Conneaut Twp. -
ELISHA FARNHAM. This gentleman was of Puritan origin.  His father and grandfather participated in the Revolutionary struggle, and he inherited the same spirit of loyalty.  He contributed liberally in aid of the flag during the Rebellion.  Mr. Farnham was born in Hampton, Connecticut, June 8, 1806, and was the sixth of a family of ten children.  His parents, Thomas and Abigail Farnham, were by no means wealthy, and his advantages for schooling were limited, yet he acquired a good common-school education.  Being the eldest son, he was, at an early age, obliged to rely on his own resources; beside, a portion of his wages were contributed to the support of his father’s family. He learned the machinist trade, and it is said was a skillful workman.  In the fall of 1830 he packed his worldly effects in a knapsack and came to Conneaut, Ohio, locating on land still occupied by his heirs.  He erected in 1841 the grist-mill on the south ridge, still in operation,—at present owned by his son.  Mr. Farnham, with good health, a strict adherence to business, and a Connecticut birthright combined, accumulated a competence.  His death occurred on Oct. 4, 1875.  Mr. Farnham was twice married: first to Mary A. Ring, of Conneaut, Ohio, Nov. 14, 1833.  This lady died Aug. 11, 1849, and on Jan. 30, 1850, he was again married; this time to Mrs. Harriet A. Sanborn, who is still living.  The children, who were all born from the first marriage, are as follows: D. Alphonso, born June 5, 1835, married Sophia Brooks; he was a soldier of the Union army during the Rebellion, and died in the service.  Flora, the next child, was born
June 12, 1837; she is now the wife of our popular sheriff, T. S. Young.  P. Henry, born Nov. 14, 1838, married Mary Mallory, and lives in Conneaut.  Mary, born Feb. 27, 1841, married Martin Reals.  Lydia E., born Mar. 30, 1843, married C. L. Fuller, who was drowned in Lake Erie.  Emily, the last child, was born Sept. 21, 1847; married Wm. G. Buss.  Mr. Farnham held many positions of trust, and was for many years a township officer.  He was not only a worthy citizen, but an obliging neighbor and an indulgent husband and father.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 167

STEPHEN H. FARRINGTON, M. D.     Dr. Farrington was born in Winchester, New Hampshire, Jan. 10, 1800, and died in Ashtabula. Mar. 8, 1875.  He studied medicine and graduated at
Castleton, Vermont, in 1823.  Leaving his native State, he located in Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1824. and continued the practice of his chosen profession until a few weeks before his death.  I am informed by Dr. Hubbard, to whom I am indebted for this sketch, that Dr. Farrington was a thorough scholar, very painstaking and careful, and. as a natural result, enjoyed the confidence of the people to a remarkable degree.  In his work he was self-sacrificing, sympathetic, and conscientious.
     Considering the backward state of the country at the time Dr. Farrington settled in Ashtabula, it will be conceded that few medical men were ever called upon to perform more arduous service for any community than devolved upon this resolute and good man.  He was truly the friend and good adviser of the poor.  He was an honest, independent, and bold thinker on all subjects likely to engage the attention of a thoughtful mind.
     In 1848 he was elected a representative to the legislature of Ohio.
     In the life of Dr. Farrington we have an example of honesty, faithfulness, and capacity, both in the practice of his profession and the councils of the country.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 120

HON. HENRY FASSETT was born in Beverley, Canada, Sept. 14, 1817.  His great-grandfather, John Fassett, removed from Hardwick, Massachusetts, to Bennington, Vermont, in 1761, and was one of the earliest settlers of that town; was a member of the first legislature held in that State, and clerk of the first Congregational church of Bennington, the first church organized in the State.  Jonathan, the grandfather, was a youth when he arrived in Bennington, and subsequently became active in public matters; was an officer in the Revolutionary war.  Samuel Montague Fassett, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Bennington, Vermont, Oct. 5, 1785; was married Oct. 18, 1807, to Dorcas, daughter of Captain John Smith, one of the first settlers of West Rutland.  About 1810 he removed to western New York, and a few years later to Canada.  He was a school- and music-teacher. He died at Southwold, Canada, Nov. 3, 1834, leaving seven children, Silas S., Harriet M., William, Henry, Mariette (now Mrs. George Hall, of Cleveland), John S., and Samuel M., all of whom moved to Ashtabula in October, 1835, with their mother, except Silas, who had settled there the year previous.  The mother died Nov. 15, 1862, aged seventy-six years; the others are all still living.
