PREFACE

     The author of this history has lived on his farm in Claridon for sixty years, ever since Ohio became his adopted State, and being now eighty years of age, having gratuitously devoted much time in collecting materials for this history, and visited every family in the township that has resided in it long enough to become acquainted with its history, and knowing how every year increases the difficulty of reconciling different versions relating to past events, or obtaining
correct dates; as his contemporaries in the trials, labors, and embarrassments attending a new settlement, partakers of each others joys and sorrows, of prosperity and adversity, health and sickness, are "sleeping that death that knows no waking," is solicitous to have the past history of the township published (imperfect as it is), before one of the last links in the chain of events connecting the past with the future - the dead with the living - shall be sundered, therefore, the author dedicates this township history to the present and future generations, in the hope that it may awaken a living and continuous sense of gratitude to the memories of those who came here to obtain homes for them selves and families, and that their children might inherit cultivated fields which they had redeemed from the primeval forest; buildings which they had erected:  fruits which they had cultivated; flocks and herds which they had reared; enjoy the institutions, moral, social, educational, and religious, which they had created and cultured by self-sacrificing efforts, that posterity might know how to"honor those to whom honor is due," and with an appreciative spirit labor to sustain and perpetuate all such associations as shall, by the blessing of Almighty God, prove a rich inheritance to all future generations.

Lester Taylor,
President of Geauga County Historical Society.

     Claridon, December 10, 1878

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     Township number eight, in the seventh range of townships in the Connecticut Western Reserve, was originally purchased from the State of Connecticut by sundry individuals, mostly living in that State, known by the name and style of the Connecticut Land company, who received their deeds of conveyance in September, 1795.
     The township east and west lines were run in 1796.  The range lines of the township between six and seven, and seven and eight, were run by John Milton Holly.
     Seth Pease run the line between numbers seven and eight (Burton and Claridon); and Amos Stafford and Richard M. Stoddard, the line between numbers eight and nine (claridon and Hambden.).
     The Connecticut Land company subsequently sold their lands in this township to an association of individuals known under the names of Lake Erie Land company, and Uriel Holmes, Smith & Wilcox, and P. H. Buel, in proportions as follows: The Erie company taking the eastern and central part, amounting to three-fifths.  The Buel tract contained only four hundred and fifty acres of land in the southwestern part of the township.  Smith & Wilcox took some seven hundred acres, bounded on the south by Burton, east by the Erie tract, and

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west by the Buel tract and in part by the east lines of Holmes' west tier of lots.  The Erie tract was divided into three tiers of lots, each tier being one mile in width, known as east, middle, and western tiers.  These tiers were divided into five sections, each making fifteen sections of nearly a mile square each.  These sections were subsequently subdivided into three lots each, by Joshua Henshaw, surveyor, of Warren, in 1812. General Perkins, of Warren, was agent for the sale of the lands of the Erie company.  The Holmes' tract was divided into two tiers (east and west), and those divided into twenty-lots, of about two hundred and fifty acres each, surveyed by S. Hawley, esq., being about five thousand five hundred acres.
     A glance at any accurate map will show the inaccuracy of the range lines between numbers six and seven, the eastern range line verging nearer as it runs north to its parallel western line, leaving Claridon only about four and three-fourth miles in width on the north line of the township.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE TOWNSHIP

     The dividing ridge of high land is north, so that the waters in this township flow in a southerly direction.  The principal streams of water are the two branches of the Cuyahoga river; the eastern one rising in Montville running through near the eastern line, between Huntsburg and Claridon, showing its respects about equally to each township.  The west branch rising in Hambden, enters the township, north of the center, flowing in a southwestern direction, about a mile and a half to Aquilla lake; from the outlet, its course is southerly through the township.  The elevated ridge through the central part of the town, from north to south, is much higher than the tracts along the branches of the rivers; the descent being gradual, about two and a half miles east, and an average of one and a half west.  West of the western branch, the land rises gradually to Munson.  So the land has sufficient inclination to carry off the water from the surface, and not steep enough to wash away much of the soil; whilst the numerous springs crop out the sides of these ridges, making, in their descent towards the main streams, small ravines, leaving the land somewhat rolling from north to south from one spring, run to another, whilst the general descent is in another direction, east and west.  These springs of water are generally pure and cold, bursting out of the conglomerate sand rock, which underlies the whole surface, which crops out most notably at the head of, and along the ravines, where the water has cut down to the bed of rock in many places.
     About midway betwixt the center and the northwest corner of the town lies Aquilla lake, about three-fourths of a mile in length, and half the distance in width.  There is abundant evidence to prove that this pond extended much farther north formerly, and south through the whole delta of about one-fourth of a mile in width, to Burton, nearly four miles, and, doubtless, many miles below.
     A principal reason to establish such a belief, is the fact, that logs have been found on those bottom-lands (in so good a state of preservation that the kind of timber was discernable), imbeded in the soil, some three feet, and as low as the surface of the lake, and miles from it.
     The lake is constantly decreasing in size, owing to the washing in of soil from land on the sides and from ditching below the lake, and consequently lowering of the surface, and more notably the deposits of alluvial during freshets from the river, coming in from the north.

