THE FIRST MILL
It has been shown in a
previous chapter that, on the completion of the survey of the
Western Reserve by the Connecticut Land Company, the land was
partitioned among the stockholders of the company by draft.
"Prior to the draft some portions of the land had been sold by
the company to individuals not stockholders. Youngstown
was not included in the land partitioned in the draft, and the
name of John Young does not appear among the stockholders of the
company. Hence we infer that he contracted for the
purchase of the township directly from the company and prior to
the draft, but at what time and in what manner this contract was
made the records do not show. The records, however, do
show that on Apr. 9, 1800, the trustees of the company conveyed
to John Young township No. 2 in the second range,
called Youngstown, containing 15,560 acres of land, for the
consideration of $16,085. On the same day Mr.
Young, executed to the trustees a mortgage of the township
to secure the payment of the purchase money.
"Mr. Young, according to tradition,
visited the township about 1797 with Alfred Wolcott,
a surveyor, for the purpose of surveying it into lots and
commencing a settlement. Colonel James Hillman, who
then resided in Pittsburg, and had been for a number of years
engaged in trading with the Indians on the Reserve, making his
voyages up the Mahoning in a canoe, in returning from one of his
expeditions, saw a smoke on the bank near Spring Common.
On landing he found Mr. Young and Mr.
Wolcott. He stayed with them a few days, when they went with
him to Beaver on the Ohio river, to celebrate the Fourth of
July. Colonel Hillman, at the instance of
Mr. Young, returned with him to Youngstown, and they
commenced the settlement of the town by the erection of a log
house, which stood on the east bank of the Mahoning river near
Spring Common.
MORE TO COME.....
FIRST MARRIAGE ON THE RESERVE.
The records of Trumbull
county contain the following certificate:
"This may certify that, after publication, according to
law of the Territory, Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush
were joined in marriage on the third day of November, 1800.
BY WILLIAM WICK, V. D. M.
"On the 11th of February prior, according to a record
kept at Canfield, Alfred Wolcott, the surveyor who came
out with Mr. Young, and then resided at Youngstown, was
married to Mercy Gilson, of Canfield. They were
married in Pennsylvania, for the reason that no person in this
vicinity was authorized to solemnize marriages. Hence we
infer that the first marriage in Youngstown was that of
Stephen Baldwin and Rebecca Rush; and this was probably the
first marriage on the Reserve.
FIRST MAIL CHILD BORN.
THE FIRST FUNERAL.
DISCOVERY OF COAL.
JUDGE KIRTLAND'S REMINISCENCES.
CELEBRATING THE FOURTH.
FIRST MURDER TRIAL.
PIONEER SCHOOLS.
FEMININE COSTUMES.
HEAVY RAILS OF 1810 - 1812.
OTHER EDUCATIONAL MATTERS.
EARLY AMUSEMENTS.
PIONEER HOUSES.
ELECTIONS.
INCORPORATION.
FIRST COUNCIL MEETING.
CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS.
FURTHER EXTENSIONS OF LIMITS.
MAYORS OF YOUNGSTOWN.
CITY OFFICERS - 1907.
YOUNGSTOWN CITIZENS OF 1841.
ONE ATTORNEY.
CLERGYMEN.
NO NEWSPAPER.
OF HIGH CHARACTER.
OAK HILL CEMETERY.
Oak Hill Cemetery was
founded in 1852, the Cemetery Association being incorporated in
that year with Dr. Henry Manning as its first president.
About sixteen acres of the original land was purchased from
Dr. Manning and formed part of his farm. The land has
been improved at considerable expense, and now consists of
twenty-seven acres, beautifully situated upon a high hill on the
south bank of the Mahoning River. To this cemetery were
gradually conveyed the remains of those who had been previously
interred in the old burying ground on Wood street and Wick
avenue. In it about 14,000 interments have been made
up to the present time. The cemetery is not conducted for
the profit and no dividends are declared. Myron C. Wick
is no president of the association, with Mason Evans
secretary and treasurer. The grounds are tastefully laid
out and kept in admirable order under the careful
superintendence of Mr. J. D. Orr. With its
retired and picturesque situation, elevated far above the noise
and smoke of the valley, it makes an ideal City of the Dead,
where bereaved ones may commune awhile in spirit with those who
have passed away. There are seven costly private burying
vaults now in the cemetery.
BELMONT PARK CEMETERY.
MILL CREEK PARK.
MILL CREEK AND ITS RELICS IN THE PARK.
LAKE COHASSET.
EAST END PARK.
WICK PARK.
YOUNGSTOWN CITY WATER WORKS.
YOUNGSTOWN FILTER PLANT.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
THE DEPARTMENT REORGANIZED.
FIREMAN'S DAILY ROUTINE.
THE DEPARTMENT AS NOW ORGANIZED.
STATIONS AND COMPANIES.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
MAHONING AND SHENANGO RAILWAY AND
LIGHT COMPANY.
YOUNGSTOWN BOARD OF TRADE.
YOUNGSTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
YOUNGSTOWN GAS FUEL COMPANY.
CENTRAL UNION TELEPHONE COMPANY.
YOUNGSTOWN TELEPHONE COMPANY.
