SETTLEMENT.

     The territory now known as Brookfield and Vienna was originally owned by Uriel Homes, Ephraim Root, and Timothy Burr, of Connecticut.  Mr. Holmes was principal agent, and in 1798 came out with a surveying party to lay out the farms.  The part of the country chosen for the first settlement was Vienna.  After spending some time here the party returned to the East, and in the spring of 1799 came again to Vienna bringing others with them, for the purpose of settlement.  Isaac Flower and Dennis Palmer brought their families; no other families came until 1802.

     ISAAC FLOWER, according to good authority, made a permanent settlement in the year 1799.  His second wife, the widow of Asa Foote, lived to be one hundred years old, and was the oldest person that ever died in the township. Dorothy Gates, mother-in-law of Solomon Payne, was the next oldest, and died at the age of ninety-nine.  Lavinia Flower, daughter of Isaac and Bathsheba Flower, was the first white child born in Vienna.  She was born in 1801, and died in 1881.  She became Mrs. Steele and lived in Painesville, Ohio.  Isaac Flower died in 1813, at the age of fifty-seven.

     LEVI FOOTE, step-son of Flower, came into this township early, but settled in Fowler.

     Of  DENNIS PALMER but little is known save that he was one of the surveying party in the employ of Mr. Holmes.  Among this party was a  young man named Samuel Hutchins who had been brought up by Holmes.  For his services rendered the surveyors he was allowed to choose one hundred acres from any part of the township.  He selected land on the east and west

[PHOTO OF ICHABOD PAYNE]

[PHOTO OF MRS. BETSY J. PAYNE]

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center road, three-fourths of a mile west of the place now known as Payne's corners; this was probably the first farm owned by any inhabitant of the township.  In 1802 he married Freelove Flower, and settled upon his land, where he lived until too old to labor; then moved to Warren.  His marriage was the first that took place in Vienna.

     In 1802 ISAAC WOODFORD and family settled south of the center on lot twenty-five.  This made the third family in Vienna.  They came from Connecticut by way of Pittsburg with ox teams and the old Yankee ox-cart, and the greater part of the way from Youngstown to Vienna, they were obliged to cut their way through the woods.  Deacon Woodford, as he was generally called, was a pious, God-fearing man.  At the age of twenty-four he united with the church in his native town, and throughout his life adhered to the motto, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  After his arrival in the new settlement, he commenced holding regular religious services on the Sabbath.  Up to this time there had been no religious meetings of any kind.  He not unfrequently was the only one to take the lead in the meetings and the Sabbath-school.  He was also instrumental in forming the Presbyterian church of Vienna.  Deacon Woodford died at the age of sixty-four years.

     The year 1802 also brought from Connecticut the families of Joel and Isaac Humason, Simeon Wheeler, Seth Bartholomew, and Sylvester Woodford.  About the same time came Samuel Clinton, who located near the center.  Joel and Isaac Humason settled on the farms now owned by George Patterson and Henry Fowler; Simeon Wheeler on the I. B. Payne farm; Woodford on the George Chamberlain farm; and Bartholomew on the Niles road.  Some of these settlers had been in the township working upon their lands and preparing homes for their families every summer from 1798 until the time of their removal.

     In 1803 or 1804 SAMUEL LOWREY and SAMUEL LOWERY, Jr., settled on the Rogers farm west of the center.  Other settlers of about the same period were Joseph and Abiel Bartholomew, Isaac Scott, William Clinton, and Calvin Munson.  In 1805 these were followed by John Clark, Shelden Scofield, Andrew, Hugh, and James Mackey, William Lafferty and his son John, Chauncy Hickox, and J. J. Truesdell.  In 1807 Epenetus Rogers (one of the original surveying party) and Jesse Munson arrived.  Few came in the years 1808-9-10.  In 1811 Amasa Scoville and Job and Noah Wheeler settled.

