new school building, one story high.  (That building is now the lower part of the Boarding hall for the present High School.)
     In the spring of 1848, Mr. Parsons, father of our townsman, Luke Parsons, came here and was employed to teach what was called a Union School.  If I rightly understand it, there were graded schools, in different departments under the same roof, and a teacher in each of the schools.  The teacher in the highest department presiding over, or having the oversight of the others.  Mr. Parsons being a very successful teacher, they needed more room, and the District agreed to build another story onto the school house.  Accordingly, C. Udell was employed in October, 1848, to do the work.  It was to be finished by the first of December.  Many will recollect as being the

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fall that General Taylor was elected.  There came a deep snow on the 7th of November, and it was a trying job to dig lumber from under two feet of snow; but the work was completed and the school was in full blast that winter.  Of course the job could not be very well done amid the snow and ice.
     In process of time, as the population of our village increased and in 1850 our Legislature passed a law giving incorporated towns and cities the privilege of raising special taxes for the support of High Schools, the District elected their Board of Officers in pursuance of the law, in 1852, and raised taxes sufficient to keep up a very good school in the second Academy building.
     The first School Board was Abner Kellogg, President; C. S. Simonds, Clerk; H. S. Hunt, Treasurer; Harrison Loomis, Reuben Warren, N. L. Chaffee.  In 1852, the Board taxed each pupil eighteen cents for firewood.  In February, 1853, the Board appropriated $100 to pay the teachers for the winter term:  Mr. Slater, the principal, $53; Miss Moore, $25; Miss Wakefield, $22.
     The present Board are:  Henry Talcott, President; E. Jay Pinney, Clerk; J. C. A. Bushnell, Treasurer; R. M. Norton, J. A. Howells and W. R. Allen.  They pay for all the teachers $2,898 per year.
     As I said before, in the increase of population, and the increased spirit for a higher education growing with it, our citizens felt the need of a more spacious and inviting building to encourage the young in their studies.  With this feeling they voted to purchase a lot adjoining the east public square, and put up a good school building.  In the fall of 1870 arose the present splendid building, and now with its fine graded lawn, it presents a very attractive appearance.  The builder was J. M. Watters.  The attendance under the present managers of the Educational Institution, Messrs. Arner and Viets, is about one hundred and fifty, with all the advantages to be secured outside of a College.
     The citizens of the township have not been behind in their Educational interest.  From that small beginning in in which all the children in the town and township were collected in a log cabin, to learn their first les-

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sons, there are now eight School Districts, all having good school houses, well supplied with bright, smiling, intelligent children.

     Jonathan Loomis came from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Jefferson in the spring of 1823; he was then twenty-five years old.  He came on foot, carrying two trunks, in which he brought goods and peddled on the way, to bear his expenses.  He staid here a short time, selected one hundred acres of lands, (it being the farm now owned by Daniel March,) and then walked to the city of New York, his trunks affording him the same necessary means for traveling that they did on his journey here.  He purchased his land of J. P. Varnum, of New York, for $3 per acre.  From New York he went directly to Suffield, Connecticut, and married Miss Cynthia Spencer in 1823.  Then with pioneer energy they immediately packed all their household goods into a one-horse wagon and started for their new home in Jefferson.  They were twenty-one days on the road.  They moved into an old vacant log house for awhile, but he very soon had up a log cabin on his own land, and lived in that until 1830.  He then built the upright front of the house where Daniel March lives now.  Mrs. Loomis was an invalid for thirty years before her death, which took place in 1863.
     Mr. Loomis had six children, three of whom died quite young.  Hart, his second son, enlisted in the Union army during the late Rebellion, sickened and died while in the service of his country.  His other son, B. J. Loomis, is well known as a very efficient newspaper reporter, and has been clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives ten sessions.  Jonathan Loomis is still living and is nearly 80 years of age.

     Henry Loomis removed from Suffield, Connecticut, to Jefferson, in 1823, with his wife and one child, bringing their household goods in a one-horse wagon.  He purchased ninety-five acres of land about a mile and a half east of the Court House.  In the spring of 1824 he built a log cabin in the then dense forest.  They were soon living in their new home, and with his ax, yoke of oxen and fire, he soon made an opening around his house, ready to receive the seed for a crop of corn.  His wife being the sister of Jonathan Loomis, possessed a full share of his indomitable perseverance.  Mrs. Loomis soon had

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the necessary furniture to commence house-keeping in those times, which were the large and small spinning wheels and the loom.  With intense labor in the use of these articles, and the most rigid economy, she produced an income which assisted her husband greatly in supporting the family and improving their new farm.  In 1830 they built a good frame house.  The house and farm are now owned by Mr. Purdy.  In a short time they not only paid for their farm, but began to accumulate money, and were probably the first persons living in Jefferson who had a deposit in a bank.
     In 1850, his son, Henry S. Loomis, built a house about half a mile east of the Court House, and his father left his old home in 1856 and moved in with his son; since that time it has been his home.  His wife died in 1876 aged 74 years.  Mr. Loomis is now 83 years old.  They lost one child in infancy, and Henry S. is their only surviving child.
     Mrs. Fanny Frost, a widow and her sister to Henry Loomis came to Jefferson in 1829.  Her son and daughter came with her and built the first house on the road directly south of the Court House.  The place is now owned by Mr. Betts.  Her son and daughter died a few years after they came here, and Mrs. Frost died here in 1843, at the age of 84 years.
     I will relate an incident in her life which shows that she possessed an uncommonly persevering spirit.  It is still in the memory of many, of the dreadful burning of the steamboat Washington, which started from Ashtabula in 1836.  A short time after leaving Ashtabula, it was burned near Silver Creek.  If I recollect right, there were nearly one hundred lives lost.  Mrs. Frost was on the boat, going to visit her friends in the east.  The flames were raging furiously; when the first boat was lowered Mrs. Frost came on deck with all speed, dragging her trunk, which she wanted to be saved, but the boat was full and had pushed off.  The captain told her she could go in the next load.  When the boat returned there was a great rush for it.  Mrs. F., with desperate energy, pushed through the crowd, seized the rope and lowered herself into the boat.  It was her salvation, for it was the last boat that was saved.  The trunk was left to the fire.  On going toward the shorethe water ran into the boat, and they were fearful it would

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sink.  Mrs. F. cried, "You fools! why don't you pull off your hats and bail her out?"  They did so, and it was said that she thus saved the boat from sinking.

     Almond Loomis came from Massachusetts with his father in 1838, he was then sixteen years old.  In 1841 he commenced learning the carpenter and joiner's trade with C. Udell and remained with him about five years, he then commenced business for himself; by steady habits and persevering industry, he paid for a small farm about one mile east of the Court House.  In 1849 he built a good house where he resides not.  In 1848 he married Miss Hannah Knapp and they both enjoy a good reputation in the community.

