NORWALK TOWNSHIP
pg. 236
Norwalk township was incorporated by act of legislature,
Feb. 11, 1828. The following are the two first
sections of the act of incorporation:
Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
the State of Ohio, That so much of the township of
Norwalk, in the county of Huron, as lies within the
following boundaries, to-wit: Commencing at the
southeast corner of the town plat of Norwalk, in the center
of the road leading to Medina, running along the south side
of the back alley as far as it extends, from thence in the
same direction to the center of the road passing widow
Tice’s dwelling, a distance of two hundred and
sixteen rods from the starting point; thence along the
center of said road forty rods; thence northeastwardly and
parallel with the first line to the center of the road
passing Ebenezer Lane’s dwelling to Milan, a
distance of two hundred and sixteen rods; thence along the
center of said road forty rods to the place of beginning, be
and the same is hereby created a town corporate, and shall
henceforth be known and distinguished by the name of the
town of Norwalk.
Sec. 2. That it shall be lawful for the white
male inhabitants of said town, having the qualifications of
electors of members of the general assembly, to meet at some
convenient place in said town, on the first Monday of May
next, and the first Monday of May annually thereafter, and
then and there proceed, by a plurality of votes, to elect by
ballot one mayor, one recorder and five trustees, who shall
have the qualifications of electors; and the persons so
elected shall hold their office for one year, and until
their successors shall be chosen and qualified, and they
shall constitute the town council.
FIRST CORPORATION ELECTION.
The
following is take from the first pages of the first book of
record of the corporation of Norwalk, and comprises the
poll-book and tally sheet of the first election held as an
incorporated village:
Poll-book of the election held in th town of Norwalk in
the county of Huron and state of Ohio, this fifth day of
May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
twenty-eight. Joseph C. Curtiss, Benjamin Carmon
and Wm. Gallup judges, and Geo. T. Buckingham,
clerk, of this election, were severally sworn as the law
directs previous to their entering on the duties of their
respective offices.
“Norwalk and Bronson were together as an election
district from 1817 (the time of their first organization) to
1822. For a part of this time Fairfield was
included in the same organization, making an election
district five miles wide and
fifteen miles long, the same being called Norwalk; and while
so together, all the elections were held in the part called
Norwalk proper.”
The first election in Norwalk township was held at the
house of Hanson Reed in April, 1817. Norwalk
and Bronson were at this time organized as an election
district.
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Hanson Reed’s house was situated on the east
side of the road leading from near the water works to the
Fairfield road, and about thirty rods from the latter road.
Soon after Hull’s surrender at Detroit in August
of 1812, Thomas, son of Abijah Comstock,
was born on section two of Norwalk. When he was only a
few days old, his parents had to flee from their home to
escape the Indians, which they did just in time, taking him
and their other valuables with them, for the night after
their departure their house was burned. This was the
first white child born in Norwalk.
The first death of which he has found any record, was
that of Angeline Lewis. She was the daughter of
Samuel B. and Amy Lewis; born at South Salem,
Westchester county, New York, probably in the fall of 1814;
was brought by her parents to Norwalk in the spring of 1815,
and died Sept. 1, 1817. She was probably the child
stolen by two squaws, and rescued by her mother, of which an
account is given in the history of Samuel B. Lewis.
In the spring or summer of 1815, Hanson Reed,
then living in Greenfield, purchased of Samuel B. Lewis,
the place upon which Mr. Lewis had erected a
house the previous year.
He soon moved in with his family, and in 1816 or 1817,
commenced building a sawmill on the creek which runs through
the present L. B. Mesnard and S. J. Rogers
farms, on the north side of the Fairfield road, and a
few rods to the west of the stone bridge over that creek. In
erecting this mill, he was assisted by his father-in-law,
Mr. Abraham Powers. Soon after its completion, it
was destroyed by fire. The two men then made a
workshop of the house, and commenced work on the machinery
of another mill, and in about five weeks had it completed,
running and doing a good business, but when the fall rains
came on, a freshet swept away their dam. They were now
without funds, all having been put into building and
re-building, but were not discouraged; the dam was soon
replaced, and then they began to plan for a gristmill
attachment to the sawmill, and carried their plans into
execution in a year or two afterwards.
In 1806 Nathan S. Comstock, in company with
several others, started on an exploring expedition to “spy
out the country” where their new possessions lay. They
spent some time in looking over the country, but not being
provided with suitable maps or guides, were not certain they
found the particular land they were in search of.
1809.—Early in the spring of this year, Nathan engaged
the services of Darius Ferris and Elijah
Hoyt to accompany him on a second expedition to
Norwalk with the intention of making a permanent settlement.
They started with a span of horses and wagon and such tools
as would be necessary in clearing and building. At
Buffalo they found it impracticable to proceed further with
their wagon, so a small boat was purchased, into which their
goods were packed, with the addition of a barrel of whisky.
Two of them manned the boat, and proceeded up the lake,
keeping near the shore, while the other took charge of the
horses, and traveled overland, keeping near the lake.
In this manner they reached the mouth of Huron river.
There were at that time quite a number of Indian
settlements along that river, the largest of which was where
the village of Milan now stands, and was
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called Pequatting. They were Moravians, in charge of a
missionary named Frederick Drake, and had a mission
house. Being very friendly, they offered the new
comers the use of the mission house until a structure could
be erected to shelter them. A site was selected for
the new house in section two, near a spring and in the
immediate neighborhood of the fine brick residence erected a
few years ago by Philo Comstock, Esq., in section
three of Norwalk. After cutting the logs, the few
white men then in the country, were invited to assist in
putting up the house.
This was the first house erected by white men, in the
township of Norwalk, of which any record can be traced, and
was, most probably, the pioneer house. It was not
covered by a mansard roof; the windows were not set with
crown-plate glass; the front door was not of carved walnut,
nor mahogany; the back door did not exist; its floor was not
covered with a brussels carpet; there was no piano and no
sewing machine within its walls; upon the marble-topped
center table (which was not there) lay no daily morning
paper containing the latest telegraph news and the last time
card of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, nor
even that of the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad company.
In fact, it was no palatial residence, hut rough and strong,
and made for service like the strong-willed, iron-handed men
who built it. Its roof was made of “shakes its walls
of rough logs; its floor was the face of mother-earth,
carpeted with the moss of the growth of ages; the bedsteads
were “bunks” with poles for springs, and their mattresses
were sacks filled with leaves and mosses; its cooking range
was a brass kettle hung on a pole supported by two crotched
sticks driven into the floor, and its chimney was a hole
left open in the roof. Rough, uncouth, homely, yet it
was a home, - the first home of Norwalk.
The house having been erected, they next commenced a
clearing of about ten acres which they completed, in a
manner, and sowed to wheat that fall.
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