This township was known under the surveys of the Connecticut Land company as number five, first range, in the Connecticut Western Reserve.   It was called Hartford, after the State capital of the same name.  According to draft book, page 225, draft seven-three was drawn by Urial Holmes and Ephraim Root.  This draft drew all of Hartford township, containing seventeen thousand three hundred and seventeen acres of land.  The Connecticut Land company executed a deed Apr. 22, 1798, to Root and Holmes for a consideration of $12,903.23, being less than seventy-five cents per acre.
     The township was surveyed into lots by Raphael Cooke.  It was bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania State line; on the north by Smithfield, afterwards named Vernon; on the west by Westfield, afterwards named Fowler; and on the south by Brookfield.
     According to Stowe's map of Trumbull county in 1800, numbers four and five in range one and two, and also numbers six, seven, eight and nine in range one, two, and three, were known as Vernon.
     Elections were held at Burg Hill, number five, for this territory of Vernon, which is now divided into sixteen townships, lying in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties.
     Burg Hill, located in the north part of the township of Hartford, may have received its name from the fact that it was the business point and place for elections and militia musters for many years early in the century.
     The earliest records to be found show that a separate township organization must have been in existence in 1811.  Elam Jones was elected township clerk at the April election of that year.
     Legal papers bearing date as late as 1814 were drawn in some cases, as if the names of Vernon and Hartford were both used to designate this township.
     The deed of Holmes and Root to Titis Brockway, drawn in 1803, in which they were reserved one acre of land for a "green," on which to build a "meeting-house," speaks of the township as "Hartford."  In a deed of Edward Brockway to his son Titus, drawn in 1802, the township is called Vernon, "in the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio river."
     The first deed by said Urial Holmes and Ephraim Root was made Sept. 23, 1799, to Edward Brockway, conveying 3,194 acres and a fraction of land, being lots seven, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-one, and twenty-two, for a consideration of $500, being less than sixteen cents an acre.  According to tradition he exchanged his farm of two hundred acres in Hartford, Connecticut for nearly one-fourth of the township, and perhaps this formed a part of the consideration in addition to the amount mentioned in the deed.  A number of others exchanged their farms for land here.

GENERAL FEATURES.

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FIRST SETTLEMENTS.

     The first settlement was made in 1799, by Edward Brockway, Isaac Jones, and Asahel Brainard, who spent their first night by a large tree, then standing about one-fourth of a mile north of the center of the township, nearly opposite the residence of the late Elijah Woodford, now owned by Oliver Perrine.
     They commenced a clearing on the farm long owned by the late William Bond, Edward Brockway cutting the first tree.  After having built a cabin and sowed a field of wheat, Brockway and Jones returned East and brought out their families in the summer of 1800.
     Brainard remained alone through the winter, engaged in clearing land.  His nearest neighbor was Martin Smith, of Vernon.  Settlement had been made previously at Vienna, Youngstown, and Warren.  It was during this winter that two Indians, Flin and Kanoshua, came to Brainard's cabin, and after partaking somewhat freely of whiskey, left apparently on good terms, but soon after fell into an altercation, in which the former was killed.  He was shot near the residence on the dairy farm of D. R. Chapman.  After the transaction it was feared that trouble with the Indians might grow out of it, and Smith being best acquainted, started for their village near Greenville, Pennsylvania, to notify them and put the best face possible on the matter, but had proceeded no farther than Orangeville, when he met them coming.  The Indians having collected from the various encampments, a consultation was held, and after due deliberation, it was decided that “Indian no kill him, but whiskey kill him.”  He was soon after buried by them with the usual ceremonies, near the east line of the farm on which the first cabin was built.  The survivor, instead of departing for parts unknown, as it was feared he might, leaving the blame to rest on others, had informed his friends of the matter, who were coming to bury their dead.  A few years later some medical students exhumed his remains, and his bones were kept by them for a long time in the office of Dr. Wilcox, at Burg Hill.

     ISAAC JONES settled at Burg Hill on the farm now owned by OSman Hull.  Charles Merry came the same year with his family, and settled within the present limits of Orangeville.