BUSINESS COLLEGES.
YOUNGSTOWN HUMANE COMPANY.
ANNUAL REPORT.
WORK RELEASE.
GRAND OPERA HOSUE.
PARK THEATER
A FEW STATISTICS.
NOTABLE PERSONAGES.
JOHN YOUNG came from a
Scotch family that settled near Londonderry, in the north of
Ireland, in the Sixteenth or Seventeenth century. Here, in
18623, the first of the family whose record is known to us was
born. In 1718, in his ninety-sixth year, with his son and
grandson, their brothers and sisters, and sisters' husbands,
forming in all fourteen, part of a Scotch-Irish colony, he
sailed away from Ireland, and landed in Boston, Mass., the same
year. One of the descendants settled in Petersborough, N.
H., and there John Young was born in 1763. About
1780 he emigrated to Whitestown, N. Y., and in June, 1792, was
married to Mary Stone White, youngest daughter of Hugh
White, the first settler there and original proprietor of a
large tract of wild land.
John Young lived in Whitestown until 1796, in
which year he became interested in Ohio lands. In 1797 he
began the settlement of Youngstown, to which place, two years
later, he removed with his wife and two children- John and
George. Here two more children were born to him -
William, in 1799, and Mary in 1802. In
1803, Mrs. Young, finding the trials of frontier life,
with a latch-string always out, and a table free to all, too
great with her young family for her power of endurance,
persuaded her husband to close up his business and returned with
the family to Whitestown, where her father had kept a home for
them.
Mr. Young's nominal occupation subsequently was
that of farmer, though he devoted the greater part of his time
to other business interests. He was for many years engaged
in the construction and superintendency of the Great Western
Turnpike from Utica to Canandaigua, and later on the Erie Canal,
near which he resided, and upon which one of his sons was
employed as civil engineer.
As one of the justices of the peace and quorum, Mr.
Young sat upon the bench at the first territorial court held
at Warren in 1800, and was ever after addressed as Judge
Young. He died in April, 1825, at the age of
sixty-two, twenty-two years after his return from Youngstown.
His wife survived him fourteen years, dying in September, 1839,
in the old home of her father, at Whitestown, N. Y., at the age
of sixty-seven.
COLONEL JAMES HILLMAN, one of
the most picturesque figures of pioneer days on the Reserve, was
born in Northumberland county, Pa., on the 27th of October,
1762. As a young man he fought for American independence
in the Revolutionary War, and on its termination accompanied his
father to the West, settling on the banks of the Ohio river, a
short distance belong Pittsburg. In the spring of 1786 he
was employed by the firm of Duncan & Wildon as a
packhorseman and during the following summer, in the interest of
his employers, visited Sandusky, the mouth of the Cuyahoga, and
other places. Subsequently he made several trading
excursions up the Mahoning river, on one of which, in 1796 or
1797, he met John Young, and made arrangements with him
by which he soon after removed with his family to the then newly
funded settlement of Youngstown. Of this place he was
afterwards a resident until his death.
On his farm of sixty acres, on the west side of the
river, Mr. Hillman built, so tradition says, the first
frame house in the township. About 1808 he opened in the
village a tavern, of which he was proprietor for several years
thereafter. He sold it after his return from the War of
1812, in which he served as wagonmaster under Colonel Rayen.
In 1818 he sold his farm and opened another
tavern, on the corner of Federal and Walnut streets, which he
kept until 1824. He then purchased another farm on the
west side of the river, and resided thereon until his death,
which occurred Nov. 12, 1848, when he had just entered his
eighty-seventh year.
Colonel Hillman was frequently elected to public
office. In August, 1800, at the First Territorial Court
held in Trumbull County, he was appointed constable of
Youngstown. Subsequently he served several terms as
appraiser of houses, and was a number of times elected township
trustee. He was elected sheriff of Trumbull County in
1806, and on Feb. 16, 1808, he was commissioned as
lieutenant-colonel, commandant of the Second Regiment, First
Brigade, Fourth Division, Ohio militia, which latter office he
resigned in the following year. In 1814 he was elected
representative in the State Legislature. He also held the
office of justice of the peace for several years, being first
elected thereto in 1825.
In early manhood, soon after his return from the
Revolutionary War, he was married in Western Pennsylvania,
making his wife's acquaintance at a dance and marrying her on
the same evening, the dancing being suspended for a few minutes
while the ceremony was performed. This union, though
childless, proved a happy one. Mrs. Catherine
Hillman survived her husband seven years, dying in August,
1855, at the advanced age of eighty-three. She was the
first white female resident of Youngstown, and was noted for her
hospitality and kind neighborly traits of character.
Colonel Hill was a typical pioneer. Brave,
hardy, adventurous and shrewd, he was well fitted to endure the
toil and encounter the dangers of a life in the wilderness, and
his fame as a man of courage and ready resource, yet of
circumspect judgment, as come down to our day, and we know him
as one of hte most worthy of which we are today members.