TIMBER.

     The land was heavily timbered with a great variety - beech and maple, the most abundant; gigantic elms, monarchs of the forests, chestnut, red and white

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oak, white ash, bass wood, cherry, cucumber, yellow whitewood, growing generally on every lot, which, with other soft wood timber, gave a good supply for building and fencing purposes. Amongst the large and beautiful specimens of forest trees, the yellow whitewood stood pre-eminent. If the admonition of "axeman, spare that tree" had been more needed, much valuable timber would have been saved until such timber was wanted in market at remunerative prices.  The timber on the Cuyahoga bottoms consisted mostly of elm, black ash, softmaple and yellow birch. For some distance below the pond, the land wasswampy, and known as "alder swamp."  Nettles, weeds, and tangled masses ofwild grasses grew luxuriantly on those bottom lands.
     The writer has seen here, in an early day, the uplands literally covered with leeks the first of April.  Many of the herbs and plants, common, when the first settlers came, have almost disappeared, gensing, blood-root, kirkamy, Colombo, and other medicinal roots, are, many of them, amongst "the things that were."  The meadow plum and choke cherry were common on the intervals, and, in fruit time, were favorite resorts for the bear.
     The soil of the uplands was a loamy-clay, varying much in different localities, and even on the same lots in its composition with sand, gravel and depth of vegetable mold.
     Wild animals were numerous, of such kinds as were common in this part of the country - deer, bear, wolves, wild-cats, raccoons, opossum, porcupine, and a few elk. Rattlesnakes were plenty - the yellow or variegated color on the up lands, and the black, called the massasaugas, on the lowlands. The Cuyahoga bottoms were subject to an overflow every freshet, and being so level, and the water being obstructed by fallen trees, brush and herbage, would remain until dried up by the hot sun, often late in the summer months, which often proved a fruitful source of remittent and intermittent fevers to the early settlers, which, together with the change of climate, want of convenience for shelter, and different manner of living from that they had been accustomed to in their eastern homes.  It was a proverb, among the early settlers, that when there were wounds from poisonous reptiles, or sickness from malarial diseases, there were, within a short distance, remedial vegetables to cure, which taxed the ingenuity and skill of the mothers of the first settlers to the utmost tension as nurses, as there were no professional men, in the healing art, near.  The fever and ague were the most common diseases, and yielded easier to home medicine and home nursing, or wore itself out when frosty weather came, as the disease was not so dangerous as it became in later years, when it assumed a congestive type.  The early settlers were generally of robust constitutions, healthy, strong persons, able to stand, successfully, a greater pressure of disease than at present, as diseases have become more complicated, and persons have less physical strength to resist, and especially so with those who attend to the domestic duties of house and family.
     The writer of this history was long since aware that the materials to obtain an accurate history of the first settlement of the pioneers was fast being lost by the deaths of the aged and loss of papers in families, etc., collected such accounts of circumstances and dates from living witnesses, tradition and papers as he could, and put them into a history to perpetuate their names and honor their virtues.
     Their examples of patient perseverance and honest toil are worthy of being recorded.  It is difficult for the present generation to realize the circumstances under which they were placed.  They endured hardships and privations of which the present generation practically know nothing.  Children and grand-children and others own the farms they cleared up, live in the houses they built, enjoy the moral, religious, political, and educational institutions they planted and fostered with increasing care.  We write their meritorious deeds that their