     WILLIAM BUSHNELL, the pioneer settler in the south part of the township, bought three hundred and twenty-seven acres in lot thirty, of Holmes and Root, for a consideration of $816, the deed being dated Dec. 31, 1800.
     He came into the township with his family in June, 1801, and located on the diagonal road about half way up the hill.  His first place of shelter was made by felling a large chestnut tree, taking off the bark, placing one end on the body of the tree and the other on the ground, thus making a shed under which the family found shelter for nine days, during most of which time a rain storm kept them closely “housed.”

     TITUS BROCKWAY also came into the township in 1800, and was land agent for Holmes & Root.  He located in the central part, on the farm now in the possession of his grandson, U. H. Brockway.  His first cabin was built on the opposite bank of the run, a little north of the present residence.  It is said he was an unmarried man at this time and with a hired man kept "bachelor's hall."  Also, that Urial Holmes found it convenient at times to share his cabin, and partake of
the plentiful game with which the immense forest abounded.  One day they were so fortunate as to kill a bear.  Thinking to have a little joke they put it into the hired man's bed, and with much gravity awaited the time for him to retire.  We are left to imagine his surprise, and perhaps fright, and the uproarious laughter of the jokers.

     In 1803 DANIEL BUSHNELL located on lot thirty, near the present residence of John Craton.

     SAMUEL SPENCER located in Burg Hill.

     CAPTAIN THOMAS THOMPSON came from Farmington, Connecticut, in 1803.  He purchased some five hundred acres, including two of the center lots of the township, and a portion of a third one, and located about one-fourth of a

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mile south of the center, where H. Bennett now resides.  William C. Jones probably came in 1802, and located on the farm now occupied by A. D. Fell.

     ASAHEL BRAINARD, previously mentioned, located at an early period on the farm where Jacob Kepner now resides, one-half mile south of the center.

     AARON BROCKWAY first settled in Vernon in 1798, but in 1801 or 1802 changed his location to Hartford.

     In 1803 ROBERT McFARLAND and family settled on lot three on the State line, near the residence of his grandson, Thomas W. McFarland.

     The following named persons also came into the township during 1804 and 1805.  All but two or three of them were married men and brought their families:  Richard Hayes, Thomas Bushnell, Asahel Borden, Andrews Bushnell, Asa Andrews, Jehial Hulburt, Samuel Tuttle, Captain Alexander Bushnell, Shaler Fitch, Asahel Borden, Jr., Elam Jones, Chester Andrews, Jehial Hulburt, Jr., William Rathburn.  These were nearly all residents of Hartland, Connecticut. In 1804 a colony of some ten families left Hartland at the same time.  The occasion of their departure from Connecticut was considered of so much importance that a meeting was held, a farewell sermon preached, and then the general leavetaking took place, as their old friends and neighbors bade adieu to their late homes and started on their journey of six hundred miles for the State of their choice.  Some of them were men far past the prime of life, Revolutionary fathers; one had borne a part at Bunker Hill, that sad, yet glorious day, when Warren fell; another, barefooted at Valley Forge, had camped with Washington, yet rather than part with children and grandchildren, they concluded to forego the comforts of civilization, and endure the fatigues of a six weeks' trip to New Connecticut, as it was then called, to build up homes in a wilderness, not only for themselves, but for coming generations.

DUTCH RIDGE SETTLEMENT.

INDIAN HUNTING CAMP.

A DEN OF SNAKES.

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OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.

     The following named persons came into the township during its early settlement, most of them probably from 1804 to 1811:  Titus Hayes, Russel Borden, Linus Hayes, Lester Hayes, Philo Borden, Nehemiah Andrews, Davis Fuller, Horace Flower, Sylvester Borden, Martin Gangyard, Ebenezer Chapman, Elijah Woodford, Thomas Dugan, David Lane, Lebbeus Beach, Levi Giddings, and Isaac Olmstead.

EARLY EVENTS.

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EPIDEMIC OF 1813.

     The epidemic which prevailed so extensively through the whole Western country during the year 1813, visited this township, and carried off fifteen persons, mostly elderly people, all the deaths of the year except two or three, resulting from it.  Among the deaths are Asa Andrews, Jehiel Hulburt, Titus Hayes, Russel Borden, and Mrs. Lucy Fitch, widow of John Fitch, the inventor of steamboats, whose descendants by one branch are still residing here.

A BEAR STORY.

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BEAR HUNT.

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taken to Philadelphia, stuffed, and placed in a museum.

RING, OR WOLF HUNT.

THE OLD CHURCH.

LATER SETTLERS.