     DARIUS WOODFORD, who located on lot ten, a younger brother of Isaac Woodford, came to the township about the year 1804, and lived until he attained the ripe old age of eighty eight years.  He was among those who came in those very early days from Connecticut to Vienna, and by whose industry and energy the forests were converted into fruitful fields and comfortable homes, and a foundation laid for the present prosperity we find in all parts of the township.  Mr. Woodford was one of the earliest temperance advocates in the township, and certainly this fact is worthy of record, for he lived when the times demanded for every half day of log-rolling or barn raising a good quantity of whiskey.  Those early pioneers were very friendly, and during the first years of the settlement liberally assisted each other in erecting houses, barns, stables.  The people would turn out en masse and in a single day would perform wonders.  It has been stated in a reminiscence given by I. B. Payne that when Samuel Hutchins' barn was struck by lightning the neighbors for quite a distance turned out, hewed the timber for another, framed it, raised the barn, put on the roof and siding, shaving the shingles (from the tree) finishing it all up and hauling in a load of hay in a single day.  The barn was 28 x 38 feet and is still standing and in good repair.  He says a barn for Mr. Giddings and a house for Jared Spencer were built in the same way, one day for each building.  These were in the west part of Brookfield township, which was then part of Vienna.  These wholes-souled men, generous to a fault, needed restraining influences of good men like the Woodfords to establish Christian principles for the coming generation.

     JAMES J. TRUESDELL, a native of Connecticut, came to the township in 1805, and settled in the southwestern part, when he died in the year 1852.  His was of the earliest families who came to the township.  He was a prominent man of his day, and served as justice of the peace in all about eighteen years.

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     His son, Harry Truesdell, now residing a short distance north of Vienna center, is a representative of former times, having been born the 20th of August in the year 1799, and is now in the eighty-third year of age.  In 1834 he was married to Miss Emeline Woodford, the oldest living representative of Deacon Woodford, and a relative of Governor Woodford of Connecticut.  Mr. Truesdell served as justice of the peace twenty-one years between 1842 and 1872.
     Mr. and Mrs. Truesdell are in the enjoyment of remarkable health and strength of mind for people of their age.  They possess powers of recollection to a remarkable degree, and have been useful members of society in their long earthly sojourn in his land.

     The foregoing list gives the names of those early settlers who came at a time when the township was an unbroken forest, abounding in all kinds of game - bear, wolves, deer, turkeys, etc. - from which the pioneers were supplied with all the meat they had.  Rude cabins of logs were put up, covered with bark, greased paper serving in place of window glass.  Huge chimneys constructed of sticks and mortar, with a fire-place, served as a place to cook their frugal means and to warm them, the light of the fire serving to light the whole cabin.  Cabins being erected, the next ting was to clear some land, and they went at it with a will.  The forest began to melt away before the woodman's ax and let the sun shine in the around the cabins.  Corn was planted but coons, squirrels, and other animals shared with the settlers, leaving but little oftentimes for the harvest.  Wheat was sown afterwards and with better success, but the one great difficulty with a new comers was the need of a mill where wheat could be ground.  The most convenient one in the whole country was at Beaver, Pennsylvania, and that was fifty miles away.  The little settlement would send one of their number with an ox cart loaded with wheat made up by the different families, each sending a little, to be ground.  This trip usually took about a week's time, but the journey was so long, tedious, and irksome, that the hand mill was resorted to.  This mill was simply a large, mortar into which the grain was put and pounded with a large pestle until fine enough for use.  The block was cut form some huge tree, and then by burning and cutting away the center a large hole was made.  The pestle was made from a sapling or piece of timber.  The grain, after being pounded fine enough for cooking purposes, needed seasoning to render it palatable.  For salt the settlers had to go to the salt springs in Weathersfield township with their kettles, and boil salt for a week or ten days, and then get but little.

     About the year 1814 ALEXANDER STEWART, from Center county, Pennsylvania, purchased quite a large tract of land in the southeast corner of the township and settled there with quite a large family.  His descendants still living on the same lands are now quite numerous.

     The settlement had received a serious back-set during the war with Great Britain, but after its conclusion many families arrived who, after hard labor, gained pleasant homes and prosperity.

ORGANIZATION.

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was elected, and qualified on the 26th day of August the same year.

THE INDIANS.

were quite numerous, through never troublesome, in the early years of the settlement.  The forests lying between the Mahoning and Shenango river were favorite hunting-grounds with them.  They left just before the war, and few, if any, ever returned.