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names may be held in grateful remembrance, especially by those who have profited by their labors.
     In 1866, Jason C. Wells, esq., of this town, wrote several articles which were published in the Geauga Democrat, giving a detailed account of the history of Claridon, in which he wrote that "the Honorable Lester Taylor originated the idea of the first Geauga County Historical Society, in 1851, to obtain a complete history of every township, and ultimately to be published in a book; and that he had kindly furnished me with the history of Claridon, prepared and read before the first historical society."  I avail myself of the incidents and dates which he had procured, and copy some parts of his sketches, and likewise select from a series of articles written by T. Clark Wells, subsequently published in the same paper.
     Before any settlement was made in Claridon, a saw- and grist-mill was put up only a rod or two over the South Hambden line.  It was claimed by Captain Wells, in one of his articles, on the authority of Lewis Elliott, an old pioneer in Hambden, that the family of Higby, who built the mill, lived in Claridon, and that a child was born in that house.  I have taken much pains to ascertain the facts.  One of the old residents in Hambden, Mr. Quiggle, informed me that he could go to the exact place where the old cabin stood, as he had been familiar in the family, and knew the location of the house.  He made a journey there at my request, called on Deacon Clinton Goodwin, who owns the farm, went directly to the place, found the old well that had been filled up, and some of the chimney foundation, and it was just over the line in Hambden.
     In 1808, three years before any family moved into Claridon, Stephen Higby built the rudely constructed mill before alluded to.  The grist-mill had an up right shaft, to which the upper mill-stone was attached, the lower stone resting upon a foundation of logs.  The dam and floom were of the most primitive style - of logs and sticks, with earth embankments.  Loose boards were placed over the hopper to protect it from storms.  Rude as it was, it was a great blessing to the few families scattered about in several townships, to have their corn cracked and their wheat ground.  Soon after the mill was put in operation, some of the red men of the forest who were hunting along the banks, hearing the splashing of the water and the rumbling of the stones, detailed one of their number to reconnoiter and ascertain the cause.  He reported that it was the groans of the great spirit that was rolling in agony, and tossing the waters into foam high up amongst logs and whirling rocks.  It was quickly decided, in council, to leave for good.  In 1809, Selah Bradley, of Burton, was employed by Higby to build a one-story frame building on the timber basement which covered the machinery, and made quite a decent looking mill building, and did very good business for many years.
     In June, 1810, Asa Cowles, esq., and Seth Spencer, of New Hartford, Connecticut, left to prospect for land in New Connecticut, as the Reserve was then called, upon which to make a permanent settlement.  About a week afterwards Elijah Douglass, son-in-law of Esquire Cowles, left the same place on the same business, traveling on foot until he overtook them in western New York with their team.  They proceeded in company to Austinburg, Ohio.  About the first of July Uriel Holmes, of Litchfield, Connecticut, owner of the Holmes tract, in this township, and other lands on the Reserve, joined them, when, on horse back, they went to Burton and put up with John Ford, esq.  The next day, under the guidance of Amariah Beard, who volunteered his services, they proceeded to view the tract.  There had been a tornado a few weeks previous which had swept a strip of timber down, of considerable width, in its course.  Mr. Beard showed them the place where he had some cattle completely hemmed in by the fallen trees, so they had to cut a road to get them out, and yet they

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were unhurt.  The place was east of the Cuyahoga, and on the southern part of the Buel tract.  From this point, having made their way through the windfall with some difficulty, they turned on to the Erie tract.  Near the center of the township Mr. Holmes found a good spring of water, announced the discovery with the ever-welcome "let's whiskey," where they took their lunch.  This spring was on land afterward owned by Col. Chester Treat.  They then went on to Holmes' west tier of lots, crossing the Cuyahoga at the ford where Butternut creek empties in, and lay that night near where Col. Erastus Spencers house now stands.  They were serenaded in the night by a pack of wolves, that approached within a few rods of their camp, making more volume of music than at singers' concerts now-a-days.  Next day they viewed the lands north, and camped by a spring on the eastern side of Chardon hill.
     Mr. Douglass took one of the horses, which had become lame, and started for Austinburg.  Night came on while he was in the woods in Windsor, following a bridal path along a line of blazed trees.  His white dog intuitively kept the trail, and was to the rider as the pole star for his course, which brought him safely to Austinburg.
     After this they returned to this township, having looked at land in different places in Portage, Trumbull, and Ashtabula counties, and selected lands here as follows, to-wit: Seth Spencer, having the first choice, selected lot thirteen (Butternut creek lot) for his son, Halsey.  Esquire Cowles took lots number twelve, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen and twenty - about one thousand acres, varying in price from two dollars and seventy-five cents to three dollars per acre.
     The next year, 1811, on the fourth of July, Esquire Cowles and wife, with their children  - Laura, Ralph, Edmund, Hiram, Mariah, Minerva, and Asa; Elijah Douglass and his wife, Betsey, daughter of Esquire Cowles, and his sister.  Miss Chloe Douglass, left their homes for their selected lands in the unbroken forest of this township.  The journey, like all traveling in those days to the great west, was slow; from Buffalo the mud holes awful, more awful, and most awful, as the writer knows from subsequent experience.  The Cataraugus woods were objects of terror to all travelers.  It was said a hat was discovered one day lying on the mud.  A boy jumped in to that river of mud to seize the coveted prize, when a ghostly voice exclaimed, "Let my hat alone; I have a good horse under me."  Teams of oxen were kept there to help travelers through, charging exhorbitant prices.  Our Yankee travelers were equal to the occasion, in avoiding the extortion, by taking a circuitous route, cutting a new road through the woods.  Those families arrived at Bondstown, putting up at Bond's, within a few miles of their lands, over the Sabbath.  On Monday they looked out a road through the central part of this township to Burton, cutting away logs and brush, and there found an unoccupied log school-house in the western part of that township, south of the mills now known as Gilmore's, or Alderman's, on land owned by Eli Hayes.  Returning to their families, and on the sixth of August moved into the log tenement a few miles south of their own lands.  Esquire Cowles selected a site on lot sixteen.  They would come up days from Burton, and cut and draw logs for his house.  When ready for putting up the cabin, the men from Burton and Newbury responded to the invitation, among whom was the Hon. Peter Hitchcock, who, with axe in hand, carried up one corner; that is, notching the logs near the end so as to make them fit,be strong, and set close together.  It was a double log house, one part of which was often given up to new-comers until they could build one for themselves. Religious meetings were held in it for years.  Not being acquainted with pioneer life, the new-comers made slow and awkward work in building a tenement from materials found on the spot.
     Soon after the above named families left for Ohio, another installment of fam-