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ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.

     About 1832 the anti-slavery agitation commenced in this community. A society was soon formed, and for a long time Hartford was a prominent place for all lectures of that class.  As a result of this agitation a branch of the memorable underground railway was run through the township, with many farm-house stations on its route, from which no fleeing bondsman were ever turned away.

MILLS.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY.

SCHOOLS.

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MILITARY.

     Among the pioneers were a few men who had served in the Continental army at various periods during the Revolutionary war, all buried at the center, except William C. Jones, who is buried at Burg Hill.  He took part at the battle of Bunker Hill, and also served under Gates at Saratoga.  Captain Alexander Bushnell, who received his commission while serving under Washington; Titus Hayes, who endured the hardships of the winter at Valley Forge; Edward Brockway, who took part in the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga; Thomas and Daniel Bushnell, who served in their father's company for a time near the close of the war.
     At the first military election, held May 7, 1804, William Bushnell was elected captain, Daniel Hummason first lieutenant, and Ebenezer M. Combs ensign.  This company at that time formed a part of the Second regiment, Second brigade, Fourth division, Ohio militia, under Major-general Wadsworth.  At a little later period it became the Third regiment, Third brigade of the same division, and was so designated during the War of 1812.
     The following imperfect list of soldiers in the war is given.  It includes a few who settled here since that period, and also two or three who resided here many years, and were long identified with the township but have since removed:

     Azariah W. Moses was the last surviving member of Colonel Hayes' regiment in the township.
     In 1823, by permission of Andrew Bushnell, brigadier-general First brigade Fourth division, Ohio militia, a company of light infantry was organized here, and for some years, under the command of Captain Philo Borden, Captain

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Robinson Truesdale, Captain Azel Tracy, and perhaps other officers, it was maintained with a good degree of military pride.  The company was ordered out for guard duty at the execution of Gardiner by Sheriff Mygatt.
     In 1835, during the border troubles, the State militia were called upon by Governor Lucas, through the proper officials, for volunteers to “march at a moment's warning to the northern frontier of Ohio, to protect our fellow-citizens residing within its constitutional limits, from the lawless aggression and outrage of the authorities of Michigan.”
     They probably all volunteered, as was customary in such cases.  The matter was soon settled, and their brief vision of military service passed away.  The company was made of good material, and at a later date would doubtless have made a good military record.  After this the company and regimental musters were all that served to keep alive the military spirit, and even these in a few years were abandoned. 
     The following is a list of those who died in the war of 1861–65:
     Lieutenant Calvin C. Hart was killed at Murfreesboro Dec. 31, 1862.
     Christopher A. Bennett was also wounded at Murfreesboro and died Jan. 10th.
     Charles Bennett was wounded at Brown's Ferry Oct. 7, 1863, and died Dec. 8, 1863.
     Asbury Hewitt was wounded at Resaca and died at Atlanta, and was buried by the rebels.
     Albert McFarland was killed at Murfreesboro.
     George Norton died in hospital at Louisville, Kentucky.
     Milo Bushnell died in hospital at Gallipolis, Ohio, Apr. 17, 1863.
     Daniel W. Brockway died in Cleveland Apr. 12, 1864.
     Virgil Holcomb died June 24, 1863, at Reedsville, Tennessee.
     Owen Spencer died at Manchester, Tennessee, Aug. 16, 1863.
     Stewart Grosscost died in Andersonville prison.
     William Shirey was killed at Murfreesboro Dec. 31, 1862.
     William Law died in hospital Sept. 29, 1864.
     Harry Messenger, a member of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, was killed in July, 1863.
     Elliot S. Gilky, a member of the Fifty-seventh Pennsylvania regiment, was killed May 7, 1864, in the battle of the Wilderness.
     George Dutcher, a member of the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania regiment, was wounded at Bermuda Hundred by a grape shot, and died in hospital at City Point, Virginia.
     H. H. Brown was known to have died of starvation in Andersonville prison Sept. 14, 1864.
     Frank Curtis, J. Pelton, S. Mountain, Luftus Murray, Harrison Allen, Melker Mellinger, John Decker, and William Paden also either died in battle or hospital during the War.
     Lieutenant Davis Fuller has since died from disease contracted while in the army.

LADIES HOUSES

PUBLIC HOUSES.

POSTAL MATTERS.

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MERCHANTS.