JUDGE WILLIAM RAYEN
was
born in Kent Co., Md., Oct. 1, 1776, and moved to Youngstown as
early as 1802, before Ohio had been admitted into the Union; he
was therefore one of the earliest pioneers of the Western
Reserve. The early records of Youngstown township, then a
part of Trumbull County, mention that the first pubic meeting to
organize was held in his house, and the first township officers
were elected there April 5, 1802. Subsequently he was
elected and re-elected to different township offices, and became
one of the foremost citizens in the public life of the
community.
In the War of 1812, when about thirty-six years of age,
he went out under General Harrison as colonel of the
First Regiment, Third brigade of militia, raised in the Western
Reserve, in his command being Major Mackey, Dr. Henry
Manning, Charles A. Boardman and Colonel Hillman.
He was ever regarded with affection and esteem by those who had
served under him. He was always a strong factor in the
political party to which he belonged, and its prominent members
throughout the State were frequent visitors and guests at his
house; among these were David Tod and John Brough,
both of whom were afterwards governors of Ohio. He was
appointed by the Governor of the State as associate judge on the
Trumbull County bench, and from that period was generally
addressed as Judge Rayen except by his military friends
who continued to call him colonel. The leading events of
his life, which are of pubic record, establish the fact of a
steadily acquired prominence, not only local, but in the State,
which can be best accounted for by conceding his unusual ability
to rise from moderate beginnings.
In 1840 he was elected by the legislature as president
of the board of public works of the State, and his entire life
from the time of his coming to Youngstown up to and beyond this
period shows him to have been a man of unusual energy and
sagacious judgment in the management of business affairs.
Without mentioning minor instances of his activity, records
show that he was one of the corporators, and a director in the
Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal Company, the first pubic work
affecting the growth of the town, and built a warehouse on its
banks; that he was a stockholder in the Cleveland & Mahoning
Railroad Company, the first railroad in the valley, and that he
was the first president of the Mahoning County Bank, the first
bank organized in Youngstown. During all this time he
continued the extension and improvement of his landed
possessions, and built a house suitable to his growing position
with all the accessories - garden, orchard, shrubbery, and
stables - that mark a well cared for homestead. His farms
were large and easily distinguishable by the superiority of
their fences and well known red gates. His cattle were of
select breeds and his sheep of the finest merino. Visitors
from his own and other States came long distances to see his
stock, famous for their quality. as the owner of well
managed farms and superior live-stock, the general
acknowledgement was that he was without a peer in this part of
the country.
Judge Rayen was a strong man, mentally and
physically, with a distinct voice and of good presence, not much
above the middle height, and weighing 280 pounds. He was
polite in manner, impressive in intercourse, and in the presence
of women particularly courteous; though affable to all, and
possessed of considerable humor, few would venture on
familiarity unless on friendly terms before. He was
particular in dress, somewhat in the style of earlier days; when
he was seen in his black coat, or a blue coat with gilt buttons,
buff colored vest and fine ruffled shirt, his portly form seated
on a bench under a large tree near his house, with his hands
folded over the top of his gold-headed cane, he presented an
attractive, even a picturesque, appearance, well known to
everyone; and in his position, when weather permitted, his
friends at home and from abroad might expect to find him when
not particularly engaged.
His domestic habits were simple and orderly. An
early riser himself, the business of the day began early with
the family and domestics. Systematic in everything, the
machinery of affairs ran smoothly and proclaimed a master at the
head. Integrity and candor were essentials to his esteem
and favor, wither in dependents or friends. He was
discerning, and when favorably impressed was generous in
intercourse and often liberal in aid where required. There
was a certain highmindedness in himself, which made him faithful
and open to his friends, but unapproachable by those on whom his
esteem could not rest. He estimated men for their
qualities rather than for what they possessed, and so his
friendships were to be found in every walk of life. There
was no disguise in his nature; he was direct in his manner and
actions at all times.
He was not a professor of religion, although his family
and household were mostly church members, but at the request of
his wife, who was a religious woman, he fitted up a large room
in an adjoining store building to be used for religious meetings
at her disposal. On her death he built a stone vault not
far from the dwelling, in which her remains were laid to rest,
and to the end of his life thereafter it was his custom, on the
anniversary of her death, the enter, to enter and remain in this
vault for some time alone. On the subject of his religious
views he was not demonstrative. Being a Royal Arch Mason
and attached to the order, he had avowed his belief in God, and
in the Bible as his inspired word, and that probably was the
only open declaration of his faith ever made.
Judge Rayen was a natural leader, not so much by
what he said as by what he did, for he was not a man of many
words, though earnest and cheerful in conversation. He was
endowed with practical good sense and a strong will, and in his
undertakings kept abreast, if not in advance, of the times and
circumstances about him, and thereby appeared to stand on
elevated ground among his neighbors, and in that attitude by
common consent, was recognized throughout the country when
spoken of.
So far the history, individuality and surroundings of
the judge are presented in a concise manner, without referring
to that feature of his character in which the people of
Youngstown are most interested, and on which his memory
will most securely rest, namely, his benevolence; and it may be
well, before treating of his bequest for a public school, to
have introduced the personality of a distinguished man who was a
living active figure in the early settlement and growth of this
part of Ohio during the first half of the Nineteenth century,
and who, having passed through the hardships of pioneer times
successfully, had at the end of his long life a desire to
promote civilization by education of the people, and for that
purpose founded an institution of learning with a liberality
that is without an equal for its munificence in this community.