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ilies from Hartland, Connecticut, had made arrangements for removal to the Reserve, and two of the families exchanged their farms for unselected lands in the Holmes tract, in this location.  The removal of those families to the great west was considered of so much importance, and of such a serious nature, that the minister of the parish preached a sermon on the occasion on the Sabbath preceding their removal.  Mr. Gaylord's text was from Proverbs iii, 6: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."  A sermon was likewise preached in New Hartford, before Messrs. Cowles and Douglass leftwith their families.  The text selected on that occasion was, Exodus xxxiii, 15: "If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
     Those sermons were looked upon rather in the light of funeral discourses, somomentous was the undertaking; so great the distance; so serious the obstacles to be overcome; so uncertain their fate from accidents, disease and massacre from the terrible Indians, they were bidden a final adieu.  To many, it was a reality.  Two of those families - Capt. Nathaniel Spencer and Horace Taylor - who were connected with the first comers, came directly to this township.  Horace Taylor was taken sick on the road, and delayed some time.  In October, as these families were nearing Painesville, Captain Spencer took a lead horse from the team and came to Burton to look for a cabin, until he could select lands.  Having made some arrangement for a temporary shelter for his family, he sent back word to have the families come by the way of Bondstown, where he would meet them; not getting the word, they came on through Chardon.  As they were working their way through the forest in the west part of this township, they upset the wagon containing the Spencer family, breaking one wheel.  This occurred on the land which he aftewards selected, near where he built his cabin, and where the Spencer family mansion, so well known, has stood.  Moving on with the other team until they came to the unfinished cabin of Esquire Cowles.  Night was upon them, and it was resolved that the men should take their teams from the wagons and put ahead for Burton and the old school-house, where the first installment of settlers were. It was a gloomy night. From the wagons such articles as would tend to make them comfortable, that were not boxed up, were taken for bunks.  As soon as morning-light the sound of familiar voices announced the return of the " scouts," with Mr. Douglass to cheer them in their loneliness and pilot them through to civilization.  They were the first white families ever known to have slept within the limits of Claridon.
     Captain Spencer's family remained in Burton until he could put up a cabin.  Horace Taylor, not being able to find a shelter for his family, accepted Esquire Cowles' offer to use his "lone cabin'' until he could put up a shelter.  Returning in the afternoon, in a cold, drizzling rain, with his family, he attempted to build a fire, by means of igniting tinder from an old flint-lock on his gun; the flint was lost.  It was then growing dark, and, as a dernier resort, he went back to Burton, leaving his wife with two young children, and one of them sick, and obtained fire from Mr. Fowler's (west of where the Gilmore mills now stand), about three miles distant from his family; returning with his torch he soon had a good fire to mitigate the horrors of darkness, and the suffering from dampness and cold.  Mrs. Taylor often spoke of that time of terrible lonliness, chilly uncomfortableness, and anxious suspense, during her husband's absence.
     Captain Spencer selected lands on Holmes' west tier of lots, north of lands selected for Halsey Spencer and Asa Cowles, on which he built, and where he lived, and where his three sons settled, known as the "Spencer settlement."
     Elijah Douglass having put up his cabin, the Cowles and Douglass families moving into their houses, and Horace Taylor moving into one he built south of those, Benjamin Andrews with his family moved into the settlement from Bristol, New York, was formerly from Hartland, and connected with the other