     Henry Fassett, at the age of fourteen years, left St. Thomas academy to learn the printing business.  On arriving at Ashtabula he was eighteen years of age, and worked at his business in that and other towns until Jan. 1, 1837, when, in company with a practical printer, he purchased the office of the Ashtabula Sentinel, and commenced its publication with the first number of the sixth volume.  The next spring he sold out to his partner and went to Newark, Ohio, where he remained until October following, when he returned and became the sole editor and proprietor of the Sentinel, and continued its publication for most of the time until it was removed to Jefferson, Jan. 1, 1853.  From the first issue of his paper he took strong grounds in favor of the anti-slavery movement just then beginning to agitate the country, and the Sentinel bore no small part in the formation of that public sentiment which has so distinguished this county during the last forty years.  He was fully identified, politically, with the Whig party until the year 1848, but at that time abandoned it on account of its subserviency to the slave power, and gave his support to the Free-Soil organization, until it was superseded by the Republican party, with which he has since acted.
     In September, 1859, he was appointed probate judge of this county, by the governor, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Plumb, and in October he was elected to that office, which he filled with acceptance to the public for about one year, when, not wishing to remove his family, he resigned, and returned to his home in Ashtabula.
     In September, 1862, on the organization of the internal revenue department, President Lincoln appointed him as collector of internal revenue for the nineteenth district of Ohio, embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage, and Geauga, with his office at Ashtabula.  He held that position until Jan. 1, 1876, when, owing to the great reduction in taxes, his district was consolidated with others in northern Ohio, and the business transferred to Cleveland.  He was highly complimented by the commissioner of internal revenue for the marked ability and integrity with which he had discharged the duties of his office.
      On the 23d day of March, 1842, he was married to Mary, the youngest daughter of John I. D. Nellis.  She was born in Lenox, Madison county, New York, Feb. 13, 1822, and died Jan. 5, 1859, leaving five children:  Hattie E. (who became the wife of David W. Haskell), born Mar. 26, 1843, and died Sept. 7, 1862: George H., born June 28, 1845: John N., born Nov. 28, 1847, and died Oct. 18, 1871: Samuel M., born June 17, 1850; and Henry, born Sept. 20, 1855.  He married his second wife, Maria, daughter of Colonel Lynds Jones, of Jefferson, Oct. 3, 1860.  She was born in Jefferson, Aug. 20, 1836, and died Dec. 20, 1865, leaving one child, Willie J., who was born Oct. 7, 1863, and died Sept. 23, 1872.  He married his present wife, Lucia A., widow of Dr. Nathan Williams, of Ionia, Michigan, June 12, 1867.  She is the daughter of the late Peter Tyler, of New Haven, Oswego county, New York, where she was born Mar. 11, 1822.
     In religion he is true to the faith of his New England ancestors. May 12, 1838, he united with the Presbyterian church of Ashtabula (which was then Congregational in its government), and was for some time one of its elders.  In 1852 he was elected by Grand River presbytery as a delegate to the general assembly, which met that year in the city of Washington.
     At the organization of the First Congregational church of Ashtabula, on the 9th day of May, 1860, he united with that body by letter from the Presbyterian church, and was chosen as one of its deacons.  He was also elected as president of its board of trustees, which positions he still holds.  In 1871 he was elected by Grand River conference to the National meeting of Congregational churches, at Oberlin, where the National council was organized; he was also elected as a delegate to the National council, which was held in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1874.
     He labored earnestly in the contest which resulted in establishing the union school system, now the pride of Ashtabula; was a member of the board of education, and most of the time its president, for the first ten years.
     He has been president of the Ashtabula National bank since it was established in 1872.
     His influence and means have never been wanting in any of the enterprises of his town or county which he believed would best promote their true interests and welfare.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 104

AMOS K. FIFIELD, M. D., son of Doctor Greenleaf and Laura Fifield, was born Feb. 14, 1833, in Conneaut, Ohio.  Graduated at College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in March, 1855.
     Was married May 30, 1860, to Maria S. Kellogg, daughter of Hon. Abner Kellogg, Jefferson, Ohio.  Has two children: Walter K. Fifield, born Feb. 6, 1866; Catherine L. Fifield, born June 30, 1868.