     Erastus Goodale came from Buffalo, New York, to Jefferson.  He commenced his pioneer life with his family, in the woods, on what is now called the Lenox Centre road, over a mile south of the late Dr. Hawley's.  He began like all other early settlers living in a log cabin.  At that time there was no road farther south than where the road turns to Dorset, and he was actually as much inclosed with forest as those who came here twenty years earlier than he.  By his own labor, with some assistance from others, he soon had the road chopped and cleared out, four rods wide, to Dr. Hawley's.  By labor and perseverance, in a few years he had quite a large farm under cultivation, had built a new house and was living comfortably; his wife died in 1865.  They had seven children, five sons and two daughters.  Two of their children have died, the other five all settled in Jefferson.  About 1871 he married Mrs. Fricker, and in 1876 he built a house half a mile south of the Court House, where they intend to spend their declining years.

     James Hoyt moved to Jefferson with his wife and one child, in 1817.  He remained here one eyar, then removed to Springfield, Ohio.  In 1825 he moved back to Jefferson again; his family then consisted of his wife and four children.  Not long afterward he bought the frame addition on the south side of the old jail, and moved it on the spot where Mr. Furtune's new house stands.  Mr. Hoyt lived here until about 1830; he then sold the house to Colonel Jones.
     The old house has quite a history.  Col. Jones kept it to rent, and the first tailor who settled in Jefferson, a Scotchman

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named Ganderson occupied it until he left Jefferson.  It then changed owners several times, and Mr. Fortune after living in it fifteen years, sold it to Mrs. Walker, and she has moved it on to her lot and fitted it up to sell, after having been built fifty-seven years.  It was first used for a bar-room in which to sell liquor; it was next used for a store, the only place where merchant goods were sold in town; afterward occupied by the first tailor in town.  Many are the children that have opened their eyes the first time in that dear old home; and some have closed their eyes there for the last time on earth.  It bids fair to house two or three generations yet.
     But I have diverged.  I must return to Mr. Hoyt.  He built the large frame house where Solomon Wright now lives, and sold it to Col. Jones about 1837.  He also built the house he lives in now.  He is about 87 years old and by trade a shoemaker; his custom in early days was to do what they called "Whipping the cat."  That was to go from house to house with his kit of tools, work in the room with the family, board with them, and make their boots and shoes for the ensuing year.  While he was at work at Aaron Thorp, this side of Eagleville, Jotham Williams and Jerry Van Wormer, then living at Throp's went deer hunting one day.  They returned a little before sunset, but had killed no deer.  Hoyt said he would try his skill, so he took his gun and went about half a mile in a different direction for the way they came; he came to an opening in the woods, and saw two large deer.  He fired his gun; one deer fell and the other ran away.  After making a rope of bark, he drew the one he had killed home, as that was the common way to bring in deer.  He said the other deer would be on the spot the next morning looking for its mate; he started early with his gun, found the deer and shot it.  Thus he killed two deer without losing any time from his work.
     The first opening in the northwest part of Jefferson in the woods, was made by James Merrifield, a foreigner, in 1825 - He came here a stranger, engaged his board at Timothy Cook's, who resided on the farm now owned by Edwin Strong.  He brought considerable gold with him.  He had previously purchased from parties in the city of Washington eight acres of

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land adjoining George Webster's on the north.  It is now owned by James Doyle.  He had chopped about five acres, walking to and from Mr. Cook's morning and evening, a distance of about two miles, for his board, carrying his dinner.  One night he did not come home, and Mr. Cook became alarmed about his safety; he took a lantern and went to his chopping, but did not find him.  The next morning he gave the alarm that Merrifield was lost.  All the men and boys in the township were soon collected with horns and guns, and formed a line from east to west, extending from the road leading from the Court House to Ashtabula to the east line of Austinburg, within hearing of each other.  They started directly north through the wilderness, and had gone about two and a half miles when the middle column found Merrifield some time after noon, nearly exhausted, wandering in the cranberry marsh.  The snow, sleet and hunger had to reduced him that without aid he would have died in the swamp.  The horns were sounded, and the company closed up to the man for whom they had been hunting.  With some refreshment, and aid from the men, he was enabled to walk to the settlement; with a grateful heart he invited us all to partake of a dinner at Mr. Cook's on a day appointed.  The invitation was accepted, and the dinner was of the most liberal and bountiful character.  I believe he did not chop any more on his place; he soon left town, and in a few years after died somewhere west, and an administrator was appointed, but as no relatives of the deceased could be found, in process of time, the whole eight acres of land were sold for taxes for the sum of one dollar and sixty-five cents.  It is now worth thirty dollars per acre.

     Harrison Loomis came to Jefferson in 1823; then a single man.  With his brother, he made quite a length of turnpike, between Jefferson and Denmark.  For doing this job Mr. Granger agreed to pay them in land. Loomis selected eighty acres about half a mile east of the Court House; purchase price, $5 per acre . It was all a wilderness zt that time; it is the fine improved farm where he now lives.  By persevering industry in making the road, and other earnings, he succeeded in paying for the land.   About 1828 he built a log cabin. In 1831 he married Miss Harriet Spencer, and they commenced

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house-keeping in their log cabin.  After his marriage, they both worked energetically, enduring all the hardships incident to clearing up a new farm and raising a large family.  By 1845 they had accumulated enough, so they built the house where they now live.  Their family consisted of twelve children, ten sons and two daughters.  One of the daughters died while quite young.  One son died in full manhood, in 1877, and the other nine have all attained their majority.  Five of them are living in Jefferson; the daughter and two of the sons are yet at the old homestead.  George is living in the east part of the village; Milo, our accomplished photographer, lives second door east of the Episcopal Church.  The other five are settled in different parts of the country.  Mr. Loomis is how seventy-three years old, and he and his wife are still living on the old home stead, respected and esteemed by their neighbors.
     About 1827, Silas Williams, father of Joseph and Charles and Mrs. B F. Markham, bought the farm occupied by Salmon Bunnel.  In 1836, while returning from Hubbard with a load of wheat on a sleigh, a limb blew off a tree,  near the present residence of William Grant, and fell on Mr. Williams and killed him instantly.  He was forty-four years old at the time of his death.  

     R. D. Burgess came here from Connecticut in 1836, a single man, and purchased eighty acres of land about two miles south of the Court House, on which there was a small piece cleared.  He married Miss Matilda Church in 1838.  Soon after, he built a very good house, the same that he lives in now, with some additions made since.  By industry and economy he succeeded in improving his farm until he now has an excellent farm and good buildings.  Mr. and Mrs. Burgess are each of them 71 years old.  They had but one child, Walter, who was County Treasurer two years. After his term of office had expired he purchased one-half of the brick building called Warren & Holmes' block, and established a Deposit bank in that building.  His Deposit or Private Bank was changed to the Jefferson Savings Bank and afterward merged into the Second National Bank.  He died in 1872 at the age of 35 years. 

