Welcome to
Wayne County
Ohio

CHAPTER XIX.

WOOSTER
(Contributed by Sharon Wick)

     The seat of justice of Wayne county was laid out in the fall of 1808 by the proprietors, John Bever, William Henry and Joseph H. Larwill, and is 377 feet above Lake Erie, and was made the seat of justice for the county May 30, 1811.
     It was so named by Hon. Joseph H. Larwill, in honor of the Celebrated Major General David Wooster of Revolutionary renown, and a member of the old and distinguished family bearing that name.

SKETCH OF GENERAL WOOSTER.

     David Wooster was born at Stratford, in Connecticut, Mar. 2, in the year of our Lord, 1710.  The strictest scrutiny of his earlier record furnishes but a meager detail of his boyhood.  He was a man of prepossessing personal appearance, of rare intellectual culture and accomplished education.  His collegiate course was exact and scientific, answering the punctilious curriculum of Yale in 1738. 
     When the colony constructed what was then called "the guard-a-costa," to be employed defensively in case of assault by Spanish cruisers in 1739, he was designated as second in command, and shortly was appointed Captain.  At the close of this service he married a daughter of President Clapp, of Yale College, a lady said to have been admirably suited to encounter the dangerous scenes which were already flinging their dark and ominous shadows upon the future.  Valiant women always make braver, courageous men; and Mrs. Wooster had firmness, power and resolution of mind combined with exquisite refinement of manners, which aided him immensely in the subsequent experience of his life.
     In 1745, when Colonel Burr raised a regiment in Connecticut to join the troops destined to act against Louisburg - a seaport village on the eastern coast of the Island of Cape Breton, an insular colony of British North America - Captain Wooster was appointed to the command of a company in that regiment, and occupied an active place in the reduction of that considerable fortification.  After its capitulation, he was ordered to take charge of the cartel which was sent to France for exchange of prisoners.  He was not at that time permitted to land in France, but hastened to Great Britain, where he was received by aristocrats, the dwellers of the Court, and velvet-sandaled Royalty itself.  He even became a favorite of King George, who presented him with a Captain's baton in a regiment of Sir William Pepperell, with half pay for life.
     After one of the Aix-la-Chapelle treaties, and the recession to France of the fortress mentioned, Captain Wooster retired to the serenities of home and the sanctities of private life.  For awhile he lived in tranquil seclusion in New Haven, when the sky lowered again, and the mutterings of the Titans of war were heard in the distance.  In 1750 he was made Colonel of a regiment, but was not fated to remain there long, as he was soon advanced to a Brigadiership, which office he held until the peace of 1763, when once more he withdrew to the pensive shades of retirement.
     We find him next in New Haven, an enterprising, public spirited man, engaged in commercial pursuits.  We believe, at one time, he was appointed Collector of Customs of teh port of New Haven.  And now beams, in faint but terrible lines upon the horizon, the test hour to men of place and power.  The cloud, not larger than a man's hand, grew rapidly, and men had to decide.  General Wooster named his position from the beginning, and when the bloody logic of Concord and Lexington was sought to be taught in the school of despotism, although courts had received him, kings had honored him - honored him with office - and although he held the king's seal, he renounced everything, and poured out "the tinkling crimson tide that plays upon the heart's red brink" for freedom from oppression and the independence of his country.  And with the forethought and prescience of a wise man, he comprehended the necessity of the hour, and while Ethan Allen and Arnold executed the drama of the capture of Ticonderoga, we must award to General Wooster a full share of the honor of the conception of the plot of that hazardous and momentous enterprise.  He even went to Canada with Montgomery, and for awhile after that gallant soldier fell had supreme command.
     In 1775, after a successful vote for the creation of an army, Congress appointed him third in rank among the Brigadiers upon that occasion.  In 1776, the epochal period of the national life, he saw much bitter service, though as it was in the inception of the Revolutionary contest, few substantial laurels were achieved, the contest raging long afterward.  In the same year he was appointed Major General of the militia of Connecticut, with a supervisory control of the military stores, which were kept near Danbury.  The British had a jealous eye upon these provisions, and with a force of two thousand men under Tryon, sought their capture, and succeeded.  General Wooster, with seven hundred raw recruits, attacked them April 27, 1776, but, forced to retreat, received a fatal wound.  He had, however, the comfort of dying in the sacred circle of this family, on the 2d of May 1777.  His last words were, "I am dying, but with the strong hope and persuasion that my country will gain her independence,"
     His remains were ensepulchered at Danbury, Connecticut.  On June 17, 1777, Congress voted that a suitable monument should be erected to his memory, but measures never were inaugurated to execute the resolution.  His grave was not identified until 1854, when, by an Act of the Legislature of that State, the corner-store of a monument was laid.  No wonder our independence was achieved when such intrepid spirits leagued and fell for it!  What a priceless boon they have bequeathed to us!  What a debt of love, what a flame of praise we should kindle at the altar of their remembered names! 
     We discover, then, that illustrious and patriotic memories surrounded the baptism of Wooster.  It started in its infancy with the inspirations of a riper and maturer life, glorify the magnificent achievements that spirit prompted!
     Wooster, it may here be remarked, was not the first county-seat.  The place designated by the first Commissioners was on the eminence east of south of the city, on lands then owned by Bazaleel Wells & Co., and was called Madison.  Dissatisfaction accrued from this selection, whereupon the Legislature appointed new Commissioners, when teh present Wooster has chosen as the county-seat.  But a single cabin was erected in Madison.

