ORIGINAL OWNERS

     For an explanation of the following table the reader is referred to the history of Wakeman township:

BRONSON, TOWNSHIP NUMBER THREE IN THE TWENTY-SECOND RANGE

CLASSIFICATION NO. 1, SECTION 1.

CLASSIFICATION NO. 2, SECTION 2.

CLASSIFICATION NO. 3, SECTION 3.

CLASSIFICATION NO. 4, SECTION 4.

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NAME.

     The township derived its name from Isaac Bronson, one of the original owners of the soil.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

     The township, while generally level, is diversified by the branches of the Huron in the western part.  In this portion of the township the soil is a loamy clay mixed with gravel, while the eastern half is mostly clay.  Sandstone of the newer formation underlies a considerable portion of the township, and is quarried in some portions to a considerable extent.  The varieties of timber were whitewood, hickory, beech, white ash, black walnut, the oak in several varieties, butternut, basswood, elm, sycamore, chestnut, and some other kinds of less importance.  Several of the eastern branches of the Huron river run through the township, their general course being northwest.  The stream called East branch crosses the southwest corner of the township, and another crosses the northeast corner, while High Bridge creek flows from the southeast part to the northwest.  The stream received the name of "High Bridge" from the circumstance that a bridge which formerly crossed it south of the present residence of David Morse was considerably elevated, the banks being steep.
     There are several quarries of sandstone in the third section, which have been extensively worked for building purposes.  The dwelling of Mr. George Lawrence is built of stone obtained from one of these quarries.

NATIVE ANIMALS.

SETTLEMENT.

      The first habitation erected in Bronson, for the abode of civilized people, was the log cabin of the squatter, John Welch built in the summer of 1815.  He came from Pennsylvania with his family, and located west of the creek, opposite Mr. Kellogg's.  His parents and his brothers came in soon after, some of whom located in Peru, but none of the family made a permanent settlement.
     We date the actual settlement of the township from the arrival of Benjamin Newcomb and family, who moved in, in the winter of 1815-16, and settled on lot number four, section number three, where Adam Leutman now resides.  Newcomb was a native of Lebanon, (now Columbia,) Connecticut.  At the age of eighteen he removed, with his widowed mother, to Bridgewater, Pennsylvania, and while yet a young man came to Trumbull county, Ohio.  He married Stata Crosby, and before the war of 1812 came to the Fire-lands, and settled on the southwest corner of Norwalk township.
     While residing there he had occasion to go to Huron after provisions, and, while there, was attacked by an Indian through mistaken identity.  A man by the name of Hayes kept a sort of tavern at Huron, to which the Indians frequently resorted for whiskey, and he had greatly offended one of them by refusing to give him a drink.  Newcomb so strongly resembled the tavern-keeper, that, while standing outside of the tavern, the Indian, supposing him to be Hayes, approached him in a menacing manner, when Newcomb seized an ax that was sticking in the wall of the house, and knocked him down.
     The next day the Indian suddenly rode up to him near his house, with tomahawk and scalping knife in his belt; but, before he had time to dismount, Newcomb jerked him from his horse and beat him until he was insensible.  Supposing him to be dead, Newcomb dragged him into a corner of the fence, and the children covered him up with brush and leaves, but the next morning Poor Lo was missing.
     When information of Hull's surrender was received - which was conveyed to the inhabitants in that section by John Laylin, of Norwalk - Newcomb and family immediately started for Trumbull county.  They were soon joind by others from Huron, and, when they reached the Vermillion river, the water was so high that a delay was occasioned for a day or so, during which Newcomb returned to the vicinity of his home for the purpose of reconnoitering, and witnessed the burning of his house by the Indians.  The deed was evidently committed out of revenge for the treatment by Newcomb of the Indian previously mentioned, as no other dwelling was destroyed so far from the lake shore.
     After reaching Trumbull county, he went into the army as teamster.  At the close of the war he returned with his family to his former residence in Norwalk, but, soon after, disposed of his contract for the lot to Levi Cole, and purchased and settled in Bronson, as already stated.
     The life of this hardy pioneer was cut short by an accident, which occurred the next year after his set-