     Oliver Atwell came to Jefferson from the State of New York in 1832, with his wife and two daughters, he bought

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forty acres of land about one and one half miles south of the Court House.  The farm is how owned by Erastus Pritchard.  He built a log house on it, and commenced like other early settlers, with hard work, cutting down the forest and clearing off the land in order to obtain a livelihood from the soil for his family.  In 1842 he sold his farm to Anson Alger, and bought a piece of land about one half mile south of the Court House, and built a small frame house on it.  With the help of a very persevering, industrious wife, they procured means to build' their present good house in 1846.  Mr. Atwell went to California in the early days of the land of gold, and brought home some of the precious metal.  He died in 1872; his widow still lives on the old homestead, her oldest daughter and grandson living with her.  The youngest daughter lives at Atlanta, Ga. 

     In 1826, Polly Knapp, the first tailoress, and in fact, tailor, had the frame of the house opposite the Baptist Church where our County Treasurer, D. L. Crosby now lives, put. up and en closed.  In 1828 she sold it to George Brown, who fitted it up for a store and dwelling house, and traded there a number of years, then sold it to Judge R. P. Ranney, son-in-law of Judge Warner.  He finished off the whole house for a dwelling, and lived in it until 1848; then sold it to Cornelius Udell and others with the design of making a parsonage of it.  Elder B. G. Knapp moved into it, in or about 1846, and rented it until we bought it. Mr. Knapp died in the house about 1850.  The place not being paid for, C. Udell assumed the indebtedness, and sold it to S. D. Hoskin, and he occupied it until 1864, then sold it to E. D. Knapp. Mr. Hoskin then bought the large house opposite the late Dr. Hawley's, in 1866, and in 1876 sold it to Geo. Sheldon, who is still living in the house.   Mr. H. moved with his family to Pennsylvania.  

     Ansel Udell came to Jefferson from Austinburg, in 1826, a single man, twenty-two years old.  Lived with Judge Austin of Austinburg, from 1822 to 1826.  In 1827 he worked in Painesville seven months at nine dollars per month, then purchased a piece of land one mile north of the Court House.— There was a small-opening made on it in the woods, and a log house built.  The farm is now owned by Salmon Bunnell.  The year that he came here he commenced driving the hack, carry-

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ing the mail from Unionville to Meadville.  It was then a wilderness most of the way.  There were but four school houses on the route from Jefferson to Meadville, and they were made of logs.  His oldest sister and Miss Mary May solicited him to try and obtain schools for them to teach.  He got a school for each of them between here and Meadville, and was very glad to carry them back and forth to their schools, and I surmise that Mary's stage fare was not very high, for her company seems to have been quite pleasant to him while driving through those lonely woods, for before her term of school closed they both concluded it would be better for them to keep house than for him to hire his board and for her to teach school away there in the woods.  Accordingly they were married in 1829, and they lived in their log house till 1833, then built the house where Mr. Bunnell now lives.  He is now 73 years old, and his wife is 72.
     Mr. Udell has furnished me the following statement:  He commenced transporting the United States mail January 1st, 1828, from Jefferson to Unionville, Lake county, and back to Jefferson twice a week; and from Jefferson to Meadville, Pennsylvania, once a week to supply the following Post Offices:  Unionville, Harpersfield, Austinburg, Jefferson, Denmark, Pierpont, Penn Line, Linesville, Brightstown and Meadville.  That was the first mail carried through from Pierpont to Meadville, and the inhabitants were few and far between, and he became acquainted with every one on the route.  The pay was $4 a week and the distance traveled was one hundred and forty miles a week.  July 1st, 1848, he commenced carrying the mail from Jefferson to Geneva twice a week, and from Jefferson to Harmonsburg, Pa., once a week.  In 1860 he carried the mail from Jefferson to Warren, Trumbull county, three times a week, and back.  July 1st, 1864, he commenced carrying the mail from Jefferson to Geneva and back six times a week, and continued to carry it six times a week for twelve years.  His contracts in all, for carrying the mail, extended through twenty-four years.  He did not carry it all the time himself, but let it out to others part of the time; but the travel he actually did himself in carrying the mail was over fifty thousand miles.

     Merrit Jerome came from Harpersfield to Jefferson, a single man at the age of 21, in 1825.  He bought sixteen acres of land
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one and fourth miles north of Court House, built a log house in the woods and commenced improving his land.  In 1827, he married Mrs. Eunice Sikes, sister of Uriah Loomis a former sheriff in this county.  In 1827 he built his present house, and with rigid economy and hard work by himself and family, in a few years they had added to their land, so that now they have a good improved farm of ninety-five acres.  They had eight children, five sons and three daughters; one son and one daughter died quite young; four of their children are living in Jefferson, one in Plymouth and one in Lenox.  Mrs. Jerome died in 1874.  He is now seventy-three years old and living with his son in the old homestead.  They have had a re-union or family gathering once each year for eleven years, in which their children and grand-children have all been present at each gathering, with the exception of Merrit, who has been West a part of the time:
     The following incident was furnished by an old settler:
     Mr. Webster, accompanied by Merrit Jerome, a friend and neighbor of his, went out one morning for the purpose of enjoying a little sport, and procure some venison.  They had been in the woods probably not more than an hour before Mr. W., had brought down three nice deer, and having just re-loaded his rifle with his last bullet, he saw a big buck tearing along through the woods toward them at a 2:40 speed.  Mr. W., true as steel, was ready to give him a salute.  Unfortunately, the shot only taking effect in the leg, did not bring him down; but leaving traces of blood in the snow , they knew he had taken a "pill."  Starting their dog in pursuit he soon came up with the deer in the creek since know as Pub. Jones' creek, just above the culvert north of the Court House, where he kept the dog at bay, until the hunters came up.  Having expended his last ball, Mr. W. could not shoot again, and thought they would lose their prize at last; but Jerome told him he believed he could kill the deer.  Taking his jack knife from his pocket and opening it, he made a charge upon the game, contrary to the earnest protestations and warnings of his companion to desist from so hazardous an encounter, but to no purpose; he rushed wildly on, eager for the fray.  Webster remembering the old fable about the bear “whispering” followed hastily on.  The

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deer seeing himself so vigorously assailed by dog and men, beat a hasty retreat, and in passing between them and the bank Mr. J. thought that by throwing himself upon the deer's back, he could crush him down and then easily cut his throat.  But instead of finding his expectation realized, he found he had mounted a steed fully able to carry his burden, which he did, making furious leaps, until Mr. J., by a successful move, severed the jugular vein in the deer's next, which shortly brought heap.  He crawled away on his hands and knees, amid the uproarious laughter of Mr. Webster, and Jerome vowed that if Webster had any more deer to kill he might do it himself; for he thought a deer was the ugliest thing he ever undertook to ride.

     Anson Alger came to Jefferson in 1839; was then about 21 years of age.  In 1842 he married Miss Eliza Bancroft; lived in different places until 1846; he then bought a wilderness farm on the Dorset road about one-half mile southeast from the Court House.  They commenced living in a log house on their new farm, and with a good constitution, steady habits and per severing industry, in a few years he had his farm well improved and a good house and barn built.  They had one son and two daughters; their son enlisted in the Union Army in 1862, and died in the army with the small pox, while in Washington, D . C .  One of his daughters, Mrs. Thomas Fricker, is living in North Carolina; the other, Mrs. George Beckwith, is living in Jefferson.  His wife died early in the spring of 1868; he married Mrs. Diantha Brown, the last of December, 1868, and they moved into the house near the depot, where they live now.

