Ohio History Journal

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THE TOWN OF TALLMADGE--THE BACONS

THE TOWN OF TALLMADGE--THE BACONS

AND SHAKESPEARE*

 

BY T. C. MENDENHALL

The two ends of my topic seem widely separated,

both in space and in time; thousands of miles in space

and hundreds of years in time.

The object of this paper is to bridge this gap; to give

some information about the one, and to show how its

story may be of tremendous significance to the other.

First, then, the Town of Tallmadge. I use the

word "town" in that larger, finer sense in which it is

generally used in New England; redolent of the "town

meeting", the best example of a pure democracy. It

is geographically equivalent to the more common term

"township".

But in New England and originally in that part of

the state of Ohio in which is the Town of Tallmadge, it

implies a more intimate association of all the people of

the district. In accord with this idea, the geographical

center of these small political units, where will be found,

almost invariably, the postoffice, church, general store,

etc., is not differentiated from other parts by a separate

name, but is known simply as "the center". In Portage

County we speak of Randolph and Randolph Center; of

Atwater and Atwater Center, and there is undeniably a

more unified or "community" sentiment throughout the

twenty-five square miles of the "town" than is usual in

similar areas designated as "townships", in which the

 

* Address at annual meeting of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society, September 19, 1923.

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