     The subject of this sketch commenced the practice of his profession immediately after graduation, in Conneaut, and continued to reside there until the commencement of the American civil war.  He entered the army as surgeon of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteers, and was commissioned as such, and mustered into the United States service, Aug. 25, 1861.  He continued with the regiment during its organization at Camps Giddings and Chase, in this State.  Left the State for the seat of war with the regiment.  Was present and participated in the first battle of Winchester, when Stonewall Jackson was defeated and General Shields badly wounded.  After the battle he was placed in charge of Court House hospital.  This hospital was filled mostly by wounded Confederate prisoners, and while amputating the thigh of one of them, which had already become gangrenous, the doctor received a slight scratch from the point of his knife.  Erysipelatous inflammation of a very malignant type speedily followed, and he was in great danger of losing an arm, if not his life.  After partial convalescence, he was obliged to return home to recruit his health.  At the expiration of thirty days, and while yet carrying his arm in a sling, he rejoined the army in the Shenandoah valley in time to participate in the march of General Shields to join General McDowell at Fredericksburg, on his route to Richmond.  He, however, immediately returned with General Shields to intercept General Jackson on his return from his raid up the valley after General Banks.  General Shields succeeded in intercepting General Jackson, and was himself disastrously defeated at Fort Republic, Virginia, June 9, 1862, one division of his army being nearly annihilated.  After the wounded from this battle were cared for, and the field hospitals broken up, the doctor joined the army at Alexandria, Virginia, and proceeded with it to take part in the campaign of the valley of Virginia, the army being under the command of General John Pope  The disastrous results of this campaign are well known, and the army soon returned broken and shattered to the defenses of Washington, where they were again taken in charge by General McClellan  The duties of the medical officers during this march, and the series of battles which culminated as the second battle of Bull Run, were extremely arduous.  The almost entire lack of proper supplies, and the constant moving of the wounded to the rear by railroad and wagon trains, made the position of the surgical staff one of unusual responsibility.  While with the army on its march to the field of Antietam, he was detached by general order from army headquarters, and sent to Washington, on special duty, which being performed, he joined his command at Frederick City, Maryland.  He remained there on duty but a short time, and spent the winter of 1862-63' in performing various duties at Harper's Ferry, Dumfries, and Aquia Creek.  While at the latter place, as surgeon-in-chief of the Second Division, Twelfth Army Corps, he organized a large field hospital, which, after the battle of Chancellorsville, grew to mammoth proportions.  The doctor was present and on duty during the campaign and battle of Chancellorsville, under General Hooker, after which he again returned to Aquia Creek, and remained there until the inauguration of the campaign which terminated in the battle of Gettysburg.  He was one of the chief operators during and after that battle, being at the operating-table two days and two nights continually, the operators of the surgical staff having after this battle an unusual number of severe or capital operations to perform. Soon after the battle of Gettysburg, the doctor proceeded with the detachment order to New York to quell the draft riots of 1863 in that city.  After returning from New York, the detachment again joined the Army of the Potomac in Virginia.  Soon after the doctor proceeded with the Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps, under General Hooker, to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland, which they reached soon after the defeat of that battle of Chickamauga.  He passed the winter of 1863-64 in charge of the hospital at Bridgeport, Alabama, serving at that time with Second Division, Twelfth Army Corps.  In the spring of 1864, previous to starting on the Atlanta campaign, the medical department of the army was entirely reorganized.  Each division had now a complete hospital of its own making reports to the medical director of the army corps, but otherwise acting independently.  Each division hospital was composed of surgeon-in-charge and three corps of operators, consisting of three for each table, one of each of these to be chief of the table to which he was ordered.  Besides these there were innumerable assistant surgeons, as many as the surgeon-in-charge might think necessary.  These officers were all detailed and assigned by special orders from headquarters, and no surgeon was expected or allowed to perform an important operation except those detailed for that purpose.  To this organization there was attached the regular equipment of a field hospital, consisting of ambulances, baggage- and supply wagons, hospital tents, cooking apparatus, medical supplies, etc.  It was expected that this hospital could care for many hundred wounded at a moment's warning.   When we consider that the surgeon-in-charge was responsible for all this property, that the wounded were properly cared for, and that all operations were promptly performed while it might be necessary to move the hospital with the wounded nearly every day, and as early as daylight it will be readily seen that the position was one of great mental and physical labor.