     Harry Brown settled on the farm now owned by Francis Hodgeman in the northwest part of the town in 1838, and cleared a few acres and then left the place.

     Simon Brown was the first permanent settler in that part of the township; he improved about 100 acres of land and died on the farm in 1862.  It is now owned by Edward Sodon.

     Ralsmond Webster commenced improving the farm in 1842, where Vincent Reynolds lives now.  Webster lived on it several years, then moved West.

     George Webster moved to that neighborhood in 1849; he
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commenced in the woods in the usual way by living in a log cabin, and clearing away the forest, and in a few years by faithful labor he had secured to himself a fine farm.  In 1862 he built the excellent house in which he lives now.  He was born in Jefferson, and is the only one of the early settlers now living in that part of the township.

     Harvey R. Green came to Jefferson in 1839; in 1843 he married Miss Betsey Loomis, sister of Lester Loomis.  He built a log house in the woods on the farm lately owned by John Walker, and moved there with his young wife and commenced cutting down the timber, but not being accustomed to clearing land, in about a year he moved into the neighborhood of the mill and has lived there ever since.  He bought the sash factory of Durlin Hickok, and run it a number of years.

     Joseph Stevens settled in the northwest part of the town on the farm now owned by David Hodgeman , in 1844. In 1856, he sold to Hodgeman, built and moved into the house where Lester Loomis his son - in -law now lives, and he has lived there ever since.  His wife died in 1870 . He is now ninety - two years old and is the oldest man in Jefferson; he is still active and does considerable work.

     M. W. Wright was born in Conneaut, in 1818, and moved to Dorset in 1848; was elected Sheriff in 1853, moved to Jefferson and was re-elected in 1855; he held the office four years and went to Kingsville with his family in 1857, and that is now his home.  His father moved to Conneaut, he lived about half way between Conneaut village and Kelloggsville.  Sheriff Wright informed me that when he was about ten years old he walked barefoot four miles through the woods, from his father's too Kelloggsville, carrying butter to market; selling it for six cents per pound, and paying $1,50 per pound for tea.

      D. H. Prentice, formerly of Harpersfield, came to Jefferson and purchased the land where Ephraim Ward lives, in the east part of the township, and moved on to it in the spring of 1848, into a log house formerly built by Thomas Oliver, of whom he bought his land.  David Hotchkiss lived in the same house the winter before while building a log house on the farm where he has lived ever since that time.  Messrs. Dickenson and Dudley built the same season, all living east of Prentice.  Mr.

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Dickenson died several years ago; his wife died in 1877; and his two sons are living on the old farm; they have improved it and built a fine house.  Mr. Hotchkiss and wife are still living on the same farm, with all the improvements in land and buildings which by previous hard labor makes them comfortable in their declining years.

     John Hart built a saw mill in that neighborhood in 1848, which was then considered the best mill in the county.  In 1830, a Mr. Thorp moved into a house on Mr. Prentice's place.  Some ten years after taking possession of the place, his wife was instantly killed by the accidental discharge of a gun, in the hands of her son.  Soon after this sad occurrence, he left town.  In 1850, Mr. P. sold his farm to John Hart, and bought the place he now occupies, two miles north of the village.  He has two sons and one daughter living.  One son is a lawyer in Iowa and the other is engaged with him in carrying on the farm.  The daughter in married and lives in Indiana.  At the time Mr. Prentice moved into the east neighborhood, it was all a wilderness.  At that time, deer and turkeys were plenty. - Prentice went for them one day and succeeded in getting within a few feet of a large buck whose horns covered half his body, and he being more expert in farming than shooting, became a little nervous, facing such monstrous horns, the deer went off but not the gun.

     Thomas Oliver came from Maryland to Jefferson in 1827, with two children.  He was then a widower, and owned considerable land in different parts of the township.  In 1828 he built a log house on an eighty acre lot owned in the east part of the town, and lived in the house with Mr. Thorp's family.  In the same house in December, 1828, he married Polly Ann Kelley.  He sold most of his land and lived in different places until 1846, when he moved into the village, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1867; his second wife died in February, 1865; he married Louisa S. Palmer, the latter part of 1854; he had ten children, they have all died but three; two sons are living in Jefferson, the daughter, Mrs. Orrin Knapp, in Ashtabula.  His widow lives on the old homestead.  He was elected township clerk in 1844 or '45, and held the office until near his death; he was elected Justice of the Peace several

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years in succession; he was a regular ordained preacher in the Reformed Methodist Church and preached in different places a number of years.

     N. E. French, who has been identified with the agricultural interests of Ashtabula County, and one of the early and active members of the Ashtabula County Agricultural Society, was elected County Treasurer in 1857, and soon after moved to Jefferson, where he has since resided.  Mr. F. although practically out of agricultural has, since his residence here, done much towards developing and improving the methods of cultivation in our county.  In 1864, on the organization of the first Bank, he was made cashier, and much of the stability and profit of the institution is due to his business ability.  He retained the position of cashier until within a year or two when on account of ill health he was compelled to resign.  He occupies a house on the corner of Walnut and Market streets, the original frame of which is one of the oldest in town.

     Levi French, uncle of N. E. French and father of Mortimer French, moved to Jefferson about 1816, and lived in a log house, if I rightly remember, across the street east of the Court House.  He only lived here a year or two and removed to Lenox; his widow lives with her son Mortimer, north of the village.  One day, just before night, she started to come home from what was called the Henman place, in the northeast part of Morgan, with nothing but blazed trees to guide him through the woods.  As it began to grow dark there was a drove of wolves came up behind, howling very near him; he fired his gun into them; he being in haste to re-load (and being a little nervous in seeing a drove of wolves so near, thinking they could soon devour him) broke his ramrod; then he knew his only salvation was to climb a tree, and up he went.  They surrounded the tree and kept their game in that uncomfortable place for lodging, until morning.  As daylight came on, they retreated, fearing some outside enemies might find them.  In the morning he found flood where he fired, but they had taken their wounded with them.  The tree where he lodged, was about one mile south of Dr. Gist's.   Most of the French's settled in Lenox at an early day.  They all possessed that go-ahead spirit necessary for pioneer life.

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     James Norris moved from Windsor, in 1836 lived; in different houses until about 1841, when he purchased the old house a few rods west of the Court House, in which Samuel Hendry lived sixteen years.  In 1853 he built the house where he lived until 1877.  It is on the spot where the old Samuel Hendry house was built fifty-eight years ago.  He was Justice of the Peace six years, Treasurer of the Agricultural Society eight or ten years, Township Treasurer several years, Treasurer of the Borough much of the time since it was incorporated, all of which offices he has filled with perfect fidelity; he is now seventy-seven years old.

