Ohio History Journal

ROBERT A. WHEELER

Land and Community in Rural

Nineteenth Century America:

Claridon Township, 1810-1870

In 1812 Horace Taylor of Hartland, Connecticut, traveled to Ohio to

buy and settle lands in the Western Reserve of Connecticut on the

Trans-Appalachian frontier. He chose a relatively new township in the

heart of the Reserve later called Claridon in Geauga County. There in

the western portion he located his farm, helped found the Congrega-

tional church, and established one of the backbone families of the

township. Ten years later Nathaniel Mastick arrived from Vermont and

started a farm in Claridon's eastern portion. His family also became

one of the backbone families of the township.

In some ways these two settlers were typical of the two major

migrant groups who peopled the northern portion of the Trans-

Appalachian frontier. Initially, most settlers came to northern Ohio

directly from their ancestral homes in New England just as Taylor had

done, and for a number of years these pioneers attracted other family

members and associates to their new settlements. As this group

declined after 1820, a new group, part of what Malcolm Rohrbough has

called the "first great migration" of the Trans-Appalachian frontier,

increased the volume of pioneers.¹ Many of them had moved from old

New England after the Revolutionary War and established new homes

in frontier areas of Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. Some,

like the Masticks who moved from Connecticut to Vermont, became

disenchanted with these homesteads, saw opportunity further west in

an area settled by New Englanders, and moved again to Ohio. Both

groups mingled throughout northern portions of Ohio, Indiana, and

Illinois. Both Taylor and Mastick were also typical because they

Robert A. Wheeler is Associate Professor of History at Cleveland State University.

1. See Malcolm J. Rohrbough, The Trans-Appalachian Frontier: People, Societies,

and Institutions, 1775-1850 (New York, 1976), 157-91 (hereafter cited as Rohrbough,

Frontier).

102                                                      OHIO HISTORY

brought with them a set of regional values characterized by their

Yankee-Puritan heritage.² The township they settled was typical of the

northern frontier in superficial demographic and economic ways, and

its gradual integration into regional and national contexts can be

precisely traced. The picture painted by these indicators implies that a

homogenous, cohesive New England-New Connecticut society devel-

oped in Claridon township. But closer analysis of land records, maps,

church records, and especially diaries, reveals a hidden and significant

division in neighborhood patterns and social networks. These layers

meant that the Taylors and the Masticks and the groups they symbolize

became part of separate subcultures within Claridon which rarely

mixed.³

In order to explain how these developments took place, the demo-

graphic and economic context which produced the smokescreen of

homogeneity needs to be explained. Also necessary is a closer exam-

ination of the settlement patterns and the evolution of local township

centers which begin to suggest the emergence of subcultures. Finally,

an analysis of church affiliation, residence, and social networks

confirms the virtual bifurcation of Claridon by the 1860s.

I. Population

During the era of the Trans-Appalachian frontier, from its opening at

the beginning of the Revolutionary War to its closing seventy-five years

later, thousands of migrants flooded the West. As they founded new

2. Rohrbough, Frontier, 66, 150, 152; Thomas J. Schlereth, "The New England

Presence on the Midwest Landscape," The Old Northwest, 9 (Spring, 1983), 128-42

(hereafter cited as Schlereth, "New England Presence"); Kenneth V. Lottich, "Cultural

Transplantation in the Connecticut Reserve," Historical and Philosophical Society of

Ohio Bulletin, 17 (July, 1959), 154-66 and "The Western Reserve and the Frontier

Thesis," Ohio Historical Quarterly, 70 January, 1961, 45-57; David French, "Puritan

conservatism and the Frontier: The Elizur Wright Family on the Connecticut Western

Reserve," The Old Northwest, 1 (March, 1975), 85-95.

3. Two general histories of the township published as essays in histories of Geauga

county have the most detailed information: History of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio

with illustrations and biographical sketches of its pioneers and most prominent men

(Philadelphia, 1878), 167-74 (hereafter cited as History of Geauga) and Pioneer and

General History of Geauga County with sketches of some of the pioneer and prominent

men (Historical Society of Geauga County, 1880, facsimile reprint Evansville, Indiana,

1973), 376-415 (hereafter cited as Pioneer History). I have used a complete set of local

records located in the Geauga County library branch in Chardon, Ohio. Maps used in

tracing the history of land ownership were located in the County Recorder's Office in

Chardon. Most helpful were the guides and collections of Jeanette Grosvenor, a life-long

resident of Claridon and a genealogist. She had indexed the federal censuses, local

Congregational records, and had many of the diaries.