     At the commencement of the Atlanta campaign, Dr. Fifield was detailed as surgeon-in-charge of the field hospital of the Second Division, Twentieth Army Corps, it being one of the organizations heretofore described.  The labors of the surgical staff during this campaign were probably the most severe, unremitting, and long continued of any campaign of the war.  The doctor remained in charge of this hospital during the remainder of his term of service, and was mustered out by expiration of commission, Aug. 25, 1864.  After leaving the army, Doctor Fifield resumed the practice of his profession at Conneaut, Ohio, where he continues to practice at this time.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 121

GREENLEAF FIFIELD, M. D.   The doctor was a son of the late Colonel Edward Fifield.  He was born in Vermont, Oct. 27, 1801.  Migrated to Ohio, with his parents, in 1814.  Arriving at a suitable age, he returned to New England to study medicine, and graduated at Castleton, Vermont, in August, 1822.  Settled first in Monroe, in this county, where he practiced about one year. Then he went to Conneaut, and pursued, unremittingly, his calling until his death, which occurred June 27, 1851.
     He married Miss Laura Kellogg, daughter of the late Amos Kellogg, of Kelloggsville,
Feb. 28, 1830.  The issue of the marriage was three daughters — Sarah, who married G. A. Cozens; Elvira M., married Thomas B. Rice; Catherine L., married Rev. R. M. Keyes—and one son, Dr. Amos K. Fifield, of Conneaut.  The subject of this sketch was quite remarkable.  He possessed a good mind, clear and solid, with a well-balanced judgment.  Add to these prime qualities his extraordinary physique, and you are presented with a man whose like it is somewhat difficult to find in the ordinary walks of life. His head was large, his features prominent and clearly cut, and his countenance was expressive of intelligence, pleasantness, and mental force.  His form was erect, shoulders square and broad,—he stood six feet, or more,—and in all his movements was as graceful as a knight.  Mankind instinctively admire those who are favored with an imposing person, and especially if they also possess a pleasing address.  These marked characteristics no doubt in part explain the great influence which the doctor exercised as a physician in Conneaut and the surrounding country.  The work of the physician is silent and unimposing, and it takes many years to build up an enduring reputation for skill, and fortunate it is for the young practitioner whom nature has endowed with an agreeable personal appearance and address.  Not so with the lawyer and the parson; their works are more patent and showy, and they may rise rapidly to the summit of their importance, if they are gifted with eloquence and forced though they be as ugly as Thersites.  Dr. Fifield was ambitious and resolute, and his great physical force enabled him to do an immense amount of riding by night, as well as by day.  It is said that he never refused to respond to the calls of his patients.  Storms and mud never delayed his movements.  It is difficult to rightly estimate the resolution exercised and the fatigue endured by this strong and generous nature during the twenty-nine years of unremitting toil.  His practice, medical and surgical, in the surrounding counties was extensive, and, while he was ever ready to obey the summons for his services from the sick, he rarely presented his bills for his pay.  This exhibition of disinterestedness was not uncommon among the pioneer doctors.  Old Dr. Johnson, of Harpersfield, never kept accounts.  He lived along from month to month upon the produce which his more thoughtful patrons brought to him.  And when occasion came for money he would go to some of his customers who were able to furnish the sum required, and between them they guessed out the amount due.  After his death a considerable sum was realized in this way for the relief of his family.
     This negligent habit of many of the medical pioneers was partly owing to the temporary poverty of the early settlers and the hopeless irresponsibility of the genus “squatter.”  Still, behind this superficial explanation there was in the hearts of these men the spirit of charity and kindness characteristic of the true physician.  There is a silent current of sentiment in the mind of the earnest and intelligent physician, of the presence of which he takes no formal heed: he scarcely knows the power which impels him daily to deeds of charity and love towards his suffering fellow-creatures. With him charity becomes a habit.  Except toil, it is the commonest event of his life.  His profits and his charities march hand in hand.  But let us not glorify ourselves above other good men in other walks of life, who, in answer to special appeals for help, open their purses and hearts, now and then, as occasion requires.  They do their duty, and we only do ours, and no more.  Charity is the essence and the color of our profession; it is scarcely our virtue. We only reflect it as an inevitable function, even as a shimmering surface brightens with light from some nobler source.  The medical man of to-day, or of any future period, who ignores the self-sacrificing examples of these pioneers, and resolves that he will do the minimum amount of gratuitous and onerous work, will be more bitterly disappointed than anybody else, except those who employ him.