VACATION OF TOWN OF MADISON

     Bazaleel Wells, John Shorb and Joseph Dorsey, proprietors of the town of Madison, in the county of Wayne, having, according to the conditions of the sale of lots in said town, returned the sums of money heretofore received of the purchasers of said lots, and taken up their respective certificates therefore, whereby they are the sole proprietors and owners of said twn, and teh lots therein, by John Goodenow, their attorney, applied to the Court, then in session, February 21, 1814, to vacate the same, according to the provisions of the statute in such cases made and provided.
     Whereupon the Court, at its April session, 1814, ordered that the town plat of the town of Madison, in the county of Wayne, be vacated.
     The first settlers in Wooster, and in Wayne county, were the three Larwill brothers, to-wit:  William, Joseph and John.
     The first house erected in the town or county was a "log-temple," on East Liberty Street, directly west of what was subsequently known as the William Larwill property.  The principal tools employed in its construction were a broad-ax and drawing knife.  It was raised at the time that the town was being laid out, and its first occupants were William Larwill and a young man named Abraham Miller.  Benjamin Miller, the father of this young man, removed, in the spring of 1809, from Stark county with his wife and family and opened a house of entertainment.
     Benjamin Miller was the first married man who settled in the town or county.
     He kept the first tavern in the town or county on the spot where J. B. Power has his dry goods store.
     He was the father of the first white child born in the town or county.  It was a girl, and was christened Tillie Miller, the honor of naming her being awarded to Hon. John Bever.  She grew to womanhood, married a son of John Lawrance, father-in-law of the pioneer editor, Joseph Clingan, by which union were resulted seven children, one of whom  (Harrison) distinguished himself as a Disciple minister.
     The first store started in Wooster was by Wm. Larwill.
     In 1810, the first brick house built in the town or county was erected by John Bever, on the corner now occupied by J. S> Bissell & Bro., dry goods merchants.
     In 1808, the road from Massillon to Wooster was cut, the first road opened in the county.
     The first State road running through the county, from Canton to Wooster, was laid out by the Commissioners in 1810.
     In 1809, Joseph Stibbs, then of Canton, built the first grist mill, in the vicinity of Wooster.
     In 1811 Hon. Benjamin Jones, leaving Youngstown, Trumbull county, passed through Wooster and on to Mansfield, in search of a location, in the interest of Priest Jones.  He selected Wooster and reported so to the "Priest."  During the following year (1812) Priest Jones and his family, Benjamin Jones and Betty Scott, arrived at the county seat.  They bought goods an started a store, Constant Lake, father of Constant Lake, of Wooster, hauling a load for them.  They opened up in a rough, wooden building, erected by Robert McClarran, father of Rossell and Clinton McClarran, located on the premises now occupied in business by Samuel Geitgey, the second store in the town and county.
     Robert McClarran, teh carpenter in this instance, was the first Justice of the Peace of the town or county.
     The first white man who died in Wooster was Alexander Crawford, in 1808.
     The first resident lawyer, who died in Wooster, was a Mr. Raymond.
     The first physician* of Wooster was Thomas Townsend, here as early as 1813.
     The first minister was Thomas Griffith (Priest) Jones, arriving in 1812 (Baptist), and this denomination built the first church in 1814.
     The first school teacher was Carlos Mather, a young lawyer of New Haven, Conn., who taught in 1817.
     The first Postmaster of Wooster was "Priest" Jones.
     The first school house, a brick, was built on the site of the third ward school building.
     The first 4th of July celebration held in Wooster, or the county, was west of town on Christmas's run, the water for cooking purposes being procured from a spring at the base of the hill, on the premises now owned by Judge Downing.  The dinner was under the supervision of Wm. Hughes; the Declaration of Independence was read by James Hindman, and "Priest" Jones made the oration.
     Renssellaer Curtis carried the first mail to Wooster from New Lisbon to Mansfield.
     The first will on record in the Recorder's office at Wooster was made by Frederick Brown, of East Union Township.
     The first transfer of real estate on record in the Recorder's office in Wooster, is from Oliver Day to Elam Day, of East Union township.
     The first Court of Common Pleas held in Wooster was in 1812.
     The first election held in Wooster was on the first Monday in April, 1810.  The following is a list of electors:
     Josiah Crawford, Jesse Cornelius, Jacob Matthews, William Larwill, Paddy Chest, Robert Carn, Benjamin Miller, Jacob Wetzel (relative of Lewis Wetzel, the renowned Indian hunter of West Virginia), Luke Miller, Samuel Martin, Matthew Riley, John Driskel, William Smith, John Rodgers, John Wright, Christian Smith, Joseph Hughes and William Riter.
     The first fire company was established in 1827, though as early as 1825 a committee, consisting of Gen. Cyrus Spink and Thomas L. Grilling, was appointed to either go to Philadelphia, or correspond with parties there, in regard to the purchase of an engine.