PHYSICIANS.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

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HARTFORD METHODIST CHURCH.

DISCIPLES CHURCH.

BROCKWAY MILLS METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

MASONRY.

     The first meetings of Jerusalem lodge No. 19, Free and Accepted Masons, of Hartford, Ohio, were held under a dispensation of the Grand

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BURG HILL GRANGE NO. 1107.

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CEMETERIES.

     There are three cemeteries in the township, the one at the center being the oldest.  The site was selected in 1805, after the death of Fidelia Andrews, the land being given by Titus Brockway.  She was buried in the forest, and her grave was surrounded by an enclosure of logs.
     Among the marble headstones of later years are scattered here and there the old brown flag and sand-stones, which mark the early graves.  On many of these the inscriptions are rudely chiseled, and some are almost obliterated by the hand of time.  Beside them grow the roses planted by hands long since folded to rest in other graves.
     Here lies the first pioneer, Edward Brockway, and a large number of his descendants are also buried here.  The soldier of the Revolution and the soldier of the Rebellion are found here, and near them lies Asahel Brainard, the first settler, who spent the winter alone in this unbroken forest, the only representative of this pioneer family buried in the township.  The Hon. Calvin Cone, the Hon. Titus Brockway, Colonel William Bushnell, and the Hon. James Beebe are among the prominent persons interred in this old cemetery, including Captain Alexander Bushnell, Thomas Bushnell, Titus Hayes, Edward Brockway, and Daniel Bushnell, who were soldiers of the war of the Revolution.  Here also are buried Thomas McFarland, Davis Fuller, Alexander Bushnell, Elijah Woodford, Selden Jones, Seth Thompson, Hosea Mowrey, John Pfouts, Wilson Bushnell, Michael Quiggle, Matthias Gates, S. C. Jones, Elijah Sawyer, Ambrose Hart, Jehial Hulburt, Lester Bushnell, General Andrews Bushnell, Archibald McFarland, and Elisha Bennett, soldiers of the War of 1812.  Also D. W. Brockway, Milo Bushnell, Lieutenant C. C. Hart, Christopher A. Bennett, Charles Bennett, and Lieutenant Davis Fuller, Soldiers of the Rebellion.
     The burying ground at Burg Hill has been the burial place of the pioneer families of Hayes, Jones, Merry, and Hull.  The first grave was that of Eliza Hayes, daughter of Colonel Richard Hayes, who died Aug. 14, 1814.  This site was afterwards presented to the township by the Hayes family.  Isaac Jones, one of the first pioneers, William C. Jones, a pioneer and a veteran of 1776, Colonel Richard Hayes, Lester Hayes, Luman Brockway, and James Henry, soldiers of the War of 1812, and Robert Mizener, a Vernon soldier of the late war, are buried here.
     The west burying ground was given to the township by Deacon Elihu Bates, and the first grave was that of Mrs. Samuel Bates, in 1837.  Romanta Norton, Joel Hall, and William Bates, soldiers of 1812 and George Norton, a soldier of the late war, are buried here.  This has been the burial place of the Bates, Leaming, Norton, Parsons, Newman, Spencer, Mason, and Hall families, mostly settlers of a later date.  John Grocost, a soldier of 1812, was buried on lot one, on the farm formerly owned by him.
     At Orangeville no permanent place of burial was selected until 1841, when Augustus Reed made a donation of land for that purpose.  Previous to this time most of the interments were at the centre of the township, a few, however, being made near the residence of Mr. Patton.  According to tradition early in the century a man was buried where the shop of Mr. Davis now stands, and also two children by the name of Totman on the south bank of the Pymatuning east of the State line.  The first interment in the present cemetery was Ann Catherine, a daughter of Rensselaer Root, who died June 10, 1841.  John Cassidy, Jacob Dewitt, O. S. Goodrich, William Carnes, and A. W. Moses, soldiers of the War of 1812, are buried here.  Of the late war Harrison Allen, Caleb Leonard, Milton Mellinger, George Wait, and a non-resident soldier by the name of Fitzpatrick, who was killed on the railroad, are also buried here.

ORANGEVILLE.

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BAPTIST CHURCH.

ORANGEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH.

UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.

OLD PEOPLE.