     Uriah Loomis moved his family here in 1825, and lived in different places in the township till about 1836, when he was elected Sheriff and held the office four years.  In 1841 he built the house where C. P. Giddings lives, and occupied it til 1844.  They then moved into the house in the village which is now the home of his widow.  His family consisted of ten children.  There are but five now living; one son and daughter are living west, three daughters are living in Jefferson, namely:  Mrs. Varnum Hodge, Mrs. George Stevens andMRs. Charles Stevens; he had one son eight or ten years of age, who with a cousin of about the same age, in 1848, went to the mill pond one-half mile north of the Court House to swim.  It appeared that they got on to a board where the water was deep and fell off.  A smaller boy that was with them, saw them struggling in the water and ran and gave the alarm; before help came they had sank to the bottom to rise no more, and were taken out dead.  Horace, the one who is now living in Rochester, Minnesota, has served as Sheriff in this county six years.   Mr. Loomis died in 1856, aged fifty nine years.

     Henry Talcott came to Jefferson in 1853, with a good trade and $50 cash capital, commenced in the tin and stove business  by purchasing a little tin shop of James Norris, on Jefferson street, 18x32 feet, that had been used for that business several years.  It stood just west o where Judge Woodbury and Ruggle's law office now stands.  Mr. Talcott was then but twenty years old and presented a very youthful appearance for a man of business, but by close application to work and good man-

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agement, it soon gave him credit, and in one year the shop was too small for his business.  Cornelius Udell built an addition of twenty feet, which answered his purpose very well for two years longer.  It was then moved on to Chestnut street, just north of the hotel and Cornelius Udell again rebuilt the store, making the sale-room 18 x 60 feet, with side wareroom and work shop in the second story.  In 1861 this building was too small for his increasing business and he purchased the store building of S. D. Dann, on the same site of his present building.  In 1863 he purchased the old Michael Webster farm of 200 acres and moved his family there and still kept his Hardware business moving the same as usual.  In 1864 he was instrumental in getting up the First National Bank of Jefferson, and secured the subscription for the stock in a very short time, and was elected one of the Directors of the Bank.  In 1869, he with others, started the Jefferson Loan Association, and he was President of that institution until one year after it was changed into the Second National Bank, with increased capital, when he withdrew.  In the spring of 1873 he started a private banking house known as Talcott's Deposit Bank.  In 1872 his business had increased so largely that he could not store all his goods in the building he had purchased of Dann.  He then rebuilt in part and put up a fine brick block now occupied by him, for both store and banking house; he remodeled quite a number of buildings and put up several new buildings to rent, was also an active earnest friend to the Jefferson Educational Institute, had much to do with its building and is still connected with its management.  In 1856 he married Miss Cordelia J. Pritchard.  In 1867 he built the fine brick mansion on Jefferson street, where he now resides and with all his other business in improving the town; he has raised a family of five boys some of them just coming into manhood with good education and sprightly talents.

     J. C. A. Bushnell came to Jefferson a young man in 1837, and commenced writing in the Auditor's office as clerk; worked there during each summer until 1848, except 1844-5; was elected Auditor in 1848 to 1854, six years.  Was re-elected in 1856 and was re-elected continuously to 1866, having held the office in all sixteen years.  By close application to his business,   

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steady habits and strict honesty, Mr. Bushnell had the credit of being the best Auditor in the State.  Hehas always been ready to do anything that would further the interests of the village; has been a member of the Board of Education longer than any one else; has been connected with the First National Bank since its commencement, of which he is now cashier.

     Ferris Webster came to Jefferson with his father in 1807, then a small boy; worked with his father on the farm until about 1831, at which time he commenced building the large hotel south of the Court House, which Mr. Baldwin now occupies, he had but very little capital, and with his own labor, he procured the lumber for the hotel.  Although not a mechanic, he performed much of the carpenter work himself.  C. Udell worked with him considerable.  The first year he had it enclosed, the second year the floors were laid and rough partitions put up.  With this rude finish he commenced hotel keeping, and as his means increased he continued to finish the inside, and in process of time he had a very good run of custom.  In 1842 he sold the hotel to Dexter Thornton; in 1844 Thornton sold it to Walter Strong; in 1853 Strong sold it to John B. Church; in 1854 Church sold it to James L. Oliver; until 1858 i8t was leased to John C. Oliver; until 1858 it was leased to John C. Thompson who purchased it in 1866, then sold it to Stephen McIntyre in 18776, its present owner.  Mr. Baldwin, the present landlord, has been in possession several years.

     Cyrus T. Smith came to Jefferson from Philadelphia, in 1827, a young (single) man and a lawyer; he was heir to considerable land in this town and was worth about $100,000.  He built a large house directly west of the law office, the same year he came here.  The next summer went back to Philadelphia and married a wife, they came back immediately and commenced house-keeping in their new home.  As he had plenty of money, he did not care to tax his brain very heavily with hard cases of law.  I do not known off but one case in court that he had with his contemporary lawyers while here, and that Court was held in his own house.  Like lawyers generally, he was quite a generous man, and as it was the custom in those days to treat friends on all occasions.  In the case above alluded to, he invited all the lawyers at the bar to par

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take of a sumptuous dinner with him, and there was no demur in that case, none of them took issue with him, but all put in a harmonious amen to his allegations.  He lived here a number of  years; had several children, but becoming somewhat embarrassed, moved South with his family and died in a Southern State.  After his death his widow moved with her family back to their old home in Jefferson.  She afterwards married William Goodrich.  Afew years ago they all moved to Philadelphia; soon after Mr. Goodrich died, and their real estate in Jefferson still belongs to the heirs.
SHARON WICK'S NOTE:  See photos in History of Ashtabula County, Ohio publ. 1878

     A. F. Sikes came to Jefferson with his mother, in 1824, was then four years old; commenced work for C. Udell when he was sixteen, to learn the carpenter and joiner's trade; remained with him about six years and became a good workman.  Married Miss Julia Stephens; built the house on the hill one-half mile north of the Court House, where P. C. Amsden lives now, lived there a few years and sold that place, then bought a farm three-fourths of a mile north of the Court House; left his trade and worked his farm where he now lives; he is a good farmer.

     I will now give an example of true German energy and perseverance.  Michael Sperr came from Germany at the age of twenty-one, and came to Jefferson in 1848.  With no means but a slender wardrobe and no kind relatives to recommend him in commencing life; he hired to Daniel Webster to work on a farm by the month, worked on steadily until he had acquired means to purchase a small piece of land northeast of the village.  A very unpropitious place for one to begin in the woods, without any means.  As it was very wet, low land, very little could be raised until the stumps had rotted sufficient to plow, but with a determined will he stuck to it, adding more to his land until now he has a fine farm with good buildings.  He has raised quite a large family of industrious children who are well educated.  His oldest son is an excellent school teacher.