     In 1827 Thomas Wilson was appointed a committee to contract for, and superintend, the sinking of a reservoir or well on teh public ground, in the angle of Liberty and Market streets, on the north-west corner of the south-east quarter of said public ground, two pumps to be placed in said well or reservoir.
     In 1829, Frederick Kauke and Joseph Bergen were appointed watchmen of the town at a salary of $11 per month.
     Howe says: "When Wooster was first settled there were no white inhabitants between it and the lake; on the west, none short of the Maumee, Fort Wayne and Vincennes; on the south, none until within a few miles of Coshocton, and those on the Tuscarawas were the nearest on the east."  The city is located 86 miles north-east of Columbus, and 52 miles south of Cleveland, upon the line of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway.  It lies at the altitude of 50 feet above the Killbuck valley, and is surrounded by a highly cultivated, beautiful and fertile country.
     It was incorporated October 13, 1817; advanced to a city of the 2d class September 9, 1868, and divided into 4 wards February 24, 1869, and has a population of over 7,000 souls.  It is distinguished for its healthy and excellent location, and during the business days of the week it presents a fine picture of commercial activity.  The country surrounding it is replete with rich and diversified scenery, and is under the highest conditions of successful and remunerative tillage.  The city government is vested in a Mayor and Common Council.
     The plan of the city is principally in squares.  It contains numerous well-built churches, of different denotations.  Many of its private dwelling are expensive, tasteful and elegant, and its public edifices are costly and substantial.  It has the best system of natural water works in Ohio.  Its fire department is divided into hose companies, although two first-class steamers are retained, the latter seldom being called into operation, as ny single hydrant, with hose attached, is equivalent to an engine.
     The city is illuminated with gas; an ordinance has passed for the establishment of a complete system of sewerage, and the chief business streets are soon to be mecadamized.  Manufacturing, though in its infancy, is carried on to considerable extent, and of the ordinary mechanic trades there is a fair representation.  Its [police arrangements are excellent at present, and the cleanliness and general good order of the place are remarkable.  The "Independent Order of Mechanics" have a library and reading-room in the city, and a membership of leading mechanics of all the trades.  This is one of the most worthy orders of the city,a nd is noted for the intelligence, zeal and good character of its composition.  A fair quantum of the secret or mystical societies are represented.
     The public press of the city consists of two weekly newspapers, the Democrat and Republican.  It may safely lay claim to one of the best opera houses in the State.  ts Missionary and Bible Societies are worthy institutions, sustained by earnest men and women.
     The public schools of the city are well managed and efficiently sustained.  The buildings are of brick; that of the High School, on North Market street, being a gem of architectural art, and an ornament to any city.  The course of instruction is graduated, and when the pupils are sufficiently advanced, they are promoted to teh High School, where they are instructed in natural science and in the classics.  But the University, a history of which, by President A. A. E. Taylor, appears elsewhere, is the crowning glory of Wooster.  It ornaments an imposing eminence - the site being donated by E. Quimby, Jr., of Wooster - north of the city, with a commanding prospect in every direction, and environments embracing splendid drives and gorgeous distances, leaving the city below like a nestling infant, in the midst of gentle slopes and a blooming valley.  Its construction was an enterprise of which the citizens of Wooster and Wayne county may be proud, and future generations will point to it as a monument of the wisdom and sagacity of the men who projected it and bore it on to successful completion.
     Coeval with the laying of the corner stone of the great Republic was laid the solid foundation of literary and religious truth.  Our fathers were not forgetful of this primal duty.  There was great need for such an institution as this in Ohio.  A college established in a State or community multiplies the number that would seek a liberal education, and imparts to that State or community its general features and nobler aspects of character.  Its influence creates an atmosphere around it, and stirs the aspirations, as by an irresistible agency, of those who seem destined to high positions.  Princeton made New Jersey; Harvard, Boston; not Boston Harvard; and Germany, in is moral aspects, is but the product of what her renowned universities have made her.
     Not the least remarkable of all the noble features of this institution is the co-education of the sexes, and the disposition and determination to advance the standard of female culture.  The man, who, in this age of the world, antagonizes the complete and thorough education of woman, should have no ancestry short of the darker eons of mankind.  Man now pursues science in her expanded and expanding sphere, and woman must progress and attain her possible elevations.  She must and will, if opportunity is afforded, seek and achieve them, and