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     The next settler was Martin Kellogg

     In the fall of 1816, Simon Amnurman, a native of Pennsylvania, moved in from Cayuga county, New York.  He settled on lot four, where Benjamin Newcomb formerly resided.  He continued to live there until his children were settled in life, after which he made his home with his son John.  He died Mar. 11, 1860; his wife, Feb. 7, 1851.  There were eight children, four of whom are yet living, viz.: Mrs. Charles Gardner in Peru; widow of Seth C. Parker in Greenfield, and widow of John Hagaman in Bronson.
     Reuben Pixley moved on to lot number six in the third section, in the winter of 1816-17.  He came to the Fire-lands from the State of New York, before the war of 1812, and the name is associated with the Seymore tragedy.  In the fall of 1812, Reuben C. Pixley, his son, then sixteen years of age, was assisting Seymore in cutting down a bee-tree on Seymore creek, when they were fired upon by two Indians in ambush.  Seymore was shot through the head and fell dead at Pixley's feet.  The Indians came up and scalped Seymore, and finding the boy unhurt, though a bullet had pierced his hat, they turned him around with his face toward the west and ordered him to run.  He obeyed, and they ran together behind him, concealing him as much as possible, until they got away from the settlement.  He was taken to Canada and kept a prisoner for about six months, when he was bought of the Indians, at one of their drunken carousals, for seventy-five dollars, by a man by the name of Hunt.  Hunt understood well the Indian nature and knew that when they became sober they

     Reuben Pixley and his son were much engaged on clearing land by the job, making roads, etc.  They made, in 1827 and '28, a part of the turnpike between

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Bellevue and Clyde, and the family moved to York township in Sandusky county.  Reuben Pixley, Sr., died in 1834, in the township of Milan.  While at work at Huron, he was attacked with cholera, and in company with an acquaintance, by the name of Brown, started for his home in York township.  While passing through the township of Milan he became unable to proceed further, and with some difficulty found shelter in a farm-house, which the family abandoned for the sick man to die in.  He lived only a few hours and was buried on the place, by his companion, who carried the sad news to his family.
     The son, Rueben C., married a daughter of Joseph Read, of Norwich township, in 1828, and settled in that township.  They both died in 1830.
     Nathan Sutliff, originally from Hartford, Connecticut, moved

     William W. Beckwith and family

     In 1818 Thomas Hagaman and family

     The first settlement in the fourth section was made by Robert S. Southgate, of Barnard, Vermont.  He

     Nathan Keith

     Caleb Keith

     Major Eben Guthrie

     Prince Haskell 

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     Jabez Deming

     Amos Deming

     Among the early pioneers of Bronson was Ezra Herrick.  He was a native of Vermont, born Apr. 25, 1770, and married, Aug. 22, 1790, Catharine Lott, who was born Feb. 19, 1763.  He removed to Bronson in January, 1819, and settled on lot ten, of the third section, erecting his cabin a short distance south of the present residence of A. E. Lawrence
 

     Jonas Leonard

     Henry Terry

     Edward L. Cole

     Lemon Cole

     Daniel Brightman

     Aro Danforth

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     Frederick Sears and William Gregory, and their families, came from

     Martin Hester, with his parents, settled in Columbiana county, Ohio, in the year 1807.  He married, Nov. 30, 1809, Mary M. Stough, and at the close of the war of 1812 settled in Orange township, now Ashland county.  He removed to Bronson in the year 1827, and settled near the west line of the township, where his son, Martin M. Hester, now resides.   He died in that place, Jan. 31, 1870, at the ripe age of nearly eighty-three surviving of five children, all of whom are living as follows:  John S., in the township of Norwich; Eliza W. (Mrs. Savage) in Berea; Samuel, in Anderson, Indiana; Matthias and Martin M. in Bronson  The latter is the best authority on the early history of Methodism in this region, and has written come interesting sketches on that subject for "The Norwalk Reflective."
     George Lawrence and family moved in from Genoa, Cayuga