     MRS. CHLOE (WAIT) BUSHELL, wife of Captain Alexander Bushnell, was born June 20, 1738, at Lyme, Connecticut, and died here Oct. 28, 1832, the oldest person deceased in the township during the first seventy years of its history.  Nearly thirty years before she came here with three generations of descendants, and but for an 

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accident might have lived her hundred years.  At the time of her death her descendants numbered three hundred and twenty-two, four being of the fifth generation.

     MRS. SARAH (HYDE) JONES, wife of Elam Jones was born May 18, 1776, at West Hartland, Connecticut, and died Aug. 30, 1870.  She retained her memory in an unusual degree, and to her more than to any one else is the writer indebted for his data of our pioneer history.  She had been a resident of the township sixty-five years at the time of her decease.  She had, during her life, a personal acquaintance with all of our early citizens, and her narrations of incidents in pioneer times were full of interest.  She was a daughter of Uriah Hyde, whose family has been noted for its longevity.

     MRS. ELIZABETH (HYDE) HEWITT, wife of Samuel Hewitt, and daughter of Uriah Hyde, was born in West Hartland, Connecticut, Jan. 4, 1772.  she resided here for many years but removed with her son, S. N. Hewitt, to Vernon.  At ninety-eight years of age she removed to Kansas and a few months later to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she died July 22, 1873, being over one hundred and one years of age.

     MRS. ANNA (HYDE) HULL, wife of William Hull, and daughter of Uriah Hyde, was born Nov. 16, 1778, at West Hartland, Connecticut, and died July 11, 1874, being in the ninety-sixth year of her age, and at the time of her death the oldest person ever deceased in the township.

     MRS. LOVISA (BORDEN) FITCH, wife of Shaler Fitch, was born Dec. 10, 1779, and died June 6, 1871.  They emigrated to Ohio in 1804.

     MRS. MARY KEPNER PFOUTS, wife of John Pfouts, was born Sept. 5, 1771, and died Jan. 9, 1864.

     GEORGE W. CASSIDY was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, Sept. 15, 1780, and died Apr. 2, 1870.  He was a soldier in the War of 1812 and lost his right arm at the battle of Chippewa.

     MRS. ELIZABETH (ALLERTON) CASSIDY was born Apr. 5, 1785, and died June 24, 1875.

     MRS. PHEBE (BUSHNELL) BORDEN, wife of Ashel Borden, was born Aug. 2, 1784, and died Dec. 4, 1875.  She was the last of the adult pioneers to pass away.

     MRS. CATHERINE (LAVLEY) ROBERTS was born near Baltimore, Maryland, Aug. 20, 1776, and died here Jan. 10, 1881, at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. Jacob Barnhart.  She had attained the great age of one hundred and four years, four months, and twenty days.  In 1794 she was married to Peter Roberts, and four years, four months, and twenty days.  In 1794 she was married to Peter Roberts, and for the almost unparalleled period of seventy-eight years they journeyed through life together, he having reached the advanced age of ninety-six years at the time of his death.  She always possessed a strong constitution and in her earlier years was accustomed to doing much out-door work and boasted of having been able to reap more wheat than any man, not excepting her husband.  She kept house and did all her own work until her husband's death, although she was then ninety-eight years of age.  Se was the wife of a soldier of the War of 1812, and grand-daughter of a soldier of the Revolution.  She was undoubtedly the oldest person in the county, and probably on the Western Reserve, if not in the State.

     NATHANIEL WILSON, for many years a resident here, died in his ninety-second year.

     Among the old people still living in the township who have arrived at fourscore years and over, are Mrs. Alexander Bushnell, at the age of 87; Mrs. Seth Thompson, 85; Lory Norton, 84; John Jones, 82; George W. Bushnell, 82; Mrs. Isaac Leaming, 84; Edward Bowmiller, 83; Dorothy Bowmiller, 83; Mrs. Elisha Cannon, 82; Margaret Bear, 82; Michael Pfouts, 80; Bradford Hewitt, 82; Rebecca Craton, 81; Mrs. Louisa Laird, 80; Mrs. Julia Bates, 80; John Adam Sonk, 87.  He was born in Bavaria May 10, 1794.  In 1814 he was drafted into the German army, and served in the second company of fusileers, Ninth regiment, commanded by Ferdinand of Wurtemburg.  He served six years, nine months in active service, and the rest of the time in garrison.
     According to the census of 1880 fifty-three persons in the township had passed their three-score and ten years.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF HARTFORD TOWNSHIP

DR. R. M. BEEBE

THE BORDEN FAMILY

EDWARD BROCKWAY

BUSHNELL FAMILY

FOWLER FAMILY

DAVIS FULLER

HAYES FAMILY

SULLIVAN HUTCHINS

THE JONES FAMILY

KEPNER FAMILY

McFARLAND FAMILY

WILLIS REEDER

GEORGE SNYDER, SR.
 