"Set herself to man
Like perfect music unto noble words."

INCORPORATION OF WOOSTER.

     Wooster was incorporated as a town, October 13, 1817, and advancing in population was chartered as a city of the second class, and divided into four wards, February 9, 1869.

FIRST ELECTION AFTER INCORPORATION.

     On the first Saturday in March, 1818, an election was held at the house of Joseph McGugen, in Wooster, for the purpose of electing, according to law, a President, Recorder and five Trustees for the incorporation of the town, with this result:  Isaiah Jones  was elected President, John Patton, Recorder, T. G. Jones, Thomas Taylor, Joseph Eichar, Thomas Robison and Benjamin Jones, Trustees.  On the 12th of March of this year the above officers met at the house of John Patton, and after having produced their certificates of election from the clerk, and taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the State of Ohio, as also an oath of office, adjourned.
     At their next meeting, in the month of March, the President having taken his chair, the Board proceeded to the choice of a Marshal, Treasurer and  Collector, when Daniel Hoyt was elected Marshal, Thomas R. McKnight Treasure, and Henry St. John Collector.  The first step taken was to appoint a committee to draft By-Laws for the government of the Board, which committee designated T. G. Jones and Benjamin Jones.  A committee composed of Thomas Taylor, Joseph Eichar and John Patton was next appointed to prepare and bring in a bill for the abatement of nuisances, and another composed of Benjamin Jones and Thomas Robison was appointed to bring in a bill to prevent horse-racing and shooting.
     On Friday, April 3, 1818, the Board met, and on motion it was resolved that a committee of two be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill for the prevention of immoral practices.
     At a meeting of the Board, Thursday, April 9, 1818, a bill for the abatement of nuisances, by John Patton, with some amendments, became a law, and as such, is the first on record.

THE SECOND ELECTION

Was held on the first Saturday of March, 1820, at the house of Joseph McGugen, for the purpose of electing corporation officers, William Nailer and Thomas Robison acting as judges, and John Patton as clerk of election, there being thirty-nine votes polled.  The names of electors are as follows:

     Francis H. Foltz, John Hague, Elijah Tillotson, Daniel O. Hoyt, Thomas R. McKnight, Philip Griffith, John Wilson, John M. McClelland, Robert Orr, Reasin Beall, Jacob Matthews, Wm. B. Smith, Andrew Mackey, David Losher, Thomas Townsend, M. D., Nicholas Mason, Fred Foltz, James Nailer, David Griffith, Joseph McGugen, Trueman Beecher, Henry St. John, John Larwill, Moses Owens, Calvin Hubbard, Charles Connelly, Thomas Robison, John S. Headley, Benjamin F. Coleman, Hugh O. Harrow, William Nailer, John Patton, George Lisor, John Steward, Edward Jones, Joseph H. Larwill, Robert McClarran, John Yergin.

