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Biographies
Source:
History of Trumbull
& Mahoning Counties
with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
Vols. I & 2 -
Publ. Cleveland: H. Z. Williams & Bro.
1882
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RICHARD IDDINGS
was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, Aug. 18, 1786. He came to
Warren in September, 1805, but returned to Reading in 1808, where,
in January, 1809, he married Miss Justina Lewis.
In February he started for the Reserve with his wife, and reached
Warren April 20th. He was in the War of 1812, and was
afterwards chosen major in the militia. He was elected to the
Legislature in 1830–31. His death took place Mar. 26, 1872.
At his golden wedding, in 1859, Mr. Iddings
gave the following description of his trip to the Reserve with
his wife:
I first came to Warren in September, 1805, and remained
here until the fall of 1808, when I returned to Berks county, my
native place. I married Miss Justina Lewis,
at Reading, Pennsylvania, on the evening of the 15th of January,
1809, at 8 o'clock-just fifty years ago. On the 8th of
February we started for Ohio in a two-horse sleigh, with our
household furniture, for which there was plenty of room. When we
reached the top of the Allegheny mountains the snow was four feet
deep; but we learned there was no snow at the foot of the mountain,
nor westward to Ohio. Therefore, we went to the house of an
uncle to my wife, who resided in Fayette county, some twelve miles
from Brownsville. Leaving her, the sleigh, and one horse, I
proceeded to this place on horse back. Here I hired a canoe,
and, engaging Mr. Henry Harsh to assist me, I went
down the Mahoning and Beaver rivers to Beavertown, and up the Ohio
and Monongahela to Brownsville. Taking my wife and a few
household fixings on board, we floated down to Pittsburg, where I
purchased a barrel of flour, and went on to Warren. The
weather was quite cold, and the settlers few and scattering.
Some nights we lodged in houses near the river, and sometimes on its
bank, without shelter. Sometimes we had plenty to eat, and
sometimes we went without food for a whole day. We were two
days getting over the falls of Beaver river. Mr.
Harsh and myself were most of the time in the water (frequently
up to our waists), pulling up the empty canoe, while my wife sat on
the shore watching the goods which we had landed. At the
mill-dams on the Mahoning the same process was repeated. We
reached Warren on the 20th day of April, having been twenty-one days
coming from Brownsville.
Source:
History of Trumbull & Mahoning Counties - Vol. I -
Publ. Cleveland: H. Z. Williams & Bro. 1882 - Page 309 |
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