     William G. Mead

     The first settlers on the old State road in this township were David Cole, Abijah Rundell and Nathan Tanner.  The came to Ohio from Cayuga county, New York, with their families, in the spring of 1815, and remained in the township of Avery (now Milan) until 1817, when they moved into Bronson.  Cole made his locaiton on lot sixteen in section three.  He resided here some eight or nine years, and then, his

     Mr. Randell

     Of their family of seven children but two remain, vix.: Mr. J. D. Knapp and Rial Rundell, both in Bronson; the latter living on the old homestead.
     The Tanner located from the township a number of years after.
     The next settler, south on this road, was Daniel W. Warren.  He was a native of New Jersey, but removed to the firelands form New York in 1814.  He lived for a while on the farm of Ebenezer Merry,  Esq., in Milan township, and in 1818, moved into this township, settling on lot number eighteen, section number three.  There are three children, as follows:  Elisha in Hartland; Adaline (Mrs. C. C. Cadwell), and Charles L. in Bronson.  The latter occupies the place on which the family first settled.

     The next settler on this road was Bethuel Cole brother of David Cole, previously mentioned.  He moved in with his family from Ontario county, New York, in October, 1823, and settled on lot number nineteen.  Mr. Cole, previously mentioned.  He moved in with his family from Ontario county, New York, in October, 1823, and settled on lot number nineteen.  Mr. Cole built a snug, hewed log house, where the dwelling of his son-i-law, T. J. McCague, now stands.  There was merely a blind path south of them where the State road now is.  The loneliness and privations of the settlers were promotive of sympathy and neighborliness, and the people in those days, living five miels nor more apart, exhibited a more truly friendly concern for one another than do many who dwell on the same lot nowadays.  Mrs. Cole informs the writer that they were frequently visited by settlers in Fitchville, and they were always as glad to see them as if they had been long absent relatives.