HUNTING REMINISCENCES.

SOLDIERS OF THE WAR OF 1812.

     The soldiers who left their homes in Vienna to serve in the War of 1812 were, as far as known -
     Captain, Asa Hutchins;
     privates, Isaac, Humason, Chauncy Alderman, William Bartholomew, John Lafferty, Abijah T. Bolton, Isaac Woodford, Samuel Gleason, and probably some others.

FIRST EVENTS.

     The first birth and the first marriage have already been mentioned.
     The first death was that of Abiel Bartholomew, who was killed by a falling tree in January, 1805.
     The first saw-mill was built by Samuel Lowery near the southwest corner of the township on Squaw creek.
     The first store was opened in 1820, by Isaac Powers, at the center.
     The first law-suit was tried before Squire Clinton in 1806.  A wife entered complaint against her husband for maltreatment.  Whiskey was the cause of the trouble.
     The first orchard was set out by Simeon Wheeler on the I. B. Payne farm.  Some of the trees are now fifty feet high and more than two feet in diameter.  Fifty-six bushels of apples have been picked from a single tree.
     The first frame building, a barn, was erected by Joel Humason, and the second frame barn by Simeon Wheeler.  Both are still standing Isaac Humason's frame house is said to have been the first erected in the  township.

THE FIRST SCHOOLS.

     The first school was taught a mile south of the centre in the summer of 1805, by Miss Tamar Bartholomew.  It is stated that a hog-pen was temporarily used as a school-house.  However

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this may be, it is certain that the building afterwards became a hog-pen.  The following winter taught school in a log cabin on the farm of Samuel Clinton.
     The first school house built in the township was a frame building 20x26 feet, erected at the centre of 1806.  Andrews Bushnell, of Hartford, taught a school in that house the following winter, it being the only school in the township.  Now the township has eleven schools, all well filled with pupils.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

MRS. ELIZA HUMASON

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about 1850.  The society for many years has been large, strong, and flourishing.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

THE CEMETERY.

     The old cemetery at the center is the resting-place of many of the pioneers of Vienna.  Root and Holmes, proprietors of the land of the township, donated to the Presbyterian church two acres to be used as a burial-place.  The remains of Abiel Bartholomew were the first buried in this cemetery.  His death occurred in 1805.  Common flag-stone was the material used for the first head-stones.  Rude lettering and still ruder attempts at ornamentation can still be seen upon some of these old stones, but the devastating hand of time has already rendered many inscriptions illegible.  Costly monuments of polished marble and granite now stand side by side with these humbler testimonials of respect to the memory of those who for long years have been resting here- their generous toil and life's task completed.
     In 1872 the old ground being nearly all filled, it was thought advisable to enlarge the size of the yard, and an additional acre of ground was according purchased.

ODD FELLOWS.

     Trumbull lodge No. 532, Independent Order pf Odd Fellows, Vienna, Ohio, was instituted July 24, 1872, with the following charter members: R. H. Law, J. L. Russell, H. H. Carey, J. B. McNaughton, H. Bittaker, George Young, 1. Horn, W. Crollman, David Wilson, John P. Rosser, I. A. Beggs, John Bowen, A. C. Burnett, and E. E. Folsom.  The first officers were I. A. Beggs, N. G.; J. B. McNaughton, V. G.; D. H. Wilson, secretary; J. L. Wilson, permanent secretary; and H. H. Carey, treasurer.  The number who have been initiated as members of the  lodge since its formation up to March, 1882, is one hundred and five.  Fifteen or twenty have also been admitted by card.  The number of members in good standing is sixty-two.

ROYAL TEMPLARS OF TEMPERANCE.

TEMPLE OF HONOR.

COAL MINING.

MANUFACTURE OF RAKES.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ICHABOD B. PAYNE

JAMES J. AND ELIZA HUMASON.

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SETTLEMENT NOTES.

     HARRY TRUESDELL was born in Connecticut in 1799, and came with his father, J. J. Truesdell, to Trumbull county in 1805, locating in Vienna township; married Miss Emaline Woodford in 1834.  No children.  Mr. Truesdell served as justice of the peace for twenty-one years; township clerk several years.  Mr. Truesdell is excelled by few in correct business habits.