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES:

     PETER CARLTON was born in Liberty township, Oct. 28, 1821.  He is a grandson of Francis Carlton, a Revolutionary soldier, who emigrated from New Jersey in 1799, and was one of the first settlers of Warren, Ohio, and son of Peter Carlton, a solder of the War of 1812, who was one of the boys present at Salt Springs when Captain George was killed by McMahon, July 20, 1800.  Peter Carlton, Jr., married Miss Catherine Cauffield, of Brookfield, in 1850, and removed to Hartford in 1857, and settled in the south part of the township, on lot twenty-nine, on the farm where he has since resided.  Their children are Mary B., Lizzie A., Jennie D., John B. and Bertha.  Mr. Carlton is a much respected citizen and a peaceable, industrious farmer.  He was elected justice of the peace in 1866, and has been successively re-elected four times, holding the office fifteen years.  Although he is an active worker in the Republican party he has had the support of all parties.  He has considerable reputation as a juror, often having served as grand, common pleas, the United States juror.  He was one of the corporators of the Harvard Academic institute.  He was the only man in the township who attended the inauguration of President Garfield in 1881.  He now holds the office of notary public.

     WILLIAM HULL emigrated from Hartland, Connecticut, to Ohio in 1805, and first settled in Vernon, where the family resided till 1821, when they removed to Hartford, and in 1831 located at Burg Hill, on the farm now owned by his son Osman.  He married Annie Hyde in Hartland, Connecticut, Sept. 18, 1802.  Their children were Harriet, wife of Elisha Beman, of Gustavus; Horace; Clarissa, wife of Alexander Morris; William, John, and Emeline, wife of

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Simeon C. Baker.  Mr. and Mrs. Hull were members of the Congregational church, and during their life most worthy citizens.  They lived to a good old age, he dying Nov. 30, 1857, at the age of seventy-eight years, and she living till July 11, 1874, reaching the advanced age of ninety-five years and eight months.  Osman Hull retains the old home, and is now an enterprising and prosperous farmer, in early life, however, having been a mechanic.  He married Miss Lorinda Roper, of Braceville, Apr. 22, 1841.  They are both earnest Christian workers in the temperance cause.  Their sons are Ransom and Brunell.  Mr. Hull is in politics a Republican.

     NORMAN E. AUSTIN was born in Goshen, Connecticut, Feb. 20, 1812.  In the year 1815 his father, Russel Austin, removed to Geneseo, New York, where Norman's early life was spent.  In 1836 Norman E. Austin came to this county and purchased of John Kinsman the farm near Orangeville, which still bears his name.  He married Mary C. Hamilton Dec. 24, 1839, and in 1846 came to Hartford to make a permanent home.  He brought with him a superior flock of fine-wool sheep, and in 1848 brought the Morgan horse Bulrush.  During his life he was a prominent and successful farmer.  He served as county commissioner, and at the time of his death was deacon of the Hartford Congregational church.  His only child, Lizzie M., married Willard C. Hull, who now occupies the Austin farm.  She died June 14, 1862; Norman E. Austin died Apr. 10, 1870.  His wife, Mary (Hamilton) Austin, continued to reside on the farm with her son-in-law till her death in the spring of 1881.

     ARIAL CHAPMAN was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1800, and was of English descent.  His early home was at Cooperstown, New York, but at fourteen years of age he went to Busti, Chautauqua county, in the same State.  Here he learned the trade of a tanner, and also married Miss Mary Derendorf, who was born in Columbia, Herkimer county, New York, and was of German descent.  They came to Ohio in 1826, settling at Burg Hill in Hartford.  Here Mr. Chapman carried on the tanning business for many years.  In later life, however, he was engaged in agriculture, and resided at the same place till his death; and here Mrs. Chapman continued to reside till 1881, when she died at the age of seventy-nine.  They were highly esteemed in the vicinity, and will long be remembered.  Their children were Dwight R., Margaret, Charlotte, and one adopted son, Albert Reed.  Dwight R. was born June 13, 1827, and married Maria, only daughter of William Bond, Dec. 19, 1849.  They have one son, Frederick H. Chapman, and five daughters—Louisa, wife of James Morrow; Kate, Lizzie, Lucy, and Blanche.  D. R. Chapman occupies the farm where the first clearing was made in the township of Hartford, in 1799.