A LIST OF CANDIDATES AT AN ELECTION HELD IN WOOSTER,
MARCH 29, 1824.

     President - Samuel Quinby, Edward Avery, Thomas Robison
     Recorder - Cyrus Spink, John Patton, Wm. Larwill.
     Trustees - Edward Jones, David McConahay, Francis H. Foltz, Matthew Johnston, Wm. McFall, Joseph H. Larwill, John Christmas, John Patton, Wm. McComb, Moses Culbertson, Cyrus Spink, Calvin Hobert, David Robison, Thomas Robison, Thomas Townsend, Horace Howard, William Nailer, Samuel H. Hand, Edward Avery, Benjamin Jones, Col. John Hemperly.
     We do certify that Samuel Quinby had 53 votes for President, and William Larwill had 30 votes for Recorder, and Edward Avery had 52 votes for Trustee, Thomas Robison had 37 votes for Trustee, William MCComb had 30 votes for Trustee, William Nailer had 20 votes for Trustee, and Thomas Townsend and John Patton had each 19 votes for Trustee.
(Signed) MATTHEW JOHNSTON,
               WILLIAM MCFALL, Judges
Attest: JOHN LARWILL, Clerk of Election

EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS.

     Ordered, That Joseph Alexander be allowed $25.00 for services rendered by digging up stumps in the Public Square, in July, 1816.
     Ordered, That Cyrus Spink be allowed two dollars for attending on David Wolgamot, a State's prisoner, as a guard, in July, 1816.
     Ordered, That Joseph H. Larwill be allowed the sum of $5.20 for digging a drain to the Court House, October, 1817.
     Ordered, That Thomas Robison be allowed $12.50 for making six pool-boxes for the use of the county, in 1817.
     Ordered, That Joseph Alexander be allowed $2.00 for waiting on grand jury, at October term, 1816.
     Ordered, December 20, 1817, that Benjamin Franks be allowed $2.00 for blazing a road from Paintville in a north direction.
     Ordered, That Nathan Warner be allowed to spend $200.00 of the three per cent, fund allotted to this county, on the State road, west of Wooster, for which he shall receive $8.00.
     Ordered, That Benjamin Thompson and Ezekiel Kelly, Trustees of the Baptist Church at Wooster, be allowed $50.00 for use of same, to hold court and transact other public business in, for the term of two years, ending in June, 1831.
     Ordered, That David Woolley, Deputy Assessor, be allowed $24.75 for assessing the townships of Sugarcreek, Baughman and Chippewa.  June, 1830.
     A contract will be sold at the Auditor's Office, November 17, 1830, to the lowest bidder, for the safe keeping and providing for of an idiot called "Crazy Sam."

OFFICERS OF THE TOWN OF WOOSTER.

CITY OF WOOSTER OFFICERS.

     List of postmasters, and the date of their appointment, at Wooster.
     Office established and Thomas G. Jones appointed Postmaster, December 8, 1812; John Patton, November 20, 1818; Ezra Dean, April 14, 1829; Bezaleel L.  Crawford, March 26, 1841; Jacob M. Cooper, July 22, 1845; Thomas T. Eckert, April 36, 1849; George W. Allison, November 24, 1852; Jacob A. Marchand, November 17, 1853 - re-appointed April 2, 1856; James Johnson, January 10, 1860; Enos Foreman, April 17, 1861 - re-appointed March 17, 1865; Reason B. Spink, November 13, 1866; Addison S. McClure, April 19, 1867 - re-appointed March 28, 1871, and March 10, 1875.

FIRST FIRE COMPANY OF WOOSTER.
[Extracts from Minutes of Company.]