     Dr. Fifield enjoyed jokes, humor, and fun.  As an instance to illustrate his merry tendencies we will present a little story, told to the writer of this sketch by one of the principal parties in the scene.  Captain Alanson Tubbs, of Conneaut, was a stalwart sailor.  One day he consulted the doctor, in an informal way on the street, about a slight ailment accompanied by trifling soreness in the chest.  The doctor told him to put on a big hemlock-gum plaster.  This Alanson did.  He covered the whole front of his breast, carelessly forgetting to shave off the hair.  He felt relieved for a while, no doubt, and thought it a capital thing.  Pretty soon, however, the skin under the plaster began to itch intolerably,—that is a way hemlock-gum plasters always have.  The man who puts on that kind of a plaster to please himself will be pleased twice,—when he gets it off, especially if he forgets the preliminary shave.  The poor captain could not muster courage to pull out so much hair, and went about itching and grumbling for several days, seeking for some painless device to free himself of the gum.  At last he confronted the doctor, in his gig, in front of one of the hotels on Main street, where a crowd had gathered to listen to the captain's exaggerated sufferings and his quarter-deck expletives.  The doctor saw at once the necessity of its removal, and concluded to take the most funny, as well as humane, way of getting it off; for his method would give the patient great muscular action and mental diversion, which makes us all more or less oblivious to minor injuries.  He called the captain around behind the gig, when, after he had well exposed the plaster, he quietly got a good grip on the top of it, and tapped old White)’ with the whip.  Away sprang the horse, the captain following, of course, as soon as he felt the pull.  Away they flew, faster and faster, the captain's long legs making him second in the race.  But four legs are better than two for speed, and off came the plaster.  The captain used to tell of it, years afterwards, and laugh till the tears ran down his cheeks, always saying that the big stone which he hurled after the doctor had no sooner left his hand than he began to pray that it would not hit him, for it would have gone through him if it had.  He was glad the plaster was off, he was too mad to feel it; and the only drawback to the transaction was having so heavy a joke resting on him for months afterwards.  If he ventured into town the hangers-on about the taverns would inquire about the plaster.  He thought he paid for about five gallons of whisky—by the glass—before the subject became stale.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 127

HON. EDWARD H. FITCH.  This gentleman was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, May 27, 1837, the only son of Oramel H. and Catharine M. Fitch.  At the age of fourteen years he was sent to the St. Catharine's grammar school, at St. Catharines, Canada, where he remained three years, and where he was a member of the family of his uncle, William F. Hubbard, then the principal of the grammar school.  There he fitted for college, and in the fall of 1854 entered Williams college, at Williamstown, Massachusetts in the class of 1858.  He remained there four years and graduated with his class in the summer of 1858, receiving a degree of A. B., and in 1861 that of A. M.  In college Mr. Fitch devoted himself more particularly to those branches of study which would have a tendency to aid him in the practical everyday duties of life.\
     Hew was a member in college of the Delta Kappa Epsilon society, the Philologian Literary society, and the Lyceum of Natural History.  He was president of Lyceum, and was orator at the Adelphic Union exhibition in 1858, and had an appointment at commencement.
     On the 1st day of August, 1858, he began the study of law in the office of his father, and on the 18th day of September, A.D. 1860 at the September term of the district court of Cuyahoga county, at Cleveland, was admitted to the bar.  He commenced the practice of law at Ashtabula in the office of his father, and on the 1st day of January, 1862, was taken in as a partner, and did business as one of the firm of O. H. & E. H. Fitch until Jan. 1, 1863, when O. H. Fitch retired from the practice of law and was succeeded by Judge Horace Wilder when the firm became Wilder & Fitch.  This arrangement continued until December, 1863, when Judge Wilder became a partner of Hon. L. S. Sherman, taking the place of John Q. Farmer, who then removed to Minnesota, and with Mr. Sherman under the firm-name of Sherman & Fitch, continued the practice of law until July 1, 1867, when that firm was dissolved since which time Mr. Fitch has continued the practice alone.
     In 1857, at Montreal, Mr. Fitch was elected and became a member of the America Association for the Advancement of Science, and is now one of the fellows of this association.  On the 24th day of May, 1867, Mr. Fitch was admitted to practice in the circuit court of the United States in and for the northern district of Ohio, and on the 22d day of April, A.D. 1870, was admitted to practice in the supreme court of the United States.  Was elected justice of the peace in 1863, and 1868 and 1871, and in 1865 was elected prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula County for two years from Jan. 1, 1866.  Was elected a member of the house of representatives in the Fifty-ninth general assembly of the State of Ohio in 1869, and in the sessions of that assembly served on the judiciary committee and on foreign relations, and on public buildings; was also on the special committee on the bill to establish the Ohio soldiers' and sailor's orphans home, and the original fourth section of that act was drawn by him, and was adopted as a compromise to secure the Xenia home.  On the 17th day of October, 1870, Mr. Fitch was appointed by Governor R. B. Hayes delegate to the National Capitol convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, from the Nineteenth congressional district.