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They would, of course, stay over night, as such a journey and such visits as were made in those days could not be finished in a single day.  Mr. Cole died on his original location in 1873, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.  Mrs. Cole, now an octogenarian, still occupies the old homestead, making her home with her son-in-law, T. J. McCague.
     In June, 1826, Caleb Heath and family, and his wife's father, Andres Porter, and family, joined the settlement in this part of the township.  Heath settled on lot twenty-, while Mr. Porterb bought one hundred acres of David Cole, on which he located.  He died on his farm in 1857, and his wife afterward, both aged eighty-eight.  Heath, many years ago, removed to Indiana, where he and his wife both subsequently died.
     Attrusha Cole, brother of David and Bethuel, arrived in February, 1829, and settled on lot number twenty-two, section number three, where he has since resided.  He came out first in 1818.  He is now nearly eighty years of age.  He wife died in January, 1876.
     The first settlement in section two was made by David Clark in 1816.  He emigrated to Ohio from Middletown, Connecticut, and took up some four hundred acres of land in the above section, building his cabin on lot number one.  He died in Bronson, about the year 1830, quite advanced in life.  His wife died afterwards.  There were five sons and a daughter, who became the wife of Mr. John Laylin, of Norwalk.  One of the sons now lives in Iowa, and is the onlly surviving member of the family.
     Joel Blish and family, of wife and three children, came to Ohio from Hartford, Connecticut, in the fall of 1822.  He remained in Berlin township until May, 1824, and then removed to this township, locating at first on the State road, opposite where David Cole then lived.  Two or three years afterward he changed his location to lot number twenty-six, in the same section (second), purchasing his land of the heirs of David Clark, and resided there until 1854, when he moved the village of Norwalk, where he has since lived.  He has arrived at the advanced age of nearly eighty-eight.
     In the same vicinity a man by the name of Harmon Roscoe had settled a short time previous to the arrival of Mr. Blish.  He remained several years and then removed to Clarksfield.
     John Lyon and family, from Tompkins county, New York, settled a short distance north of the center, on the east side of the road, in the year 1828.  After a residence there of some twenty years he moved back to New York, where both he and his wife subsequently died.
     The first settlement in the first section of this township was made in 1823, by Jonathan Hull.  He died in 1828.
     Alva Mansell came in and settled in 1827 or '28.  Seven or eight years afterward he moved out of the township.
     Samuel Hull, brother of Jonathan, located just east of Munsell in the spring of 1830.  Many years afterwards he moved to Seneca county.
     Jacob Hicks settled on lot number twenty-seven in 1828, and a year or two afterward built a saw mill on High Bridge creek.  His little three year old daughter was drowned in this creek in the spring of 1833.  While the people in the neighborhood were at a meeting in the school house, one Sunday morning, a messenger arrived with the startling announcement that "Little Martha Hicks is missing child.  Her foot prints were traced to the edge of the stream, and shortly afterward, about a mile below, her dead body was found floating among some drift wood.  It is supposed she started to go to the mill, where her father and brothers were at work, the stream being so high from recent rains as to endanger the property.
     Mr. Hicks was a man of intelligence and influence, and served some years as justice of the peace.  He moved into Peru township in 1838.
     Daniel S. Morse, formerly from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, came to Bronson from Monroe county, near Rochester, New York, in September, 1830.  He settled a short distance north of Esquire Hicks, on lot number twenty-nine, in the first section, where Mr. Vroman now lives.  Six years afterward he moved on has since resided.  Mr. Morse has  filled the office of justice of the peace two terms, and was township clerk a number of years.  He is now seventy-three years of age, and his health is somewhat impaired.
     Frederick Hicks and Ira Hull came in from the State of New York in the year 1828.  They settled to the north of Mr. Morse.  Hicks, about the year 1849, moved to Michigan.  Hull afterwards moved on to the State road, but finally removed to some western State.
     Orrin Hicks arrived in the spring of 1830; subsequently married Sallie Gregory, and settled on the lot adjoining Mr. Morse on the north.  He moved to Norwich in a few years, and finally to Iowa.
     Abner Sylvester and family moved in from Courtland county, New York, in September, 1831, and settled on lot number thirty-five in the first section.  The place is now owned by N. S. Hakes.  the settlers were so few in that part of the township that it required two days to raise their house.  Mr. Sylvester was a pioneer Baptist preacher.  He rode all through this region of country, preaching in Bronson, Fairfield, Peru, Huron county, Berlin, Erie county, and in Lorain county, traveling  much of the way through unbroken forest, with nothing to guide him but blazed trees.  In 1846 they moved to Olena, and four years afterwards returned to New York, where they resided until 1866, when he removed to Kalamazoo county, Michigan where he and his wife now live aged respectively seventy-nine and seventy-three.  Mr. Sylvester preached for the Baptist Church in Bronson

ALVIN BRIGHTMAN.

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for twenty years, and is highly respected by all who know him.  Mrs. Sylvester is a woman of much force of character and of earnest piety.
     J. D. Knapp

     Daniel Sumerlin

     Thomas Lawrence

     James R. Knight

     Daniel Angell,

     In July, 1836, Ephraim Angell

     James Ford and fmily came from Tompkins county, New York, to Bronson in the fall of 1833, and settled on lot thirty-five in the first section, opposite where Norman S. Hakes now lives.  The land is now owned by MAthias Hester.  Mr. Ford died in this township in 1845, and Mrs. Ford afterwards married Amos Deming, with whom she is now living at the center of Bronson.
     Alexander McPherson