Vague expectations of some generous act were
entertained for some time by his friends but nothing definite
was known until his will was read after his death, in 1854.
The secret of his intentions was his own and was not divulged to
any, het, when made known, his bequest was not a surprise.
On many occasions he had spoken with commendation of gifts to
public institutions, colleges, or libraries, and more than once
with particular praise of Stephen Girard's will founding
a college at Philadelphia. Many reasons may be advanced,
not altogether speculative, why he should select a public school
as the object of his benefactions. He was a thorough
American, born with the Revolution, and a defender of his
country in its early wars; and living in the times when the
future of the new republic was a subject discussed at home and
abroad, he believed its perpetuity depended on the intelligence
of the people as much as on their bravery, and that provision
for their education was a patriotic duty. The public
school system of today was not then in existence; opportunity
for education of the young was precarious, depending on private
subscription, so that to adopt some plan of a permanent nature,
particularly for children of the poor, was a noble inspiration.
Then, again, his own education, through fair, was limited, and
it was a source of regret to him that opportunity for higher
attainments was not his lot when young.
Whatever may have been the moving causes, the
benevolent act was his own well matured purpose, and his will is
the best exponent that can be given of his motives. It was
framed with a sagacity for which he was noted; the perpetuity of
its benefits was a first consideration; that the doors of the
school should be open to all children of Youngstown, and
especially to those of poor parents, was a part of his broad
philanthropy, and to avoid exclusiveness, no particular
religious sect should have supremacy in its management, but good
moral teaching should be an essential in its teachers, thus
making the institution truly public in its benefits.
At the time of his death the population of Youngstown
was about 4,000, and the value of property greatly below the
present; wealth was estimated by a different standard, and
therefore, the amount bequeathed was at, the time relatively
large; and when it is remembered that it was given out of his
most available means, not dependent on the uncertain value of
landed property, which, though since, very great, could not then
have been estimated, it is seen that this cherished purpose of
his was, by design, most securely provided for, and in this
provision of his will, the habit of doing well whatever he
undertook is clearly exemplified.
Having no children of his own, and yet known to be a
lover and friend of the young all his life, it might be said
that he adopted the children of Youngstown to be his heirs,
leaving to them an inheritance of great educational value for
all time, by which his name would be perpetuated, and should
this ambition have entered into the purpose of the generous
deed, there is nothing unworthy in it. The field of his
benefaction has greatly enlarged since the will was made, and
the trust has been so wisely and ably managed that its benefits
have attained a proportion beyond any expectation the donor
could have entertained at the time. The population of the
city has increased to about 78,000, made up of a new generation,
who generally look upon Rayen school as the ordinary outgrowth
of civilization, unmindful of its founder, who, if remembered at
all, is as some indistinct person in the past, almost mythical
in character. Few recognize the advantages of the school
as the result of the foresight and benevolence of one of hte
earliest settlers in Youngstown, or consider that, if he had not
existed and done the generous deed, the city would be wanting in
one of its chief attractions and most useful institutions. -
[From a sketch by Hon. Thomas H. Wells.]
ROBERT MONTGOMERY was born
Apr. 5, 1773, in Danville, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
His father, General William Montgomery, was a colonel in
the Revolutionary army, and at one time a member of the
Continental Congress. Both father and son were surveyors,
the subject of this sketch being employed as assistant to the
surveyor-general of Pennsylvania. While following his
profession in the western part of that State prior to the
settlement of the Reserve, Robert Montgomery made a
journey up the Mahoning river, visiting the site of Youngstown.
Here, between 1812 and 1816, he purchased land near the mouth of
Dry Run, and established a homestead on which he subsequently
resided until his death.
Having in his younger days acquired a knowledge of the
furnace business he made a second journey to Ohio, about 1805,
and selected a site for a furnace on Yellow Creek, in Poland
township. This site was on the farm of John Struthers,
with whom he entered into partnership. A furnace was
erected and put in blast in 1806 or 1807, and was the first
furnace successfully run in Ohio. A furnace on Yellow
Creek had been previously erected by Dan Eaton, but was
not successful. In 1807, Mr. Eaton sold his
furnace, ore, and other rights to Mr. Montgomery and his
partners, among the latter being James Mackay, Robert
Alexander, and David Clendenin. The
Montgomery furnace was run successfully until the War of
1812 interrupted the business and it was not resumed.
After closing up his furnace business Mr. Montgomery
took up his residence on the farm already mentioned. He
was selected justice of the peace, in which office he served for
a number of years. He was a man of good education and well
informed on general topics. Having served for some time as
a major in the militia he was generally given his military title
in conversation. He died in 1857. Major
Montgomery was twice married. His first wife died
young, leaving one child, Mary who married Mr. Corry
He married, second, in 1814, Mrs. Louisa M. Edwards,
widow of John S. Edwards. Of this union there were
three children, Robert Morris, Caroline Sarah, who became
the wife of Dr. Moses Hazeltine, and Ellen Louise,
who married Samuel Hine.