     W. R. Allen came to Jefferson in 1848; married Lucy A. Loomis, daughter of David Loomis, in 1848; he read law with N. L. Chaffee, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1850.  In the spring of 1851 he commenced the book business, in rooms now occupied by Mr. Baldwin, for a store in the American Hotel.  In the fall he bought out the only Drug Store in town,

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 and in the spring of 1852 moved into a building which stood where Judge Woodbury's law office now stands.  This old building is now used by McNutt & Bartholomew for a wagon shop.  In 1853 he built the west room of the store he now occupies.  After returning from the army he re-purchased his old store and built on the extensive east room.  Mr. Allen is now the oldest merchant in town, he has always been an active mover in educational interests and a liberal supporter of public improvements, of the town both socially and financially.  He has held the office of Mayor a number of years.
     When the war broke out in the spring of 1861, he sold his store and stock of goods to Canfield & Loomis and was to Kansas.  There he enlisted in the Third Kansas Regiment, Col. James Montgomery, and served as Captain of Company C, until the consolidation of the Third and Fourth regiments of that State, when he returned to Jefferson.
     Captain Allen relates one thrilling experience during his army life, when he was taken prisoner by the rebels.  He and a brother officer had hired a hack to convey them from Leavenworth to Atchison.  At Atchison they crossed the river to Winthrop, when their progress was stopped by the burning of a bridge and they were detained over night; not in the least alarmed by this however, in the morning they began to make ready to proceed, but before starting, they were surrounded by a company of armed men, and taken prisoners.  It seemed that these men had mistaken Captain Allen for Col. Montgomery and they were of course greatly elated over their capture, and made loud threats that he should certainly be hung.  His companion who was in citizen's dress and unarmed, feigned the most absolute allegiance to the rebel cause and managedto escape.  In this deception he was materially aided by Captain Allen who denied all acquaintance with or knowledge of him.  The story of the next fortnight with its Gilpin rides and forced marches is most graphically and entertainingly told by the one who experienced it all.  Suffice it for us to say that Captain Allen was at last taken to Brigadier General Steen's head-quarters where he remained till released by Gen. Price, who gave him a written safeguard.  He has gone but twelve miles, when he was again surrounded by twenty mounted armed man

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who took him to their camp in the woods.  There the whole party indulged freely in drinking, Allen taking or rather seeming to take his share as it was passed to him.  He, however, was wise enough to "keep his head level," and having fallen on the ground in a drunken stupor to watch his opportunity when his enemies, stupefied with liquor and deceived by his stratagem should themselves fall asleep and he could escape.  This he finally succeeded in doing.  Though he was then eighty miles form a friendly face or a union flag and he had to profess the warmest interest in the success of the Confederacy, the most intimate knowledge of its men and measures and the most unbounded confidence in the ultimate victory of the rebels.  He is now one of our most prosperous merchants, and respected by everyone.

     Reuben Warren came to Jefferson, from Troy, N. Y., in 1835.  Settled on the farm where E. J. Wilder lives, two miles north of the Court House.  It was then wild land.  He built a cheap framed house and a good barn, he lived there a few years made considerable improvements on the land, then sold out an dmoved into the village, lived there about one year, then moved to Eagleville in 1839 and went largely into the boot and shoe business; built a number of buildings in that place and returned to Jefferson in 1850; bilt a shop north of the Beckwith hotel on the present site of the Bancroft & Burgess block; this was the first building erected between that hotel and J. A. Giddings'.  He soon enlarged his shop, employed a number of hands and manufactured large quantities of boots and shoes for wholesale market.  I believe he was the first and perhaps the only boot and shoe manufacturer in the county.  About 1851 he built a fine house where Dr. Tuttle now lives, which then stood just north of where A. K. Hawley's store is now.  In process of time he nearly gave up, his shoe business and bought the farm and built the house now owned by Melzo Eckler, two and one-half miles north of the Court House.  About 1855 he sold that farm.  In 1857 he bought the place where Hon. W. P. Howland lives, in the east part of the village.  A few years after this his wife died, and he made his home with his sons until his death which occurred in 1873, at the age of seventy-two.  He was a very honest, active business man; he

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had four sons and one adopted daughter; she married Edward L. Frayer in 1852.  Mr. F. purchased the place and built the very good house which is still the home of his widow.  Mr. Frayer was a merchant for some years in Jefferson, and died in June 1865.  All of Mr. Warren's sons have generally the occupation of their father.  Albert, the oldest, seems to possess the same spirit of building that his father did.  He built one-half of the present Bancroft & Burgess Block in 1864, also the elegant three story building now called Warren's Hall, in 1871, besides several other buildings in the village.  He has been the means of building more houses than any other one man in Jefferson; he is liberal in his dealing, and is still in business.  The other three sons, George, Charles and Henry are all residents of Jefferson.

     Peter Coon  came from Otsego County, N. Y., to Morgan, in 1835, at the age of nineteen.  Was married to Miss Lura Cole in 1837, and moved to Jefferson the same year.  Lived year the site of the old toll gate, and was engaged in clearing land for different persons son years; then moved to Pennsylvania, returned to Jefferson in 1852, purchased some land and a saw mill of John Hart, in the northeast part of the town, on which place he lives at the present time.  He has raised a family of six children, five sons and one daughter.  At the beginning of the war, four of his patriotic sons joined the army; one of them died at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1864, at the age of seventeen.  The other three served through the war.  One of the sons lives in New Lyme, one in Dakota Territory, two and the daughter, in Jefferson.  Set, who lives here, is a house builder and as earnest and successful in his business as he was in the army.

     J. A. Hervey, when about twenty-one years old, came from Orwell to Jefferson, in 1847, and served his apprenticeship with N. B. Prentice.  He commenced the harness businessi n 1850, in the west wing of what was the Strong Hotel; it is now kept by J. H. Baldwin.  He was boss and all hands through the winter of 1850 and '61.  In the summer of 1851 he employed one hand; in the fall of 1851 H. L. Hervey & Bro., remaining in the same place until the fall of 1853.  Finding their business increasing, they

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found it necessary to have more room.  In September, 1853, they purchased a lot on Chestnut street, 22x66, of J. A. Giddings, and immediately commenced erecting a two story building 20x40. - Many were fearful when they began that building, it was more than the Hervey boys could go through with, and it would prove a failure, but they did not allow failure to lodge in their business.  They finished it up with their credit better than ever.  The lower story was divided into two rooms, the front for a sales room and the back for a work shop; the upper story was finished for dwelling and was used several years as such.  In 1865 they enlarged their business, adding coach and saddlery hardware, carriage trimmings and a full stock of goods pertaining to their trade.  Requiring more room they added twenty feet more to their building, now using the whole building in their business.  In 1865 J. A. Hervey opened up a new business in the sale of pianos and organs, and he has established a nice trade in that line.  They are also doing a good jobbing trade in saddlery hardware and carriage trimmings.  J. A. Hervey in 1855, married Miss Nancy J. Strong, of Jefferson, daughter of Walter Strong.  They have three children.

