THE lands at present embraced within the limits of this township were, at the drawing of the territory east of the Cuyahoga river in 1798, used for the purpose of equalization, and fell by lot to Caleb Atwater, Gideon Granger, and William Hart.  Upon the organization of Ashtabula County, Harpersfield township embraced all the territory now included within the .prescribed limits of that township, Geneva, Trumbull, and Hartsgrove.  On Mar. 22, 1816, Geneva was detached, and formed into a separate township, of which action we find the following entry on the record of the commissioners of Ashtabula County: “ Resolved, that all that part of Harpersfield township north of the north line of number eleven in the fifth range, to the lake, be set off from that township and erected as a separate township to be known by the name of Geneva, and that the first township election be held at the dwelling-house of Loren Cowles, on the first Monday of April next.”

TOPOGRAPHY AND SOIL.

STREAMS

SETTLEMENT

     The first settler within the limits of Geneva was, without doubt, Theobalt Bartholomew, who came from Charlotte, Schoharie county, New York, in the year 1805, and made settlement on the South Ridge road, near the west bank of Cowles creek.  Mr. B. was somewhat advanced in life when he came into Geneva, but he lived many years, and during those years saw the inhabitants rapidly increasing and settlements advancing.  He was a soldier in the frontier and border warfare maintained at Schoharie and the neighboring settlements during the dark and gloomy days of the Revolution, and in his new home rose to considerable distinction.  The next settler was Elisha Wiard, who came from Connecticut, and located some quarter of a mile north of Bartholomew’s. Wiard was a young, active, and industrious settler, and made considerable improvement.  He died in the winter of 1812.  The next settlers were James Morrison, Sr., and Levi Gaylord.  These pioneers came from Harpersfield, New York, and located in Geneva in the year 1806.  They settled near each other on the South Ridge road, near the east line of the township.  At the time of their emigration Morrison had arrived at the age of fifty, and Gaylord forty-six years.  Major Gaylord filled some of the most important offices in the county.  He represented the county one term; in fact was the only representative from Geneva township until the fall of 1877, when our able young statesman, the Hon. Freeman Thorp, was elected.  For further particulars of the life of Major Gaylord see biographical notes in another portion of this volume.
     In 1807, John and Robert Lamont and Benjamin Custin made a temporary settlement on the Norman Webster farm ; remained some two years, and removed to what is now Harpersfield township, the history of which see for further particulars of this family.  In the year 1808, Eleazer Davis commenced improvement on the farm afterwards owned by the Reverend Jonathan Leslie, now the property of John C. Brakeman.  About this time, Dr. Nathan B. Johnson and Noah Cowles came to reside in Geneva, and located on the South Ridge road, east of Cowles creek.  These are thought to be all the settlers in Geneva township up to 1808.  During the next seven years there were accessions made to the settlement, consisting of perhaps fifteen families. Among them were Squire B. French, John Ketchum, John, Benjamin, and Jacob Bartholomew, Rev. Jonathan Leslie, Samuel Quinton, Abisha Lawton, and Truman Watkins.  On the North ridge were Samuel Thompson, Norman Webster, and Harvey S. Spencer (father of Warren Platt Spencer, of the Geneva twins, and brother of the renowned father of penmanship, Platt R. Spencer, whose biographies appear, the one in connection with the group of editors of the county, and the other with the Spencer family group, which see for further mention).  Another settlement was begun on the lake-shore, in the northeast corner of the township, as early as 1811.  This consisted of Barzillia N. Spencer, lot 53; John Austin, lot 51 ; James M. Morse, lot 50 ; Jacob Hall, lots 44 and 45 ; and Strowbridge Morrison, on lot 46.  From divers causes, this settlement was finally abandoned, and the cabins were left to resolve themselves into their original elements.  The early settlers of Geneva, in common with all the pioneers of the Reserve, endured privations and

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hardships of which those of to-day can have but a faint conception.  Under the most favorable circumstances, their food was always coarse, often unsavory, and, if accident befell the sources from which they were supplied, scantiness as well as coarseness mingled with their meals.  The two principal articles of food upon the tables of the early settlers were bread and meat.  If the bread chanced to be made of wheat flour, and the meat consisted of the flesh of domestic animals, then was the fare considered good in the superlative degree.  If the bread chanced to be made of corn-meal, and the meat consisted of the flesh of the deer, the bear, or the raccoon, there was no complaining, for in those days were they less concerned about the quality of the food than they were about the quantity.  Coffee was known only by the name, and tea, if drunk at all, was drunk about as frequently as it was by the Whigs of Boston immediately after that article was cast into the harbor from the British ships.  In respect to clothing, as well as other necessaries for which the settlers had to depend in whole or in part upon the market, they were about as well provided for as they were in respect to tea and coffee.  There were no stores in the vicinity, so that whatever was required beyond what their own hands could supply was entirely dispensed with or supplied in a meagre manner.  The consequence was that the wardrobe of the ladies comported but miserably with their patient and untiring industry.

SCHOOLS.

GENEVA NORMAL SCHOOL.

COURSES OF STUDY, REVISED AND ADOPTED IN 1876.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS, Geneva, Ashtabula County, Ohio

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

SAMUEL WORCESTER PECK

ELIJAH HART

CHARLES TALCOTT

HENRY C. FOBES

LUTHER PARKER
(see Picture of Residence)

HENRY BEDELL

NELSON MALTBY

NORMAN S. CASWELL

CHARLES TINKER

ROMANZO SPRING

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