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families, built and moved into a house south of the others.  Allen Humphrey and family moved into the settlement on the fifteenth of November, took one of the rooms in Esquire Cowles' double log tenement, and took lot fifteen, east of the Cuyahoga, on Holmes' east tier of lots, and directly east of Esquire Cowles.  Although late in the season, the logs for his house were soon cut, and the hands in the settlement were able to put them in their places for walls, and a roof of long shingles was put on with all dispatch, as winter was upon them, and on the fifth of December, moved over into his unfinished cabin.  Mrs. Humphrey often told the story of her crossing the muddy Cuyahoga.  The bottom of the river was so muddy, there was but one crossing found, near which there was a fallen tree across the stream, on which she expected to walk, arriving at the deep water.  She said, "now, let me get out and cross on the tree," her husband applied the whip to the oxen, in they plunged, and through the wagon went.  When safely on the other shore, he replied, "I intended to have it said you were the first woman that ever rode across the Cuyahoga in this town.''  Their house had neither chimney, door, window, nor floor, a mere skeleton.   The wagon box was taken to pieces, and laid upon the sleepers to place their beds and sleep; fire was made on the ground at one end of the building, a place left without any roof for the smoke to pass upward, for seats, stumps within the building for the heads of the family, and pumpkins that had been given them from Burton for the children.  The oxen had been turned into the woods, a deep snow fell, after searching a while in the woods, went to Burton, found them in the settlement ; borrowing a yoke and sled, bought some boards for floor and door, returning home with much joy to the family.  Young America may not understand how those primitive dwellings were made without nails or iron of any description.  Floors were made by splitting logs, hewing off the slivers, and placing the flat smoothest side up, doors by splitting timber thin, making hinges of wood, pinning the thin split boards to the arms; those were pinned into the upright standard, swinging in the sockets of wood; roof covered with long shingles, laid on ribs of small round timber, running from end to end of the house, poles laid on to hold them down, a piece of one of the logs cut out for a window large enough for four panes of six by eight window glass, spaces between the logs of the building chinked with wedging split sticks, clay made into mortar, and daubed over the chinks, a chimney made of sticks with out any jambs, extending nearly across the end of the house, covered with mortar, some stones laid up a few feet high for a back to the chimney, and you have a pioneer house, such as necessity, the mother of invention, prompted pioneers to provide for shelter, with such variations as circumstances and taste prompted.  Subsequently another house had one floor made of split thick logs, which was said to have been worn smooth, and even polished by the young people, dancing after the music of a flute, some having leather, and others using untanned foot skins.  The settlement through this winter consisted of six families and four unmarried young people, thirty-nine in all.
     The names of the first families have been given.  The others were: Captain Nathaniel Spencer and Lydia Douglass Spencer, his wife, and their children, Orrin, Ralza, Erastus, Emily, Amna, and Julia.  The latter daughter only survives, and now lives in Chardon with her husband, Austin Canfield, esq. [The term now, through this history, will refer to 1876, the Centennial year, unless otherwise stated].
     Horace Taylor and Nancy Douglass, his wife, with Louisa N., now Mrs. Brinsmade, of Cleveland, and Horace Addison.
     Benjamin Andrews and his wife, Polly Douglass, with George, Franklin, Caroline and Orville.
     Allen Humphrey and his wife, Polly Bodwell, with four children, as follows:

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     Chloe, who married Daniel Dayton, of Burton, and lived and died there; Meriah, who married Eleazer Goodwin, and now lives at Chagrin Falls: Huron E., now living in Michigan; and Helen, now Mrs. Tucker, of this town.  The Humphrey family was from Canton, Connecticut.
     Wyllis Bodwell came out with Major Humphrey, and went to Warren to live some time in the winter or spring.
     All these families came from Connecticut, and were partial to the customs, laws and usages in all their varied relations to State and society as they there existed.  I should have included, in the above list of settlers, Chloe Douglass, who subsequently married Matthew Fleming, of Burton, where she lived until her death, many years after, and Allen and Clarissa Spencer, relatives of Captain Spencer, who came out with him.  Chloe was taken sick the next spring, and Ralph Cowles went to Warren, about thirty miles, consulted a physician, and obtained medicine, returning the third day.
     Attention was immediately turned to the moral and religious instruction of the colony, as well as educational.  Sabbath meetings were held regularly in Esquire Cowles' house from the time he was domiciled in it, sermons being read with other appropriate exercises.
     Clarissa Spencer taught school that winter in one room of the double log house before alluded to, being the first school in the settlement giving in some measure the characteristic policy of those pioneers to establish and sustain good common schools.
     We will sketch very briefly some of the characteristics of the heads of the families, not intending now, and especially hereafter, to make many, even short, biographical notices, as space will not permit so much of extended particulars, as there is much similarity in the trials and deprivations of pioneer life.
     Asa Cowles was one of the substantial men of his native town, having been a magistrate in and represented New Hartford in the general assembly of Connecticut; had a good common school education, took an active interest in all matters of church and State, and a devoted christian of the Congregational church, taking the lead in meetings until they had a minister.  He possessed means more than were common to the first settlers, became known and respected throughout the county, and was subsequently one of the associate judges of the county.  He died in 1836.
     Captain Nathaniel Spencer was an active business man, had worked in the cabinet business east, and established a chair factory on a spring run, on his farm, which is now successfully carried on by his son Ralza.  He had a strong constitution, large chest, with an uncommon strong voice.  The writer, living a mile distant, has often heard him call his boys up in the morning.  He accumulated a good property, introduced the first blooded stock (the Bakewell breed), had good herds and flocks, had an extensive acquaintance, and was very hospitable, which was well understood, practically, by a host of friends.  He died in 1849, leaving his homestead to his son, Colonel Erastus Spencer.
     Major Allen Humphrey was not constitutionally strong; was of a nervous, sanguine temperament! of quick perception, often difficult for him to control his feelings; was fond of reading, especially military history; was a good drill officer, and had more faith in steel and crossing of bayonets than of powder and lead.  Not being a good shot, he substituted a pitchfork as a means of defense, which was invariably carried by him, as the hunting of cattle or business called him into the woods.  Had he been attacked by ferocious wild beasts where retreat would not have been the better part of valor, he would doubtless have defended himself most valiantly.  He died in 1825.
     Horace Taylor was an athletic, heroic man, just the right one to face the trials and privations of pioneer life - to clear the forest and put up buildings - had