     H. L. Hervey came to Jefferson in 1849, worked on a farm for C. P. Giddings, two years; one year for $12 per month, the second year for $12½ per month.  Then went into company with J. A. Hervey and with him he learned his trade, and is still in partnership with him.  In 1866 he married Miss Martha A. Lewis, of Mount Vernon, Knox county daughter' of D. C. Lewis.  They have two children.  The Herveys came to Jefferson with no means to commence life but good habits and industrious hands.  We have in the Hervey brothers the oft repeated example set for young men, that from small beginnings, steady habits, persevering industry and honest dealing, almost universally comes success.  They have now each of them fine well finished dwellings within suitable distance from their place of business.  They have two sisters, both married.  Mary, the oldest, is the wife of Judge H. B. Woodbury; Jane, the wife of James H. Greene, Editor of the Medina County Gazette.

     Eben Wood came from Troy New York to Jefferson in 1835.  He purchased three hundred acres of land, one and one half mile north of the Court House.  There were two small beginnings on the land, one by John Udell and one by Charles Udell; he bought them both out.  The rest was wild land; he was favored with a good supply of money when he came, which he acquired in Troy,

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New York, in the shoe business, where he began in a small way but soon worked up a very large trade, employing forty or fifty men.  In a few years he had cleared the forest off from about w00 acres and put up good buildings.  He was an extensive reader and took a lively interest in the political questions of the country; he was an honest an and a kind and obliging neighbor.  He had six children, one son and five daughters; his oldest daughter Harriet A. married Sidney Luce, then living in Jefferson, in 1846; they now live in Kingsville.  Sarah Matilda, the second daughter, married Benjamin Gaylord in 1842; he was County Recorder six years; he built the dwelling house now owned by the Catholic Church and lived in it until his death, which occurred in 1853; his wife died in 1869; one of the daughters is living in Nebraska, one in Wisconsin, one, Mrs. Delos Benjamin, lives in Jefferson.  In 1853 Mr. Wood sold his farm to H. J. Pease and bought the house where Mrs. Milo Wilder lives; lived there until his wife died which was in 1862, an in 1867 he sold the place to Milo Wilder he then the same year moved to the village and lived with his son and D. W. Benjamin until his death which occurred in 1876.
     In 1853, A. & I. Goodale built the store opposite the jail.  In 1855, Mr. Eben Wood purchased it.  Soon after that time, C. F. Wood opened a store in the building where he did business for about eleven years.  Then it was occupied by S. N. Prior who was in it for several years, when C. F. Wood again occupied it and still continues in it, keeping a large confectionary and light grocery establishment.  C. F. Wood married Miss Catherine Dick, of Ashtabula Oct. 15, 1844.  They have had three children:  Willie died about 1864; Edward the second son is a rising railroad man in the West; Fred is at home and is a student in the Jefferson Educational Institution.
     Many of our older citizens will remember grand-mother Whitmore; she was the mother of Mrs. Eben Wood and James Whitmore and made her home with them; she was born in 1756, came to Jefferson in 1835, and died in 1844, at the age of ninety.
     Stephen Wood, brother of Eben, came here sometime about 1850; after occupying several houses, all of which he improved, he died in 1860.
     T. J. Wood came to Jefferson about 1850, an established a sash factory near the present homestead of rs. W. H. Burgess, whose house he built.  He afterwards moved up town and built a store, and was in business for some years and then moved to Geneva, where he now lives.

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     About 1807, at which time there was much more of a settlement in Denmark than in Jefferson, there was a road between the two places.  Dr. Coleman, a noted physician and resident of Jefferson, was on one occasion called to Denmark.  When on the way, he was overtaken by a fearful thunder storm in the forest.  He found a hollow tree into which he managed to squeeze through a hole.  When he got in he sat down, and it being a tight fit, before he was aware of it he had settled down and found himself fast.  The situation was very critical.  After a violent struggle he freed himself, and with a thankful heart he resumed his journey.
     The lawyers are said to be not very scrupulous as to the amount they exact of the people who require their services.  This may be true of some of them, but it is not true of a majority, when we consider the demand of the people who employ them.  It is true that a preacher or school teacher will almost universally demand a pri_e corresponding with his talents and capabilities.  And it is evident when you read the names below in this article and see what an array of Lawyers have practiced at the Jefferson Bar, for the last fifty years; that persons who cannot settle their difficulties without going to law, could find among so many lawyers, men of high talents to whom they may submit their case; with an agreement as to price.  But if they think the price is too high, they are left to their choice to employ him or settle without him, the lawyer is not to blame.  Somebody will pay him liberally for his capabilities.  If you choose to employ one of less capacity at a less price, you cannot complain of the price.  He has done the best he could to fulfil his agreement.  The great hue and cry that is often made against lawyers for extortion, should be laid at the door of the litigators, for the reason that if they had possessed more of an honest, kind, manly spirit, they could have settled without complaining of the lawyers.  I have been quite well acquainted with the lawyers in this place for the last fifty years, and so far as I have had to do with them, I have found them as a class, as honest and generous as any other.  I do not think they fraternize to assist each other any more than farmers and mechanics.  It is a rare occurrence to see a law suit between lawyers.  I have done more or less business for nearly fifty years, and I do not think the lawyers hold any unkind feelings towards me, because I have settled my own difficulties, without employing any of them to carry my case to court.

     O. H. Fitch, of Ashtabula, has favored me with a list of the lawyers practicing at the Jefferson bar, as near as he can recollect.

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from 1816 to 1850.  The following are from Jefferson:  J. R. Giddings, S. S. Osborn, Edward Wade, Benjamin F. Wade, R. P. Ranney, Apollos D. Bates, A. Ragley, F. Sutliff, N. L. Chaffee, C. S. Simonds, Darius Cadwell, E. B. Woodbury, I. A. Giddings, Stiles P. Jones.
     The following were from Ashtabula:  Josiah Robinson, Roger W. Griswold, Edwin Wheeler, Horace Wilder, O. H. Fitch, Henry Loveland, M. M. Sawtell, Charles L. Clark, L. S. Sherman, Hiram Boorn, Charles Booth, Joseph R. Cook, Mason King.
     The following were from Conneaut:  O. H. Knapp, B. Randall, S. F. Taylor, Benjamin Carpenter, M. C. Leland.
     From Harpersfield:  Robert Harper, A. M. Edmunds.
     From Unionville:  R. Mattoon, Samuel Wheeler, L. Russell, J. H. Howe, Alvah Hand, A. L. Tinker, Charles Case.
     From New Lyme: E. Lee
     From Burton, Geauga Count:  Peter Hitchcock.
     From Painesville:  James H. Paine, Reuben Hitchcock, Eli T. Wilder, Wm. L. Perkins.
     From Kinsman:  George Swift.
     From Canfield:  Elisha Whittlesey, Eben Newton.
     From Warren:  Calvin Pease, Thomas D. Webb, R. P. Spalding, David Tod, M. Burcham, John Crowell, and J. C. Marshall now of Erie, Pa.  
     The following gentlemen have occasionally practiced at the Ashtabula County bar:
     From Warren:  Geo. Tod, General Stone.
     From Painesville:  Benjamin Bissell, John H. Paine, W. S. Tracy.
     From Unionville:  Sidney McClun, Chas. Wheeler, Ambrose C. Spencer, ____ Brainard, Charles Doolittle.
     From Morgan:  H. H. Moses.
     From Jefferson, J. L. Oliver, H. B. Woodbury, A. S. Hall, A. Kellogg, D. S. Wade, Frank Wade, Hiram Plumb, W. P. Holand, S. A. Northway, admitted Sept. 22, 1859, W. H. Ruggles, admitted Sept. 22, 1859; . T. Chaffee, C. A. Sperry, E. C. Wade, E. J. Betts, J. E. Ruggles, E. B. Leonard, L. H. Means, T. E. Hawley, J. D. Ensign, E. Jay Pinney, Samuel Plumb, J. P. Gill.
     From Ashtabula:  Theo Hall, E. H. Fitch, W. H. Hubbard, F. A. Pettibone, T. E. Hoyt, John T. Strong, John Sherman, E. E. Russell.
     From Conneaut:  W. B. Chapman, A. M. Cox, C. A. Goddard.
     From Pierpont:  M. A. Leonard.