     Benjamin Haines

     In November, 1837, Isaac E. Town, with wife and one child, moved into Bronson from Onondaga county, New York, and settled where he now resides - on the Norwalk and Olena road.  This part of the township was then very new, the road had only been cut out, and a team would hardly be seen to pass once a month.  The settlers assisted each other in their logging, and Mrs. Town herself has burned long-heaps many a night until twelve o'clock.  On the land which they purchased stood a poor apology of a house, which an uncle of Mr. Town had built for a son.  The door

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OLENA VILLAGE

     In the southeast part of the township, on the Hartland line, is the village of Olena, the first house in which was built by Wm. H. Burras, in 1832.  He purchased sixteen acres of land on the southeast corner of the cross-roads, and put up a log house where the dwelling of Dr. D. A. Wood now stands.  He married Ruth Palmer, daughter of Abijah Palmer, of Fitchville, Sept. 22, 1835, and moved into his log cabin, previous to which he had occupied with his parents.  Mr. Burras located at the corners with the intention of subsequently opening a tavern; but his wife's opposition on temperance grounds, induced him to give up the project, and after a residence there of some three or four year, he moved just across the line into Hartland, and settled on one hundred and thirty acres on lot number one of the fourth section of that township, where he afterwards resided.  He died in July, 1876, aged sixty-eight.  Mrs. Burras subsequently moved to Olena, where she now lives with a married daughter.  They had six children, only three of whom are living, as follows:  Abijah, on the farm in Hartland, where his parents formerly resided; Mrs. Joseph Lazell in Fitchville, on the old homestead of her grandfather; Abijah Palmer and Mrs. David Summerlin in Olena.
     Samuel Burras, an older brother of William, came with his family from the State of New York a short time afterward, and first located on the old state road, but soon after bought a short distance southeast of Olena, and erected a log house, where his widow now lives, which was one of the first buildings in the place.
     Among the earliest houses built at Olena, besides those mentioned, were those of Joel Wooley on the southwest corner, and John Moore a short distance west of Allen.
     The first tavern at Olena was kept, in a small way, by Benjamin Drake, in a log house, some twenty rods south of the corners, about the year 1835.  In 1840 Daniel Angell bought out Drake, and his son, Ephraim Angell continued the tavern about two years, when he bought the sixteen acres of William H. Burras, and erected a framed hotel on the southeast corner of the cross-roads, and kept a tavern there for ten years.  Andrew Godfrey built a frame tavern on the southwest corner, which is still standing, in 1841, or about that time, and kept the first post office there.  The tavern business at this point, in the olden times of wagon trade, was something immense.  Mr. Angell reports that he used frequently to keep over a single night more than a hundred teams and teamsters.  The rate was fifty cents, including supper and breakfast for a man and four-horse team.
     The first store at Olena was occupied by Noah Close, but at what date we are unable to determine.  The business, however, was not extensively carried on until about 1850, when C. W. Manahan, now of Manahan, Taber & Co., of Norwalk, and Courtland cannon established a store on the southeast corner, in the building formerly occupied as a hotel by Mr. Angell.  They continued some two years, and until the death of Cannon, when Lewis Manahan became a partner of his brother.  They afterwards erected the building now occupied as a general store by Mr. Knight, and continued there some years.  The village was formerly called Angell's Corners, and continued to be so called for several years, when, at a public meeting of the citizens, the name was changed to Olena.  The village now contains about fifty or sixty families, with the following business places, to wit:  one general store, one grocery, one millinery shop, one hotel, two wagon shops, two blacksmith shops, two shoe shops, one cooper shop, and one tile yard.

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BIOGRAPHIES.

THE NEWCOMBS OF BRONSON.

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DAVID CONGER

LEISTER SMITH

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NORMAN S. HAKES

TIMOTHY LAWRENCE

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GEORGE LAWRENCE

JOHN BUFFINGTON

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W. G. MEAD

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