     CHARLES HULL was a native of the State of New York, and with his younger brother, Richard Hull, came to Orangeville in 1834 and engaged in business as clothiers, which they followed for some length of time.  Charles Hull was born Sept. 17, 1805, and married Miss Jane Ann Chapin Jan. 20, 1835.  She was born Sept. 10, 1814.  They were active members of the Baptist church in Orangeville during their lives, and much respected citizens of the township of Hartford.  Their children were Willard C., George, and Emogene.  In the later years of Mr. Hull's life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died on his farm in Hartford, a little south of the village of Orangeville, Apr. 30, 1863.  Mrs. Hull died in Orangeville, June 11, 1872.

     WILLIAM BOND was a resident of Hartford over forty years, a worthy farmer, who left behind him a reputation for probity, uprightness, and honor.  He was born in Sandersfield, Massachusetts, Sept. 22, 1793. His father's family removed to Avon, New York, where he married Miss Lucy Cook, Nov. 27, 1823. She was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, Jan. 28, 1800. They had but one daughter, Maria, wife of D. R. Chapman. They removed to Hartford, Ohio, in 1833, settling on the farm east of Burg Hill, where they resided the remainder of their lives. She died Jan. 18, 1873, and Mr. Bond died Jan. 2, 1874.

     Among the citizens of the township of Hartord are a number of the descendants of JOHN FITCH, the inventor.  His wife died here in 1813.  To him belongs the honor of having constructed the first steamboat.  Twenty years before the great experiment of Fulton and Livingston, or the Hudson, a steamboat was constructed and

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put in operation in Philadelphia, under his sole direction, and was found to go at the rate of eight miles an hour.   He was considered, in his day, as quite visionary, and being a poor man found it difficult to command the means to make his experiments.  Had his means been equal to the accomplishment of his designs, there can be no doubt that he would now hold undisputed the honor of having given to the country this most noble and useful invention.  He at last became discouraged and disheartened, and ended his days by suicide in 1798, and lies buried at Bardstown, Kentucky.  This unhappy man, weary of the world and disappointed in all his expectations, still most honestly believed in the correctness of the darling dream of his life, and expressed a wish to be buried on the banks of the Ohio, where the sound of the steam engine would, in future years, send its echoes abroad.   For years there was nothing to mark his grave.  Some pains has been taken to identify it, and a rough, unhewn, unlettered stone placed upon it as a memorial.  For genius and misfortune, neglected in life and unhonored in death, it is perhaps a more fitting monument than any storied urn which might be placed over his last resting-place.  Let honor be given to whom honor is due.  Justice to his memory demands that his name be recorded as the successful inventor of steamboats, he having demonstrated their practicability by his experiments beyond the power of denial.

     JAMES D. BURNETT is a grandson of William Burnett, one of the pioneers of Hubbard township, and son of Benjamin Burnett, who settled in Hartford, in 1844, on the farm one mile south of Orangeville, where he died. Benjamin Burnett was the father of eleven children, seven of whom lived to maturity, and are all, except one son, residents of Trumbull county.  James D. Burnett was a soldier of the war of 1861, and was the first man in the township to enlist for the three years service, his name being enrolled May 27, 1861, in company F, Twenty-fourth regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, and honorably discharged June 18, 1864.  He served in the Army of the Cumberland, was at Shiloh, Stone River, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and many small engagements, being under fire thirty-four days while in the service.  After the war (June 21, 1866,) he married Eliza Jones, daughter of William C. Jones.

     GILES M. HAYES is a prosperous, enterprising young farmer, residing on lot forty near the east line of the township in Hartford; here he located about 1875, and married Miss Emma Barnhart.  He is a son of Almon Hayes and grandson of Elias Hayes, late of Harrison county, Ohio, and on his mother's side a descendant of Wilcox Akins, one of the pioneers of Vernon, who came from Norwalk, Connecticut, about 1810.

END OF CHAPTER III -

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