DAN EATON was one of several
brothers who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania soon after the
settlement of the Reserve, about 1803 or earlier. Little
is known of his early history. His name was originally
Daniel Heaton, but he had it contracted by act of
legislature, deeming it to contain superfluous letters.
The first authentic information in regard to him is derived from
a contract made between him and Robert Alexander and
David Clendenin and dated June 23, 1807, in which he
contracts to sell them the "Hopewell Furnace," together with 102
acres of land which formed a part of the property, and all of
which he held by contract with Turhand Kirland; also "his
interest in and to the whole of the iron ore on the plantation
of Lodwick Ripple, which he held under an agreement with
said Lodwick; also certain other rights to wood," etc.
On the date of his agreement with Lodwick - Aug. 31, 1803
- he made a contract for iron ore preliminary to building a
furnace. It also appears that on Oct. 17, 1804, he made
contracts with others for wood for charcoal to run the furnace,
which probably then was nearly ready to start. The exact
date at which he "blew in" is not known, but it was undoubtedly
at some time between 1804 and 1806 inclusive. This furnace
was located upon Yellow Creek about one and one-fourth miles
south of its junction with the Mahoning river, in Poland
township. To this place he came, it is believed about
1800. The price for which he sold his furnace, with ore
rights, etc., was $5,600, and the price of the land was not
quite $3.50 per acre.
After thus selling out his rights in this business he
went to Niles, Trumbull County, where, with his brother James,
he established a forge, using the pig iron made at the Yellow
Creek furnaces, the delivery to him of which as part of the
purchase price of the furnace was one of the conditions of the
contract above referred to. Subsequently with the same
brother, and possibly others of the family he built a furnace at
Niles which was in operation as late as 1856.
About 1825, with his brother James Reese and
Isaac Heaton, sons of James and Eli Phillips,
he built a furnace on Mill Creek, in Youngstown, the first in
the township, a short distance below the Mahoning falls.
About this time, and for a number of years after, he resided on
a small farm on the west side of Mill Creek near its junction
with the Mahoning, it being a part of the tract originally
purchased on which to build the furnace.
Mr. Eaton was a man of strong prejudices and
fiery passions. Though imperfectly educated he had a good
mind and possessed a fair stock of general information. He
several times changed his religious views, being in his younger
days a Methodist, afterwards holding _eistical views, and in his
later years inclining to Spiritualism. He held pronounced
opinions on financial questions, believing that banks should not
issue currency, but that all paper money should be notes issued
by the United States Treasury, and should be made a legal
tender; that offices should be established in the several States
for loaning these notes, and that the government should reap the
benefit of the interest on the notes loaned and used as
currency. These views with others he embodied in a bill
which he prepared in 1847 and forwarded to Congress, accompanied
by a petition signed by many of his friends and neighbors
requesting its passage.
Mr. Eaton was an early advocate of the
temperance cause, organizing at Niles, as early as 1811, the
first temperance society known in this region. He and his
family, with many others, signed the total abstinence pledge, to
which he ever afterwards adhered. That he was highly
regarded by his fellow citizens is evidenced by the fact that in
1813 he was Senator from Trumbull County, and in 1820
Representative from the county in the State Legislature, his
co-representative being Hon. Elisha Whittlesey.
Mr. Eaton died at Youngstown
about 1857, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Hannah E.
Kendle, with whom he had lived several years after the death
of his wife.
JAMES MACKEY, one of the most
prominent and influential among the early settlers of the
Western Reserve, was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in
1776. His early history is not fully known, but that he
had received a good education is evidenced by the fact that at
the time of his arrival on the Reserve he was a "well trained
practical surveyor, an excellent accountant, and a good
mathematician."
He arrived in Poland township about 1805, coming from
Pennsylvania to assist Robert Montgomery in building a
furnace on Yellow Creek, of which furnace he subsequently became
part owner, being also connected with the company as bookkeeper
until operations were discontinued about 1812. About that
time he entered the army, and was subsequently promoted to the
office of adjutant in the fourth division of Ohio militia,
commanded by Major-General Wadsworth. "During the
war he was also assistant paymaster of the division, and his
accurate rolls, and their careful preservation, was of great aid
to the soldiers in after years in enabling them to furnish
evidence of their military service, and thereby obtain bounty
land warrants and pensions. His early training and
business capacity well qualified him for these positions, and
his kind and generous treatment of the soldiers won him their
gratitude, affection and respect. His military employments
gave him the rank and title of major."
About 1816 he entered into mercantile business in
Youngstown with Colonel William Rayen, under the style of
Rayen & Mackey, their store being a log building,
situated on the northeast corner of Federal and Holes streets.
This partnership lasted for several years and during its
continuance Major Mackey purchased a farm of 275 acres,
northeast of the territory covered by the present city of
Youngstown. He and Colonel Rayen, who owned a
neighboring farm, just over the township line, in Coitsville,
became friendly rivals in the production of fine cattle and
swine. He was also often employed as land surveyor.
Major Mackey was frequently elected by his
fellow citizens to public office. In 1814 he was elected
township clerk; in 1822 and 1823, township trustee, and in
subsequent years trustee, supervisor of highways, fence viewer,
overseer of the poor and justice of the peace. In 1819 he
was elected county commissioner for a term of three years.