     At a meeting of the Wooster Fire Company, No. 1, convened at the house of William Nailer, Esq., on Saturday, the 20th day of January, 1827, Captain John Smith called the company to order, and Samuel Quinby was appointed Secretary.
     On motion, it was resolved, That said Company appoint two persons to act as engineers; six persons to act as ladder-men; two persons to act as pikemen, and two persons to act as ax-men for said company.
     Thereupon Wm. Goodin and D. O. Hoyt were elected engineers; Samuel Barkdull, David Lozier, James Nailer, John McKracken, Calvin Hobart and Benjamin Jones were appointed ladder-men; Wm. H. Sloane and C. H. Streby were appointed ax-men, and I. E. Harriott and ____ were appointed pikemen.
     On motion, Samuel Quinby, Moses Culbertson and William Goodin were appointed a committee to draft by-laws for the regulation of said company, and report the same at the next meeting of said company.  On motion, resolved, That this meeting adjourn, and that said company meet at the house of Wm. Nailer, on Friday next, at 1 o'clock P.M.
     Friday, January 26, 1827: Agreeable to adjournment, the members of the Wooster Fire Company No. 1, met at the house of Wm. Nailer, and adjourned to the Court House.  Captain John Smith was called to the chair, and Samuel Quinby was appointed clerk of the meeting.  The committee appointed at the last meeting the draft by-laws for the government of said company, made report to the meeting, and, after the clerk had read the by-laws, as reported by the committee, they were amended and adopted.  On motion, Joseph S. Lake was appointed Clerk, and John Miller Treasurer of said company, and the meeting adjourned.

THE FIRST WHITE MAN WHO DIED IN WAYNE COUNTY.

     The first white man who died in Wayne county was Alexander Crawford, brother of Josiah Crawford, the owner then of what is now known as Bahl's mill.  Shortly after his arrival in Wooster, his horse was stolen from him by the Indians.  He immediately started in pursuit of the savage thieves, going on foot, which was at that time the popular method of travel.  He perservered in his serach as far as Upper Sandusky, but failing to overtake or capture them, he abandoned the pursuit.  On his return he could obtain no water to drink, save what lay in pools in the woods and by the roots of fallen trees, and being very dry, was compelled to slake his thirst with this green-scummed and poisoned water.  This was in 1808, and his pathway was amid the solitudes and stolid glooms of dense and dreary woods.  On his return to Wooster, he was burning with a violent fever, when he found a stopping place, and to him a dying place, under the protecting roof of William Larwill.
     He was sick but a few days, and died in the small office of Mr. Larwill's store, which was situated on the grounds known now as the drug store of Harvey Howard, No. 4 Emporium Block.  Mr. Larwill describes his sufferings as being terrible.  He had no medical aid.  For him "there was no balm in Gilead, there was no physician there."
     How and Where Buried. - Near the present First M. E. church the proprietors of Wooster, William Henry, John Bever and Joseph H. Larwill, had laid out and donated to the town what was called the "Public Graveyard."  Here his remains were interred.  John Larwill, Benjamin Miller, William Larwill, Abraham Miller, and one or two others dug the grave and buried him.  His coffin was made of rough boards by Benjamin Miller and his son Abraham, and he was carried to his final repose-upon spikes of wood on which the coffin rested. His grave no one can identify.  The sombre years have swept over it, and it casts no shadow unless upon some stricken heart.  The death-ground holds him, and his sleep is as sweet as if under the granite shaft.