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by Robert Bosley.  E. W. Hale, on the west side, on land formerly owned by George Richardson.
     Robert Bosley owns the farm formerly taken up by Daniel Hathaway, which, with other lands subsequently owned by Darius Armstrong, one of the four brothers before alluded to, was considered, when under his management, one of the best grain farms in the township.  Since his death the present owner has used it as a dairy farm.
     Cyrus Bissel bought the farm taken up by Norman Spencer.  He married Miss Amanda Case, of North Hartford.  Mr. Bissel was from Torrington.  After living there for many years, and having a large family of children growing up like olive plants around their table, he sold his farm and moved to Wisconsin.  Hiram Burt was an early settler on South Center street, living and dying on his place.
     Frederick H. Gould, and Lovina, his wife, on the same road, came from Windham county, Vermont.  They were also among the early comers, being forty days on their journey with an ox team, with two young children.  The vicissitudes of their life were greater than most of those coming at that period of time.  He commenced clearing land on three different places between the center and Burton, the last ot which he cleared, put up buildings, and raised a large family, which taxed all his energies to support, and helped to sustain schools and other institutions with liberality, according to his limited means.  They were members of the Congregational church.  He was once treed by the wolves, who serenaded him under the branches of the tree, up and amongst which he spent the night uncomfortably holding on to the limbs.  The night was cold, his limbs numb and aching, and the music grating and setting his teeth on edge.  At another time, when hunting for his cows, night came on with a cold rain, and after giving up all hope of getting home, he crawled under a log.  Morning light disclosed the fact that he was within a few rods of his house.  They were members of the Congregational church. He sold and moved to Orwell in 1846, where he died in 1876, aged eighty-four, leaving seven children.  Only one - Charles, is living in this town.
     Elijah Hathaway was another of the early settlers, lived many years east of Claridon center, and subsequently, I think, in the southwest part of the town.
     East of the corner, Elnathan Chace owns a farm extending to Huntsburg.  He has been and. continues to be one of the leading dairymen in the town and county, has been connected in the cheese manufacturing business as long, probably, as any one in the county, and has for many years drove in lots of cows from south and west of the Reserve, for the spring trade.
     Captain Theodore Ensign, another Hartland man, made his stand on the State road, north of East Claridon.  His oldest sons soon located in other places in town, leaving the farm at or before his death to his son Emery, who subsequently removed to (Rock creek) Morgan, where a few years after he died.  Captain Ensign died in this town in 1860, aged seventy-four.  The Ensign farm is now owned by the Gorman brothers.
     Moses Stebbins, esq., bought a small improved farm on the corner of the middle east and west road to Huntsburg (the mill road), worked at the blacksmiths' trade, and subsequently sold and moved a little south of the center of the town. bHe was a magistrate for many years here, and was a man of excellent judgment, cautious, calculating results from causes with philosophical acumen.  Martin B. Hathaway now owns the place.
     Daniel Eaton lived many years, near where the railroad crosses the State road in the north part.
     George Sisson was another old settler on this road. He moved west.  The farm is now owned by Daniel Morehouse and his son, Frank, whilst James