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     From Richmond:  L. D. Marsh, S. D. Ashley.
     From Andover:  C. D. Ainger, J. N. Wight, E. Green.
     The following sketches of some of the older lawyers will be interesting to their friends.

     N. L. Chaffee, born in Tully, Onondaga county, New York, Oct. 30, 1813, came to this county in September, 1831, without a relative in the State, taught school during the winter and chopped and logged the rest of the year until 1837, then went into the law office of Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, was admitted to the bar in 1839; went into partnership with Mr. Giddings and practiced in company with him six years, elected to the Legislature in 1848, and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in this District, in 1861; re-elected in 1866 and after ten year's service upon the Bench, has now resumed the practice of law and is actively engaged in the same; married on the 19th of June, 1840, to Mary E. St. John, daughter of Col. G. W. St. John of Morgan; his wife died April 15th, 1859; married his second wife, Almira Ruggles, of Syracuse, New York, December, 1860, with whom he now lives, in the same house he commenced house-keeping in 1840; has five children living, two of them, Henry C. and Isabella C., married and live in Kansas, the other three now live in Jefferson.  The Judge has been an exceedingly active man; he was an early and active member of the Anti-Slavery party; he at one time owned a large farm in his town and devoted a great deal of attention to the improvement of stock, importing some very fine cattle and sheep.

     Abner Kellogg was born in Alfred, Berkshire county, Massachusetts,  In the winter of 1814, his father, Amos Kellogg, afterwards one of the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas, moved to Monroe in this county, with his family, making the entire journey on runners, the subject of this sketch being then two years old.  Like boys of his age in those early times, he attended the common schools of the district for three months during the winter and labored on the farm during the summer, until at the age of eighteen years he graduated, after six weeks attendance at the old Jefferson Academy, under the instructions of Mr. L. M. Austin, now of Austinburg.  Mr. Kellogg was one of the early Anti-Slavery men of the county, and an ardent Whig, and at the Wig Commotion of 1839, with the late Colonel G. W. St. John was nominated as a candidate for a member of the Legislature, a nomination by the Whig party at that time being regard-

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ed as equivalent to an election.  At the same convention, the late Platt R. Spencer was nominated for County Treasurer, and Flavel Sutliff, then then law partner of the late Hon. J. R. Giddings, for Prosecuting Attorney, with others for the different offices, making up a ticket headed by Ex. U. S. Senator B. F. Wade, for State senator, all of whom were then known as Abolitionists.  Soon after these nominations by the Whigs, some disaffected Whigs with the few Democrats then in the county, united in calling a union convention and nominated a ticket made up of Democrats and Whigs, each one of whom were then regarded as Pro-Slavery men and what may now be regarded as a singular fact, the opposition to the agitation of the slavery question was such in Ashtabula county, that the entire Whig ticket with B. F. Wade at its stead.  In 1843 Mr. Kellogg was again nominated as a candidate for member of the Legislature by the Whigs and elected by his party.  At the spring term of the Court of Common Pleas in 1849, Mr. Kellogg was appointed Clerk of that Court, and in May of that year, removed from Sheffield where he then resided, with his family to Jefferson, where he has since resided.  Under this appointment he held the office of Clerk, until the adoption of the new constitution in 1852, when he was elected to the same office and re-elected in 1855.  At the September term of the District Court, 1857, he was admitted to the Bar, and in the spring of 1858 commenced the practice of his profession in company with the late Col. A . S . Hall and Judge D . S . Wade, now Chief Justice of Montana, which partnership continued until the retirement of Col. Hall and the election of Judge Wade to the office of Probate Judge, when in the autumn of 1860 he formed a partnership with Judge E. Lee, which continued until the appointment of Mr. Lee to the office of Common Pleas Judge in the spring of 1875, since which he has formed a partnership, and is row doing business with E. Jay Pinney, Esq.  In 1864, Mr. Kellogg was elected a member of the Legislature.  At the expiration of his time in the House of Representatives he was elected to the State Senate and on the first day of the first session of the Senate of 1866 , introduced his resolution to amend the State Constitution by striking the word “white" from Article Five, Section 1 of the Constitution, giving the elective franchise to the colored man, which resolution was adopted with an objectionable amendment at the close of the session of 1867, and submitted to the people and defeated at the general election of the same year, thus showing that as late

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as 1867 the people of Ohio refused to give the elective franchise to the colored man, thousands of whom had volunteered and been accepted to fight the battle of the rebellion and save the nation from dissolution and ruin.  In January 1873, Mr. Kellogg was elected President of the Second National bank of Jefferson, which office he now holds.
     Mr. Kellogg is now residing in the house he purchased of H. N. Hulburt, which by numerous alterations he has  made a beautiful home.  His family consists of three sons and three daughters, his oldest son, Wm. L. is a Major in the U. S. army; his second son, Amos A., is in a Railroad office in Cleveland; and his youngest son Walter M., is of the Hardware firm of Kellogg & Hodge, of Jefferson.

     Charles S . Simonds was born in Windham county, Vermont, in 1815; came to Ashtabula county in 1821 and became a resident of Jefferson in 1840.  He read law in the firm of Wade & Ranney, and was admitted to the bar in Mairon county Ohio in 1842, and soon after commenced practice in Jefferson.  In the spring of 1847, he became a partner in the firm of Ranney, Simonds & Cadwell, which continued until 1853, when Judge Ranney was elected to the Supreme Bench in the State.  The partnership of Simonds & Cadwell was continued until 1872, when Mr. Cadwell removed to Cleveland; Mr. S. soon after united in partnership with Edward C. Wade, with whom he still continues the practice of his profession.  Mr. S. who is one of the oldest residents of Jefferson, has always been ready with his purse and counsel to forward whatever was to the advantage of the village.