In 1822 he was elected representative from Trumbull County to
the General Assembly, there being eight other candidates.
His associate was Cyrus Bosworth. In 1830 he was
elected treasurer of Trumbull County for two years, and in
collecting the taxes he visited each year all the thirty-five
townships of the county, performing his journey on the back of
his favorite horse, "Bob."
Major Mackey was a man of excellent qualities,
active and industrious, public-spirited, of strict integrity,
with good judgment, and great firmness and decision of
character. Matters of difference between his neighbors,
were often referred to him for settlement, and his decision
rendered only after full hearing of all the facts, were always
accepted by them as final. His death took place Aug. 15,
1844, when he was sixty-eight years old.
He was married Sept. 10, 1823, to Miss Margaret
Earley, of Coitsville, O. She survived him many years,
dying May 14, 1870, at the age of seventy-two. They were
the parents of eight children of whom three died young.
The others were David, Nancy, (who married Dr. Will
Breaden), James, Robert and Letitia, who
became the wife of Andrew Kirk. David, James and
Robert Mackey were associated in partnership for a number of
years in the real estate business in Youngtown. They built
the first street railroad in that city, of which for a number of
years James Mackey was presirent.
JOHN
E. WOODBRIDGE
was born in Stockbridge, Mass., June 24, 1777, son of Jahleel
and Lucy (Edwards) Woodbridge. His mother was a
daughter of Rev. Jonathan Edwards. He acquired his
early education in his native town of Stockbridge and afterwards
learned the trade of tanner with William Edwards, a
relation, who resided in the State of New York, and with whom he
remained until attaining his majority. In 1798 he went to
Philadelphia where he worked at his trade, as he did
subsequently in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore,
Maryland. He was married in 1803 to Miss Mary M.
Horner, who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1783.
In the summer of 1807 the family, which then included two
children, removed from Baltimore, where they were then residing,
to Youngstown, making the journey in a large wagon. Here
Mr. Woodbridge purchased the tannery of Joseph
Townsend, who was the first tanner in Youngstown, and who
then gave up his trade to become a farmer. The tannery
being small, Mr. Woodbridge enlarged it and continued the
business during the rest of his life, in his latter years,
however, leaving the active management of the business largely
to his sons, who were his partners. Among his employees,
it is said, was Mr. Grant, grandfather of President
Grant.
In the War of 1812 Mr. Woodbridge served as
paymaster of Colonel Rayen's regiment during the six
months that it was in the field. He died in Youngstown
Dec. 1, 1844. The following was the well deserved tribute
to his character paid in a funeral discourse by Rev. Charles
A. Boardman.
"His uniform urbanity, intelligence, integrity,
refinement, and morality of deportment commanded the respect of
all, and the cordial attachment of those who best knew him,
which, unshaken by adversity and trial, he has born with him to
the grave. He was a modest man, with qualifications for
official station which won the confidence of his fellow
citizens, but he recoiled from its responsibility, and
steadfastly resisted all offers of public favor."
His wife survived him several years. They were
parents of eleven children: Lucy who married Jonathan
Edwards; John, George, Timothy, Henry, William, Walter,
Samuel, Elizabeth, who became the wife of George Tayler;
Louisa Maria, married to Robert W. Tayler, and Stark
Edwards.
DANIEL SHEHY was born in County
Tipperary, Ireland. The exact date of his birth is not
known. He was well educated, and after arriving at man's
estate came into possession of his inheritance and emigrated to
America, this being just after the close of the Revolutionary
War. At Albany, New York, he met John Young, by
whom he was persuaded to seek his fortunes in Ohio, and whom he
accompanied on the latter's first trip to the Western Reserve.
In company with Mr. Isaac Powers he assisted in the
survey of the Reserve. Their only white predecessor was
Colonel Hillman, whom they met on the banks of the Mahoning.
Mr. Shehy selected and purchased one thousand acres of
land for which he paid $2,000, four hundred acres of which lay
east of the present city of Youngstown, and the other six
hundred on the south bank of the river. Having concluded
the bargain in good faith and secured, as he thought, a
homestead, Mr. Shehy married Miss Jane McLain, of
Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and privations of pioneer live, and
would have been content, but for one cloud which darkened their
horizon. This was the difficulty in getting a title to
their land. Mr. Young, who had been offered by
Robert Gibson for the land south of the river fifty cents an
acre more than Mr. Shehy had paid, refused to give the
latter a deed, and their being then no law courts, the latter
had no legal redness. This led to trouble between the
parties, and on one occasion it is said, Mr. Shehy gave
Mr. Yung a sound thrashing, for which he was imprisoned
and fined. As a last resource, Mr. Shehy left his
wife and children in the wilderness, and set out on foot to
Connecticut to try to obtain justice from the original
proprietors of the land. The latter obliged Young
to give Mr. Shehy a deed for the remaining four hundred
acres. Though his health had been severely tried by the
hardships he had undergone, he lived to rear a large family, and
was recognized by his neighbors as a warm-hearted, generous,
intelligent and public-spirited citizen. In religious
faith he was a Roman Catholic.