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Morehouse, another of his sons, owns the north farm in the town, on the old State road.
     *Nathaniel, *Asa, and *Parley Dimicks formerly lived on this road, and the descendants of the Chaces and Hathaways, with their farms, fill up the gaps not otherwise mentioned on the old State road, being one of the earliest roads established in the county.
     The north east and west road from the State road to Huntsburg was not settled as early as most parts of the town.
     About 1834 two bachelor brothers took up a tract of land in the northeast section of the town.  They built at the intersection of this east and west with the north and south town line road, have made large clearings, and have had, I think, an ashery, steam saw-mill, cider-mill, etc., at different times.  These corners have been known as Dow's corners.
     † Josiah Bail built in the woods, on the above described road.  He was a soldier of the war of 1812.  He and his wife were hard-working people, and raised a large family, none of whom live in the town, but are scattered in various States.  The old soldier lives in Chardon, and is ninety years old, living with his son, Charles, a magistrate in that town.
     Alanson Bail lived in Claridon many years, raised a large family, and is now, and has been for a number of years a resident of Chardon.  Few men knew more of the hardships and trials of supporting families with honest, hard labor than the Bail families.  On that road the resident families are Parley Dimick⁑ and his sons, Martin Durkee, and Asa Dimick*, with his son, Peter Parley Dimick.
     A town line road from the northeast corner of Claridon was laid out and opened to accommodate one or two settlers and the public for mill convenience.
     On this road a Mr. Dudley located; after his death, Dudley Buel, of Mesopotamia, married the widow, and lives on the farm.
     On this road, near the corners, is located a cheese factory, which has been in successful operation for many years, receiving milk from Claridon and Huntsburg.
     On this road lived Mr. Thomas Green, who died in 1858, aged ninety, and his wife, Hannes, in 1856, aged eighty-six.
     A new road has been opened from the corners, a little north of the grist-mill, running south to the east and west center road near Elnathan Chace's for mill accommodations and public convenience to the railroad.
     Mr. Redington Hathaway was inadvertently omitted to be mentioned in the proper place on the State road.  He was one of the old settlers, an upright, steady home man, attending faithfully in his business.  He died in 1860, aged sixty.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

     The first settlers in the western and central parts of the township, were either members of Congregational churches east, or were identified with such societies In worship, and were strongly imbued with religious principles.  They were somewhat puritanical and strict observers of the Sabbath, never forgetting the interest of religion or education.  Being too few in numbers to form a church of their own, they connected themselves with the church in Burton, but the distance and condition of the road were such that it was deemed advisable to hold meetings regularly at Judge Cowles' house on the Sabath for worship. On Sun day, the sixteenth day of November, 1811, the people met "according to custom," says the record.  A Rev. Mr. Harris, on his way to the Scioto valley,
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     † Since dead.
     ⁑ Since the above was written, Parley Dimick has died, aged seventy-seven.

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EDUCATIONAL.

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A NIGHT IN THE WOODS.

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animal as large as a big dog, of a grayish color, coming, and, apparantly smelling the horses' tracks.  The day was now dawning.  They discovered the pathway, lost sight of the night before, the dreaded animal disappeared, and they arrived in safety at Esquire Hopson's, which they had left the evening previous, thinking and talking of their night's unpleasantness; but never dreaming that their experience in Munson's dark woods, through a stormy night, would ever be put into a pioneer history.  Miss Blakeslee is now Mrs. March, of Chagrin Falls, and Miss Harvey became Mrs. Pike, and died some years since.

MUSICAL ATTAINMENTS.

FATAL ACCIDENTS.

     Martin Hewit was killed in his horse stable, by his horses kicking.
     A son of Colonel Lester Taylor was killed by the fall of a tree Mar. 1, 1830.
     Clifton K. Chapman was drowned in Lake Aquilla (Claridon pond), July 3, 1872.  He was the only son of Mrs. Harriet Allen Chapman, and grandson of Alvin Allen, with whom she lived.
     A man who hung himself to the limb of a tree, lived with his family in the northwest part of the town, near where the railroad now passes into Hambden, and away from any road.  Only one suicide - cause, intemperance.

BUILDINGS BURNED.

     Houses - Lot Hathaway, Lester Taylor, Martin Hewit, Judge Asa Cowles, house (then occupied by Johnson Ensign, who married Minerva Cowles), Stephen Pitkin's (where Seger Steete formerly lived), and a house built by Colonel

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Shumway, and occupied by Stephen Hollis), John Yeen and Esquire Waters.
     Barns - Robert Bosley's by lightning, and Henry Martin Wells' by lightning, and a store at the center, with goods, owned by Robert Lyon, and one at the corners in East Claridon, owned by Ermine Mastick; one owned by the Leslies, and E. Mastick & White's grocery.

PROFESSIONAL.

     Lawyers. - None.
     Physicians. - The first was Dr. Jewett, a young man from Burton, who had lost
one hand or the use of his hand by the bursting of a gun in waking up officers on a training morning.  He located at East Claridon about 1832, did not succeed in business, and soon left.
     Drs. Alden, McAlpin and E. C. Taylor at the center, and several others at East Claridon. It was up hill-business.
     Old physicians at Chardon and Burton held the business too exclusively.
     Dr. Brown was the first to make a tolerable seccessful stand at East Claridon, and left in a few years.
     Dr. Chapel who had been a surgeon in the war of the rebellion, and one of the youngest ones in the army, established at East Claridon in 1868, and gained an extensive practice and was the first to establish himself on a solid pecuniary basis.