     JOHN TREAT came from Milford, Connecticut, where he was born in 1795, to Trumbull county, in 1818, locating where Mr. Alexander Stewart now resides, in Vienna township.  He married Miss Mary Humason in 1820.  The names of their children are as follows: Elizabeth A. Bushnell, residing in Johnston township; Sidney C., residing in Hazelton; G. A., residing in Vienna township, one died in infancy; Mary E., died in 1865; Julius, died in 1858.  Mr. Treat is now one of the oldest and most respected men in Vienna, having been a consistent member of the Presbyterian church since 1852.

     J. H. HUMASON, born in Vienna in 1839,

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married Miss Juliette A. Betts, and has five children—Martha, at home; James H., Charles, John, and Frank.  Three died young.  Mr. Humason is proprietor of the rake factory which was established in 1879, and employs from ten to fifteen hands; manufactured in 1880 about three thousand rakes.  Present capacity about four thousand per annum.  The rake manufactured by the Vienna Rake company is of superior quality and excellent finish, being manufactured from the best of slack timber.  One of the most important features of this rake is the substitute of the steel spring by which the rake is completely under the control of the operator.

     CALVIN MUNSON was born near New Haven, Connecticut, in 1769.  He came to Vienna township, Trumbull county, in September, 1804, locating on the farm now owned by his son Randil.  He married Miss Sarah Hungelford.  The fruits of this union were five children— Randil, residing in Vienna township; Rillson, dead; Lucy Scoville, dead; Diadamia Reader, residing in Ashtabula county; Susanna Newbern, residing in Iowa. Randil Munson married Miss Lucinda Loveland in 1819. They have four children living—H. B., in Wisconsin; Erpi, residing in Bazetta township; H. N., in Mecca township; Charles, died in the army; and A. C. Mr. Munson has always been a farmer, and has worked on the farm where he now resides, ever since his first settlement in the county.  He is the oldest settler (1881) now living in Vienna township.

     R. BARTHOLOMEW, born Aug. 13, 1831, in Vienna township, removed with his father to Cuyahoga county, when three years of age, where he remained until he was twenty-two years old, when he returned to Warren, where he resided fifteen years; returned again to Cleveland, where he was engaged in contracting about seven years, whence he returned to Vienna township, where he now resides.  He married Miss Phila E. Truesdell, 1854.  They have eight children: Ida A. Gillson, resides in Chicago; C. J., in Vienna; Mary E. Wemberg, Chicago; Milton O., William S., Frank P., Susan M., Eugene E., at home.

     ISAAC WOODFORD, SR., came from Connecticut to Trumbull county in 1802, locating on the farm now owned by Albert Powers, Vienna township.  He married Miss S. Cowles.  There were twelve children; ten grew to maturity.  Mr. Woodford was elder of the Presbyterian church from the time of its organization.  His son Isaac married Miss Phebe E. Merritt.  The names of their children are as follows: Frank, residing in Kansas; Jerusha M. Sanford, resides in Vienna; Isaac W., in Vienna; Lovilla M. Struble, dead; Eliza and Martha E. died young.  Mr. Wood ford has always been a farmer, having resided on the same farm forty-eight years.

     TIMOTHY NORTON came from near Hartford, Connecticut, in 1819, locating in Vienna township.  He married Annie Humason.  They had eight children; six grew to maturity—Mrs. H. Greenwood, residing in Vienna township; Mrs. Nancy Greenwood, in Pennsylvania; Merit, in Vienna.

     MERIT NORTON, born in Trumbull county in 1822, married, first, Diadamia Cratsley.  Their children are: Edson, residing in Pennsylvania; Luther, in Akron; Rosaline Lampson, in Pierpoint, Ohio; Celestia Cowan, in Cortland; Emerson, at home; Allie, at home.  Mr. Norton married for his second wife Mrs. Betsey Wilson; no children.  Mr. Norton has never been an aspirant for office, preferring the quiet and independent life of a farmer.  He has resided on the same farm twenty-nine years.  His son Charlie was accidentally shot and killed Aug. 27, 1879.

