OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

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Huron County, Ohio
History & Genealogy

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Volume I

Nov. 1858

No. 2

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

[Page 15] -      HANSON READ, (the builder of the first house,) came from Beaver county Pennsylvania, together with his father-in-law, Mr. Powers, and left this township about 1816, and resided in Norwalk township some years, and built a grist and a saw mill about one-and-a-half miles south of Norwalk Village.      ERASTUS SMITH, (the builder of the second house,) came from Trumbull county, and died in 1820, of congestion of the brain.  Mr. Smith was a man of great energy and perseverance, and was well calculated to form a pioneer settlement, by his courage and endurance, and by his example to encourage others.  Mr. Smith was well-educated, and took a lively interest in establishing schools, and in giving a correct moral tone to the infant society of that day.  At his death he left a widow and numerous family, which mostly reside in this township at this time.  The widow, Mrs. Smith, has arrived at good old age, with all the comforts and enjoyments that can well surround her, as a compensation for the toils, hardships, and cares and privations incident to a pioneer life.      CYRUS W. MARSH moved to Ogontz-Place, (now Sandusky City) where he built the second house in that place in the Fall of 1817.      MR. NEWCOMB, (the given name believed to be Sterling) helped survey the township in 1811, being chain-carrier.  He built the first house in Norwalk Township, near the creek, on the farm of Mr. Miner Cole  The year that it was built I do not know, but suppose in 1810 - it was before the war.  Mr. Newcomb went to Trapville, (now Ganges) in Richland county, to mill, shortly after the close of the war, where a horse kicked him in the breast, which caused his death July 4th, 1816.      JACOB RUSH cane from Pennsylvania before the war, - married the Widow Sample in Fairfield Township, in 1821, and resided in that township until his death, which occurred about 1840.  Mr. Wm. McKelvey, Sen., came from Trumbull county in 1815, after Perry's Victory; he moved to Plymouth, Richland county, about 1821, where he died some years after.  His son Wm. McKelvey, was a soldier in the war of 1812; he was one of the earliest settlers in Huron county, having helped survey New Haven township in 1810 and 1811; he now resides in Peru township, in this county.  Truman Gilbert came to this township in 1813, with his family from Trumbull county; he sold his farm in this [Page 16] - township in 1823 or 1824, and moved to Green Creek township, in Sandusky county, where he now resides.  Samuel C. Spencer moved his family from Trumbull county in the fall of 1813.  About 1836 Mr. S. C. Spencer sold his farm and moved his family to Indiana, where he now resides.      I believe I have mentioned all the settlers in this township prior to the close of the war of 1812.  The amount of toil, suffering, hardship, care and anxiety, incident to the first settlers, I shall leave to others to describe; none can do it justice except those who have passed through it.      After peace was declared in 1815, there was a heavy emigration into the township.  I will mention a few that came within a few years after the close of the war, those that helped establish our roads, our schools, our churches, and bring civilization out of a wilderness, and permanently establish society on a firm basis.  Samuel Spencer moved his family from Trumbull county in 1816; he died in 1848.  Mr. Spencer was a very useful citizen.      BILDAD ADAMS  came from Vermont in 1816, was one of the first commissioners in Huron county; he died in Milan township about 1828.  Mr. Adams did much for the new settlement.      NATHANIEL HAYNES came from Vermont in 1816; he died about 1845.      NATHAN WARNER came from Massachusetts in 1815; he emigrated to Laporte county, Indiana, in l853.      ALDEM PIERCE came from Massachusetts in 1816; he moved to Illinois in 1837, where he died some years since.      ELI HALLADAY came from Vermont in 1816; he died at his sons, in Huron township, Erie county, about 1850, far advanced in years.  Mr. Halladay was a man of superior abilities, and aided much in giving a start to the first church in this township.        DAVID LOVELL  came from Pennsylvania in 1816.  Mr. Lovell brought a fine property from Pennsylvania, but not being used to a new country, he did not fully realize his expectations; he died in 1820, much respected.        ROBERT INSCHO came from New Jersey in 1816.  He moved to Indiana in 1850,      WILLIAM AND JEFFERSON LONG  came from Pennsylvania in 1815 or 1816—are both now residents of this township.      There was a numerous family by the name of EVANS, that came from Pennsylvania in 1815.  They settled in the south part of this township.  They resided here until about 1828, when they removed to Sangamon county, Illinois.      There was a family by the name of FORD, another by the name of IRVIN, connections of the Evans family, that came with them, and went to Illinois with them.  Seba, Horace and Harlow Mathers, brothers, came from Vermont in 1816.  They erected the first frame barn in the township in 1817, on the farm now owned by Mr. Nathan BEERS.  Horace and Harlow MATHERS died many years ago.  Seba Mathers is now a resident of this township.      HARKNESS AMOS came from Pennsylvania in 1816.  He married Martha Sample about 1819.  He resides now in Fairfield Township.      The WIDOW SAMPLE built the first home in Fairfield Township, I believe, in 1819, which stood near the house now occupied by Mr. Hawley Belden.        MR. SILAS BOWERS came into the township in the year 1816, and lived where Mr. James Newman now resides.  In the fore part of the winter of 1818, Mr. Bowers seeing some deer near the house, early in the morning, he took his gun before breakfast to shoot the deer, the deer running to the east, and kept a short distance in advance of Mr. Bowers, until they arrived near where Steamburg now is, when Mr. Bowers [Page 17] - killed one of the deer.  He drew the deer on the light snow quite a distance toward borne, until he probably became exhausted, as he was a slender man.  He abandoned lint deer, and at a short distance abandoned his gun, steering all the time towards home, and finally gave out and froze to death that night, near the house of the late Noah Starr, where his neighors found him some two days after.      MR. LEMUEL BROOKS.  In the fall of 1817, Mr. Lemuel Brooks moved from Vermont to this township.  Mr. Brooks had been an officer in the Revolutionary army, and was about seventy-five years of age when he moved to this township.  He died in 1831, aged about ninety years.      DANIEL HALLADAY came from Vermont to this township in 1810; moved to Ridgefield about 1824, and died about 1850.      ELIPHALET B. SIMMONS.  My father, Eliphalet B. Simmons, came from New York into this township on the 12th day of July, 1817, and died in January, 1836.      MR. EPESUTUS STARR came from New York in 1817; he died about 1845.      MR. HIRAM SPENCER came from Trumbull county in 1816, with his father; he moved to Missouri, in 1857.      MR. WM. CARKHUFF came from Pennsylvania in 1816; was elected Sheriff of Huron county in 1835; he moved to Indiana about 1848, where he died.      ELDER JOHN WHEELER  came from N. York in 1818. Mr. Wheeler is a Free Will Baptist preacher, and has occupied the pulpit ever since he has resided in the township.  He has been a very useful preacher, and has done much good; has built up a large church in this township.  He is now living, somewhat advanced in years, but very smart for one of his age.