MERCHANTS.

     The first shop of goods was opened at East Claridon about 1832, by Mory's
Brothers.  The amount of goods and capital invested were about equal to a common pack-peddler's outlay of the present time.
     The small building containing the goods, stood on the southeast corner of East Claridon, and was built by a Mr. Wood from Windsor.  Then followed at the above place, John M. MacIntosh, about 1835, with various changes of firm:  Bolster & McIntosh, Bolster & Wells, Bolster, Kellogg & Co., C. C. Field & Charles Field, John P. Bosley and Bosley & Co., John P. Lukens & Co., the company being Hathaway & Bennett who retired in a few years, and Mr. Lukens continued in business, doing more than an ordinary amount for a country store until 1875, when he discontinued business in that place.  The Leslie Brothers commenced in ____.  The elder Leslie continues in trade at the Luken's stand.
     John Mastick, jr., and White have done business in the grocery line, and were burned out in 1879.
     At the center of the town Z. P. Brinsmade built a store, and was the first resident merchant.
     William K. Williston, Charles Bolster Co., C. P. Treat, Geauga Farmers Co., and Union Farmers Co., the two latter doing, in produce and merchandise, a large business for about three years; financially a failure in a superlative degree.  C. P. Treat, Robert Lyon, then Arthur Treat, and Lucretia Taylor followed, Arthur doing business at present at the old Treat stand.
     Cyrus Kellogg built a store at Kellogg's corners, and with his son, Frank, have been doing a large amount of business for a country store.

TAVERNS.

     The first tavern was opened by Martin, where Esquire Knapp now lives; second, the tavern house built by Martin McIntosh on the southeast corner of East Claridon, and another built on the northwest corner, and kept by J. Wilkinson, and for many years previous to this, kept by John Mastick.
     T. W. Ensign bought the McIntosh house, and kept it as a hotel some twenty years.  He died in 1862, aged forty-nine.

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MECHANICS.

     The township is a rural district, occupied most exclusively by tillers of the soil; even the mechanics, from the commencement to the present time, have generally been owners of small farms or a piece of land.
     Lewis Borman, a carpenter, came to Painesville from Hartland in 1818, and to Claridon in 1820.  He bought and built, and shifted his location many times, and finally settled down for life on a farm at East Claridon.
     Deacon James Preston built more good houses than any one.  Rufus Hurlburt, and Thomas Talbot, who owned a cabinet shop at the center, built the Congregational church.  Henry Talbot, Marcus Moffett, E. C. Belding, and Eleazer Goodwin were the principal carpenters and joiners who worked and remained long in town.  Mr. Moffett built several churches in neighboring towns, and one- the Methodist Episcopal church - at the center.

POLITICAL.

DEBATING CLUB.

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     East Claridon. - Elisha White, John McIntosh, John P. Bosley, Wanton Hathaway, Charles S. Field (appointed by Pierce in 1853, and continued until he resigned, during Lincoln's administration, holding the office over eleven years), and also Mr. Morse, and John Mastick, jr., present incumbent.
     Charles Field was commissioned a member of the board of enrollment of the Nineteenth congressional district of Ohio.  In a note from him he expressed a wish that the formation of a Know-nothing organization at East Claridon, "which grew in a night and perished in a night," should not be omitted in history.

CENTENARIAN.

     Margaret Waters died, aged one hundred and four years and ten months; her husband, Smith Waters, died in 1857, aged eighty-seven years: there were but ten days difference in their ages.  Mrs. Lucy Kellogg, the mother of Asahel and Cotton Kellogg, died at the age of one hundred years, and Mr. Jonathan Gould died, aged about ninety-nine - it was marked "one hundred" on his coffin.

OCTOGENARIANS.

     In 1870, there were fourteen persons in the township over eighty years of age.
     In 1878 there were sixteen persons in the township over eighty years old.
     The per entage of deaths in Claridon, for the last forty years, as compared with the population, will average about one and one-fourth per cent.

VAULT.

     In the spring of 1879, the qualified electors proceeded, under the notice given, according to law in such case made and provided, to vote, yes or no, for a vault to be built in the cemetery, at the center of Claridon.  There being an affirmative vote, the trustees of the township contracted for a vault to be built, during the summer, of Berea grit free-stone, which has been built under the direction of Burton Armstrong, Julius Chidester, and Lester DeWitt Taylor trustees, and Frank Kellogg township clerk.  It has been completed to the acceptance of the trustees, and is a fine structure of the kind.

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MILITARY ROSTER
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REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

WAR OF THE REBELLION

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