     JOHN GREENWOOD came from Massachusetts in 1813, locating where his son, Nathaniel C., now resides.  He married Sarah Webster. They had eleven children, six only living: Nathaniel C., residing in Vienna township; Harriet, in Fowler; Morgan, in Fowler; Betsey, in Vienna; Oliver died in Indiana in 1879; Frank died in Indiana in 1880; the other children died young.  Nathaniel C. Greenwood was born in Massachusetts in 1809.  He married Miss Ladora A. Wright in 1833.  They had four children, as follow: Leander, residing in Fowler; Hiram, in Howland; Holmes, in Vienna; Ellen Rogers, in Vienna.  Mr. Greenwood followed the occupation of a gunsmith over five years.  He is now engaged in farming.

     ANDREW MACKEY, a native of Ireland, came into Trumbull county in 1805.  He married Miss Mary Murray.  They had six children, none of whom are now living.  Andrew Mackey, Jr., was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in

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1779. He married Miss Jane Scott.  They had seven children, six of whom are living, viz: Mary, residing on the old homestead; James; John died in 1853, aged twenty-eight years; Eleanor Munson, residing in Vienna; Robert, residing in Howland; A. H. residing in Vienna; Elizabeth, residing in Vienna.  Mr. Mackey was one of the most enterprising farmers of Vienna township, having two hundred and twenty-five acres of land under cultivation at the time of his death.

     ABRAHAM WARTMAN was born in Pennsylvania in 1768 and came to Vienna in 1827, locating on the farm now owned by his son Solomon.  He married Miss Ann M. Rhodes.  They had eleven children, six of whom are living, viz:  Catherine Hake, residing in Missouri; Rebecca Hake, residing in Vienna; Solomon, residing in Vienna; Sarah Shaffer, residing in Howland; Elizabeth Wehrenberger, residing in Lordstown; Rachael Hake, residing in Missouri; Marie Hake died in 1877; Jonathan, Abraham, Matthias, and Henry, are also dead.  Solomon Wartman married Miss Louisa L. Whitten in 1839, September 27th.  Five of their children are living: Cline, residing in Vienna; Elizabeth A. Hulse resides in Illinois; Solomon resides in Vienna; Mary A. is at home; Louisa L., Lucy, and James are dead.  Mr. Wartman is a tanner by trade, having learned the trade from his father, but is now engaged in farming.  He pays special attention to stock raising, dealing principally in fine stock, especially fine wooled sheep.  He is also proprietor of the old saw-mill, which is located near his home.

     ARCHIBALD McFARLAND came from Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, into Vienna township.  He married Miss Amelia Ball, by whom he has twelve children. The names of those living are Harvey, residing in Summit county; Robert, residing in Iowa; John, residing in Hartford township; Archie, residing in Fowler township; Emily A. married Edwin Griffin in 1850, has two children, and lives in Vienna township; Erastus and Augusta A. at home.  Mr. Griffin was a natural mechanic, being able to make anything in wood and iron.  He died in 1860, aged twenty-nine years.  He was a man of remarkably even temper, never known to be thrown off his guard.

     JOSEPH ROGERS was born on Long Island in 1788, came to Trumbull county in 1812 and settled in Vienna township.   He was drafted from Vienna in the War of 1812 and served in that war.  He carried on a tannery in Vienna, also shoemaking in connection with farming.  Later in his life he conducted a hotel at Vienna.  After the War of 1812 he married Lydia Lowry and raised a family of two daughters and six sons all of whom are living.  He lived to the advanced age of ninety-three, dying in 1881.  His son, Royal L. Rogers, was born in Vienna, Trumbull county, Ohio, Jan. 9, 1820.  With his brother he began keeping hotel, and in 1834 was married to Caroline, daughter of Samuel Wise, an early settler in Youngstown, where Mrs. Rogers was born Jan. 29, 1827.  After marriage he continued in the hotel business and for sixteen years was located at Johnson centre.  He resided in Ashtabula county for two years.  In the spring of 1874 he came to Warren where he now resides.  He is the owner of a large farm in Ashtabula county and another in Weathersfield, Trumbull county.  He is the father of three children, Amarillis, James C., with his father in business, and Alley R., now a student at Oberlin College.

END OF CHAPTER XIV - VIENNA TWP.

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