BIOGRAPHIES

JOHN BEVER†† one of the original proprietors of Wooster, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America when quite young.  His two brothers, William and Sampson Bever, and his sister Jane also emigrated from Ireland, but whether in company with the subject of this sketch, we do not known, and settled in Beaver county, Pa.   John Bever settled in Georgetown, in Beaver county, Pa., along about the year 1788.  He got into employment of the Government, and furnished supplies for the block-houses kept for the security of the adventurous settlers, on the southern side of the Ohio river, from the invasions of the Indians.      After the State of Ohio was organized, he was employed as a surveyor by the Government of the United States.  He surveyed Columbiana, Stark, Wayne, and other counties in the State, and was likewise one of the parties that laid out the county-seats of Columbiana, Stark and Wayne.      With these opportunities presented to him, he secured considerable property in the different localities, that in time became very valuable, and, at his death, his wealth was estimated at a quarter of a million dollars in money and lands.      His first marriage was to Miss Nancy Dawson, of Georgetown about 1790, by which union there resulted five children.  One daughter grew to womanhood, and married James L. Bowman, of Brownsville, Fayette county, Pa.  Both she and her husband are dead.  His first wife died about 1818, and in the fall of 1820 he was married a second time, to Lydia Vaughan, who bore him one child, Henry V. Bever, who now lives in Paris, Edgar county, Ill.  She died September 22, 1849, in her 69th year.  He built, in connection with Thomas Moore, the first merchant's flouring mill west of the mountains, on Little Beaver creek, and the first paper mill in Ohio; and the second west of the Alleghenies was erected 1805-6, on the same stream.  Its proprietors were John Bever and John Coulter.      John Bever†* died May 26, 1836, near the State line, in Columbiana county, Ohio, on what he called his "Springford" farm, and in the house which he had built shortly before his death.  He was about 80 years old when he died, and was buried on his farm, which was his expressed wish, about forty rods from his residence.  In the year 1855 a land-slide occurred on the face of the hill where he was buried, which badly wrecked the brick wall enclosing his grave, when his son, Henry V. Bever, removed his remains to the burial place of his second wife, on her farm, one mile east of Oneida, Carroll county, Ohio.  He was a member of the Episcopal church, and had been many years prior to his death.      The following extract is copied from the American Pioneer, published by John S. Williams, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1842:      When orders were given by the Government to the Surveyor-General of the North-western Territory to have a portion of the public lands therein surveyed and subdivided into sections, many applications were made by persons for situations as deputies.  Among the number was a young man from the extreme western part of Pennsylvania, who had, without pecuniary means or the facility of instruction, but by his own application and industry during the recess from labor, acquired a knowledge of surveying.      Clad in a hunting shirt and moccasins, the usual habiliments of the backwoodsman of the day, he presented himself personally to General Putnam, at Marietta, O., and made known his desire to have a district to run out.  The General replied that there were so many applications he was afraid he could not gratify him, and that he could give no decisive answer for some time.  "Sir,"said the applicant, "I have come a considerable distance, and am dependent altogether upon my own exertions for my support.  Have you any work for me to do by which I can get a support until you can give me an answer?" "Yes," answered the General, "I have some wood to cut."  "Sir," answered the young man, "I can swing an ax as well as set a compass!" and doffing his hunting shirt, went at it with full vigor, the General occasionally looking out to see how he progressed.  The job was completed.  "Sir," again said the applicant, "have you any drafting or platting in your office that I can assist you with?""  "Yes," said the General, "I can give you some of that to do."  In due time the plat was completed and handed to the General, who examined it carefully, and with apparent surprise, alternately looking at the plat and the applicant, thus responded: "Young man, you may go home; you shall have the district you desire, and so soon as the necessary instructions are made out I will forward them," which was complied with, and so satisfactorily executed to the department by the young surveyor that at subsequent progression of surveys three districts were awarded to him by General Mansfield, the successor of Putnam.  The young an thus represented as presenting himself was the late John Bever, Esq., formerly of Georgetown, Beaver county, Pa., and who was stated to the writer of this article that that incident was probably the foundation of the ample fortune acquired in after life and possessed at the time of his death, in 1836.