     Mr. Fitch was also for nine years recorder and member of the council of the village of Ashtabula.
     On the 27th day of October, 1863, Mr. Fitch married Alta D. Winchester, daughter of Philander and Elizabeth G. Winchester.
     Mr. Fitch has attentively and zealously pursued the practice of his profession, and since 1873 has taken no active part in politics, believing that the rewards of an active, earnest, and faithful attention to his profession are more sure and of a more permanent nature, and afford more pleasure both to him and those dependent upon him than can be reached by an aspirant for office, however, successful he may be.
     During all the years of his residence in Ashtabula, Mr. Fitch has been prominent and active worker in all matters tending to promote the interests and welfare of the village, and deeply interested in its prosperity.  He has spent much time, and never withheld his pecuniary aid, in laboring for the securing of its railroad facilities and manufacturing enterprises.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 92

HON. ORRAMEL H. FITCH the subject of this sketch, was the only child of Azel and Fanny Fitch.  His father was a farmer and merchant, and for many years engaged in the southern trade.  During the War of 1812 he invested largely in woolen manufacturing.  The peace of 1815 threw open our markets to foreign goods, and the English manufacturers flooded the country with their woolens at low prices, for the purpose of destroying the American manufactories, then in their infancy.  In the crash which followed he lost nearly all of his property.
     The subject of this sketch was born on the 12th of January, 1803, on Goshen Hill, a beautiful spot, surrounded by a farming community, in the town of Lebanon, New London county, Connecticut.  He was of English descent, and of Puritan stock, being a lineal descendant of the Rev. James Fitch, the first minister and one of the first company of settlers in Norwich, Connecticut, that township having been granted to him and his father-in-law, Major John Mason, and thirty-three associates, by Uncas, the noted Mohegan chief, for their assistance against their bitter enemies the Pequods.  At a subsequent period Owaneco, the son and successor of Uncas, in acknowledgment of favors received from Mr. Fitch, granted to him a tract of land five miles in length and one mile in breadth, within the present limits of Lebanon, a portion of which, comprising the old homestead, was occupied by the family for several generations.
     The subject of this sketch, from his childhood until his twenty-fourth year, with the exception of four summers, when he worked upon his father's farm, was either a student or a teacher,—teaching to raise money to meet in part his expenses.  Among other schools taught by him, he was for some months an assistant teacher in Masonic Hall seminary, in Richmond, Virginia; was for a short time engaged as teacher of languages in Westfield academy, Massachusetts, and during one winter as principal of Union academy, in Windsor, Connecticut.
     In the spring of 1824 he commenced the study of law, in the office of Augustus Collins. Esq., in Westfield. Massachusetts, where he remained two years.  He then went to Norwich, Connecticut, and entered the law-office of the Hon. Calvin Goddard, who was at that time one of the most distinguished lawyers in the State, and continued under his instruction until Mar. 16, 1827, when, having passed a satisfactory examination, he was admitted to the bar and licensed to practice in the courts of that State.  He had decided not to settle in New England, but to seek his fortune in the west; and in May following he bid adieu to his friends and commenced his journey in search of a future home in Ohio.  He reached Cleveland on the 13th day of May; from there he went to Canton, Stark county, where, and in its vicinity, he spent nearly a year.  His parents had made arrangements to come west and live with him, and wished him to settle in the northern part of the State, where the manners and customs of the people, who were principally from New England, were similar to their own.  In accordance with their wishes he sought a location near Lake Erie, and having received some favorable information respecting Ashtabula (which, however, proved partially incorrect) he selected it as his future residence.  He came to Ashtabula on the 29th of March, 1828, a stranger, without a single friend or acquaintance, and took up his abode here, where he has continued to reside for the last half-century.
     His parents came in the fall of 1829, and resided with him during the remainder of their lives.  His mother, who was a woman of true piety and exalted worth, died Oct. 19, 1831.  His father survived her for several years, and closed an active, industrious, and virtuous life Sept. 10, 1842.
Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 90

Wayne Twp. -
FERDINAND FOBES  - See Simon Fobes Family.

Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 249

Source: 1798 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Pioneers and Most Prominent Men by Publ. Philadelphia - Williams Brothers - 1878 - Page 249