NATHANIEL GARDNER DABNEY
was born in Boston, Mass., about the year 1770 or 1771, and was
a member of a respectable and influential family. His
father, Nathaniel Dabney, who was surgeon of a ship owned
by himself and brother, was lost at sea, the vessel leaving port
and never after being heard from. The mother of the
subject of this sketch, was in maidenhood a Miss Betsey
Gardner, of Connecticut, a woman of very superior qualities.
Nathaniel was the only child of his parents and was
given an excellent education. Having considerable means
and desiring to see something of the western country, he came to
Pittsburg, where he was induced by a friend to join with him in
the purchase of a tract of land in Youngstown township, their
intention being to engage in mercantile business. The
friend dying before their plans were completed young Dabney
found himself in possession of land which he scarcely knew how
to turn to account, having no practical knowledge of
agriculture.
Marrying, in 1797, Miss Mary Keifer, of
Pennsylvania, a farmer's daughter, he settled on the land, on
which he soon erected comfortable buildings. Here he
reared a family of six children - three daughters and three
sons.
In 1813, Mr. Dabney, after a short illness, died
of consumption, and his farm was divided among his children.
He had a large family, several members of which subsequently
became well known and prominent in the business and social world
of Youngstown.
COLONEL CALEB B. WICK was
born Oct. 1, 1795, son of Henry and Hannah (Baldwin) Wick.
He was a descendant of Job Wick, of Southampton, Long
Island, N. Y., who according to the family records, was married
to Anna Cook Dec. 21, 1721. In April, 1802,
Henry Wick purchased of John Young the square in
Youngstown bounded by West Federal, Wood, Phelps, and Hazel
streets, and a lot of thirty-seven acres outside of the town
plat for $235. Here he engaged in business as a merchant,
and in the spring of 1804 removed his wife and four children to
Youngstown. He died Nov. 4, 1845. His widow,
Hannah B. Wick, died Apr. 10, 1849.
Caleb B. Wick received such an education as was
obtainable in the schools of that period, a part of his time
being spent in assisting his father in the latter's mercantile
business. In the fall of 1815 with Dr. Henry Manning,
he opened a country store, connecting with it a drug store, the
first in this part of the Reserve. He remained in
partnership with Dr. Manning in this store for about ten
years.
Subsequently he continued in mercantile business in
other buildings until 1848, at which time he retired. his
time afterwards was devoted to the care of his estate, which had
become very large. He died June 30, 1865, when nearly
seventy years of age, having been for some years previously the
oldest citizen in Youngstown.
During his active life he held a number of positions of
trust and honor. On June 2, 1817, he was commissioned by
Governor Worthington lieutenant of the Third Company,
First Battalion, First Regiment, Fourth Division, Ohio Militia,
having been first elected to that position by the company.
Sept. 3, 1818, he was commissioned captain of the same company.
On Mar. 22, 1822, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the
same regiment, and in the fall of the same year colonel of the
regiment, which position he held for several years.
He was twice elected township clerk of Youngstown - in
1820 and 1824 - was subsequently trustee, and held other
township offices. He was also postmaster of Youngstown
from November, 1841, to March, 1843.
Colonel Wick married, Jan. 1, 1816, Miss
Rachel Kirtland, daughter of Jared Kirtland, Poland,
Ohio. Of this union there were two children, one of
whom died in infancy. In November, 1828, he married for
his second wife, Miss Maria Adelia Griffith, of
Youngstown, previously of Caledonia, Livingston County, N. Y.,
who bore him ten children. "In social life, as a citizen,
a neighbor, and a friend, Colonel Wick was liberal, kind
and warm-hearted. In his house everybody felt at home and
his hospitality knew no limit. Indulgent of his own family
in social joys, and cheerful to the last, he had great delight
in the society of the young as well as the old."
JOHN M. EDWARDS
was born in New Haven, Conn., Oct. 23, 1805. His parents
were Henry W. and Lydia (Miller) Edwards, and he was a
grandson of Judge Pierrepont Edwards, one of the original
proprietors of the Western Reserve, and a great grandson of
Jonathan Edwards, the eminent theologian and an early
president of Princeton College. ON his father's side he
was of Welsh and English descent. His maternal grandfather
was John Miller, a native of London, England, who came to
America prior to the Revolutionary War and who was a captain in
the merchant marine.
The subject of this sketch was graduated at Yale
College in 1824, afterwards read law with Judge Bristol
at New Haven, and was admitted to the bar of Connecticut in
1826, and to the bar of the Circuit Court of the United States
in 1828. He came to Youngstown in July, 1832, but at that
time remained but a few months, soon after removing to the
northern part of Trumbull county, where he engaged in business
other than that pertaining to his profession. Admitted to
the bar of Ohio by the Supreme Court in August, 1838, he began
the practice of law at Warren. In 1840, and for some years
thereafter he was editor of the Trumbull Democrat.
A bankrupt law being passed in 1841, he was appointed by the
United States district court commissioner of bankrupts for
Trumbull County, which office he held until the repeal of the
law. In 1842 he was nominated by a Democratic convention,
and without any previous knowledge on his part that it was
contemplated, representative in Congress from the old Nineteenth
district to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of
Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, and although not elected, his party
being greatly in the minority, he largely cut down the
opposition vote. He was commissioned captain of militia in
1841, and in 1843 was appointed school examiner for Trumbull
County.