WILLIAM HENRY.   Among the pioneer settlers of the counties of Wayne and Stark, no one is entitled to more honorable mention than the late Judge William Henry.      When the "New Purchase " came into the market, after the treaty of Fort Industry, on the 4th day of July, 1805, the first surveying party, on the lands now included in the tenth range and extending to the sixteenth range, inclusive, was composed in part of the late Hon. Messrs. Joseph H. Larwill, John Larwill, John Harris and William Henry, then young men who had come to the frontier, as the West was then called, to find a fortune.  They have all passed away, leaving the memory of a good name.      The "New Purchase" included the lands west of the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingham river, those east having been included in the treaty of Fort McIntosh, made on the 21st of January, 1785.  A glance at the county maps shows the territory surveyed by the young men above named, all west of the tenth range being in the now county of Wayne; the tenth range, in Stark county, including the western portions of the township of Franklin, now in Summit, and Lawrence, Perry and Bethlehem, in Stark, and the whole of Tuscarawas and Sugarcreek.      In addition to being one of the original proprietors of the city of Wooster, it so happened that Judge Henry, when the lands west of the Tuscarawas river, in the now township of Perry, in Stark county, came into market, entered fractional section six, upon the south end of which is now built portions of the second and third wards of the city of Massillon.      The older citizens of Massillon who were acquainted with Judge Henry from the time of his coming to Ohio, having passed away, but little can be traced of his early history beyond the fact that he was a native of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and that his appearance in the district now embraced in the counties of Wayne and Stark was with the surveying party, already referred to, in 1807, from which period to 1814, during which both counties were erected by acts of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, he resided in the Tuscarawas Valley, in a log cabin, which is well remembered by the writer, as standing where now is erected the station buildings in the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling Railway Company, in the third ward of the city of Massillon; and also in the toll house of the toll bridge, which crossed the Tuscarawas river at the present crossing of Cherry Street.  Judge Henry was largely interested in the toll bridge company as a stockholder, the bridge being erected on the great territorial road running west from Pittsburg.      In 1814 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, in the State Legislature, for the counties of Stark and Wayne, and served his constituency most acceptably, ever afterward declining a re-election and mingling little in politics - the offices he held always sought him, instead of his seeking the office.      The acquaintance of the writer with Judge Henry commenced in 1818, and continued until his death.  After his term of service in the Legislature, he was elected Associate Judge for Stark county, and as such was highly esteemed for  his uprightness and integrity of character.  At the period above named, 1818, he was a successful merchant in Kendal, now the fourth ward of Massillon, where he continued for many years, removing from there to the brick building erected by himself, near what is now the west end of Cherry street bridge, remaining there until he sold out his possessions in the Tuscarawas  Valley, and removed to Brookfield, in Tuscarawas township, where he engaged largely in the mercantile business and in the merchant milling.  On closing out his interest there, which passed into the hands of the son-in law, C. B. Cummins, Esq., he removed to Wooster, where he continued to reside until his death.      Judge Henry was closely identified with the growth and prosperity of that portion of the Tuscarawas Valley in Stark county for ore than thirty years.  He may be said to be one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal church in that locality, and of which he was life-long an active and worthy member.  He was a man of strong will, rarely surrendering his judgment, when once his mind of strong will, rarely surrendering his judgment, when once his mind was made up, to that of any other person.  Being a man of an order of talents and education far above mediocrity, he was so recognized and respected in all business and social circles.  As a merchant no man's integrity stood higher.  In the city of Massillon he was one of the first to embark in merchandizing in 1827, while yet the ground plat of which was covered with the leafy honors of the forest, as a member of the firm of A. McCully & Co., and a few years later in the well known firm of J. Robinson & Co., at Fulton, in both of which firms his name was a tower of strength, and a synonym for the commercial integrity which marked the history of his entire life, and in both of which firms he was eminently successful.  At his death he left no surviving family, except his second wife, his first wife and all his children having gone before.      Of Judge Henry it may be well said he was a representative man, a representative of the class of men who, in the early settlement of Stark and Wayne counties, endured the hardships of forming new settlements and communities; but of that class it must be said that they laid the foundations of civil and religious liberty, and succeeding generations are reaping the benefit of their labors.

JOHN LARWILL*

ROBERT MCCLARRAN

ANDREW MCMONIGAL AND FAMILY

JOHN MCCLELLAN, SEN.

* Ezekiel Wells, of East Union, was the first physician in the county.
** Mr. Avery, declining to serve, Mr. McConnahay was appointed for the ensuing year.
† At this election the vote was taken for or against what was then called the Akron School Law, in pursuance of a law passed by the legislature of Ohio, on the 19th day of March, A. D. 1850, which resulted in 194 votes for the law, and 252 against the law.
†† John Bever, William Henry and J. H. Larwill each owned a quarter section of land, on which was originally laid out the town of Wooster, and are referred to as the original proprietors of the city.  We are able to produce brief sketches of Messrs. Bever and Henry, the latter prepared by Hon. Robert H. Folger, of Massillon, Ohio.  No biography of J. H. Larwill appears in this work, and for reasons entirely too frivolous to be mentioned.
†* John Bever's father was a German by birth, and our best information is, that his mother was Irish.  John spoke the German language fluently.  It is claimed that religious troubles caused his father to remove from Germany to Ireland.  The Irish invariably spell the name Beaver, and the Germans Bever, pronouncing the E as in ever.