On the organization of Mahoning County in 1846, Mr.
Edwards removed to Canfield, where he practiced law until
1864, at which time he removed his office to Youngstown.
In 1868 he took up his residence in this city, remaining here
subsequently until his death. While a resident of Canfield
he was several times appointed school examiner for Mahoning
County, and was tendered a re-appointment after his removal to
Youngstown, which, however, he declined.
He was one of the clerks of the Senate during the
session of the Ohio Legislature of 1864-65. Subsequently
he was several times elected justice of the peace of Youngstown
township, holding that office from 1869 to 1878.
A large part of Mr. Edwards' time was occupied
by journalism. Shortly after his removal to Canfield in
1846 he became editor and one of the publishers of the Mahoning
Index, the first newspaper published in Mahoning County,
and from 1855 was weekly correspondent of the Mahoning
Register of Youngstown, writing under the nom de
plume of "Quill Pen." This correspondence was continued up
to 1864, in which year he became associate editor of Register,
and was connected with it for several years subsequently.
For some fourteen years - from 1865 to 1879 - he was the
Youngstown correspondent of the Cleveland Herald.
He was also one of the founders of the Mahoning Valley
Historical Society, in 1874, and with William Powers,
was editor of the valuable and interesting volume of 1876.
He contributed to the press many interesting articles containing
reminiscences of pioneer days, and one of his last and most
congenial labor was the editing of the "History of Trumbull and
Mahoning Counties," published at Cleveland, O., in 1882.
Mr. Edwards was married, July 14, 1842, at
Warren, O., to Miss Mary P., daughter of Joseph Grail.
Mrs. Edwards was a talented amateur artist. She
died at Youngstown, May 15, 1877, leaving three children, of
whom Henrietta Frances, married Stanley M. Casper,
of Youngstown, and Henry W. became a merchant in
Philadelphia.
PATRICK O'CONNOR
was born in Clonmel, county Tipperary, Ireland, Mar. 9, 1840.
His father was a tanner who emigrated to America with his wife
and son in the spring of 1842. They went first to Quebec
and thence to Montreal, finally settling in Upper Canada, in the
village of Newmarket, between Toronto and Lake Simcoe.
Here the family was increased in course of time by one other son
and three daughters, and here also the subject of this sketch
received his elementary education, to which he subsequently
added largely by private study.
In March, 1854, he began a five years' apprenticeship
to the printer's trade in Newmarket. Toward the close of
htis period a change took place in Mr. O'Connor's
religious faith, which was brought about in agitation on the
subject of establishing separate schools for the children of
Roman Catholics. Mr. O'Connor had been brought up a
Catholic, but on this question he took issue with his
co-religionists. A careful study of the Scriptures
resulted in his rejection of hte doctrine of papal
infallibility, and in January, 1859, he united with the Wesleyan
Methodist church. At this time he was about nineteen years
old. His change of faith being rebuked by his associates,
and by his mother, now a widow, he left home and set out to
wander as a journeyman printer from place to place. In
June, 1862, he reached Youngstown and entered the employ of
John M. Webb, then publishing the Mahoning Sentinel,
a Democratic weekly paper that was opposed to President
Lincoln's war policy. Mr. O'Connor's study of
American politics while employed on this paper had the effect of
making him a strong Republican, for he could not help being
struck with the "inconsistency of Irishmen voting with the
pro-slavery Democratic party while their fellow countrymen were
suffering the oppression of tyranny on their own green isle."
In the spring of 1863 Mr. Connor returned to
Canada, but resumed residence in Youngstown in 1864. On
June 30th of the latter year he was married to Miss Lorinda
Dorothea Ewing, adopted daughter of the late Cramer
Marsateller, and a resident of Youngstown. Early in
1865 in company with his brother Richard, Mr. O'Connor
began the publication in Youngstown of the Mahoning Courier,
an independent, afterwards Republican, newspaper, of which he
was editor until 1872. About the year 1868, during his
editorship of this newspaper, Mr. O'Connor attracted
considerable attention to himself through a newspaper
controversy with the Rev. E. M. O'Callaghan, of
Youngstown, on "The Errors of Rome," which was conducted through
the columns of the Courier.
In the winter of 1869-71, Mr. O'Connor and his
brother instituted the first steam plant for newspaper printing
used in Youngstown.
In 1872 Mr. O'Connor sold out his interest in
the newspaper business and subsequently spent some time as an
itinerant preacher in the Erie conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. Afterwards, on account of failing
health, he returned to the newspaper business. In 1875 he
was one of the editors and proprietors of the Youngstown
Commercial, and in the following year became proprietor of
the Morning Star, a short-lived paper devoted to the
'Greenback cuse. In July, 1876, Mr. O'Connor
removed his family to Cleveland, O., where he resided until
August, 1878, working as compositor on the different newspapers
of that city. He then returned to Youngstown and was for a
short time editor and publisher of the New Star.
In 1869, Mr. O'Connor left
the Republican party, owing to his failure, at a convention held
in Canfield, to commit the convention to an espousal of the
prohibition party.
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