Land and Community                                              103

communities or joined ones already started they participated in the

gradual maturation of the entire region. Some of these settlers came to

that northeastern portion of Ohio known as the Western Reserve. The

area had been granted to the state of Connecticut by the United States

government and was subsequently sold to a group of investors called

the Connecticut Land Company in 1795.⁴

Surveying parties finished dividing up the area and settlers began to

trickle onto the land before the turn of the nineteenth century.

Apparently Claridon township, which consisted of twenty-five square

miles, was attractive, for four groups of investors purchased it and

hired surveyors to divide it into smaller tracts. Perhaps investors were

impressed with the fertile dense clay soil, common to the area, or the

abundant water resources supplied by the two branches of the Cuyahoga

River which, separated by a ridge of well-drained land, pass through

Claridon.⁵ In any case, the first settlers arrived in 1810 followed by an

increasing stream of newcomers who totalled 402 by 1820.6 Like most

Reserve townships founded during this time, Claridon rapidly gained

population until 1840 when 900 people lived within its boundaries.⁷

Also typical was the fluctuation of population over the next three

decades, as the inhabitants rose by over 100 in 1850 and then dropped

back to 910 in 1870.8 Correspondingly, the number of households grew

rapidly from 63 in 1820 to 172 in 1840. A decade later it increased to 197

and then leveled off. Clearly Claridon's population had made it part of

the settled rural hinterland.

Other demographic measures detail the same gradual change. The

ratio of males to females favored males in the initial stages of

settlement (there were 125 males per 100 females in 1820), as one would

expect. However, there were enough women to suggest that, although

single adult males did migrate, young families made up a large

proportion of Claridon's early settlers. By 1850, just as the number of

people and households was leveling off, virtually the same number of

4. See Harlan Hatcher, The Western Reserve; The Story of New Connecticut in Ohio

(Indianapolis, 1948). See also Edmund Chapman Cleveland: Village to Metropolis

(Cleveland, 1964), 1-8 (hereafter cited as Chapman, Cleveland).

5. History of Geauga, 167-68: Pioneer History, 377-79.

6. The following analysis is based on the federal census manuscripts for the years

1810 through 1870 located at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.

7. Don R. Leet, "Population Pressure and Human Fertility Response: Ohio,

1810-1860" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1972), Table 2.3, 24-25

(hereafter cited as Leet, "Population Pressure"); Robert A. Wheeler, "The Town in the

Western Reserve, 1800-1860," The Western Reserve Magazine, 6 (May-June, 1979),

special insert (hereafter cited as Wheeler, "The Town").

8. Leet, "Population Pressure," 25; Wheeler, "The Town," passim.

104                                                        OHIO HISTORY

males and females lived in the township. Two decades later there were

fewer males (93 per 100) than females, a characteristic of older stable

areas.⁹

This gradual stabilization of population was produced in part by a

change in the fertility of Claridon women. As one would expect,

women in Claridon, like their counterparts in the rest of early Ohio,

had high fertility in the first decade of settlement. Most were of

childbearing age and they brought some children with them and had

more soon after they arrived.10 In the succeeding two decades their

fertility dropped dramatically-more quickly than most observers have

found so that by 1840 it was 50 percent lower.11  Not surprisingly, the

downward trend continued into the 1870s, by which time it was a little

more than one-third of the 1820 rate. It is likely that very early in the

history of the township, women, even those newly-married, were

having fewer children. They were doing so long before out-migration

and the declining proportion of males forced declines in the fertility

ratio. The drop, as will be shown, was caused by a decline in available

land, which local residents apparently perceived as a loss of opportu-

nity.

Within this environment geographical mobility and birthplace of

residents reflect the maturing local society. While one might expect

9. The gradual shift of sex ratios from male dominated to female dominated as an

area matures is generally accepted. For one overview see Richard C. Easterlin, George

Alter, and Gretchen A. Condron, "Farmers and Farm Families in Old and New Areas:

The Northern States in 1860" in Tamara Hareven and Marus Vinouskas, eds., Family

and Population in Nineteenth-Century America, (Princeton, 1978), 22-84 (hereafter cited

as Easterlin, "Farmers").

10. The fertility ratio is the number of children from birth to 9 years old divided by the

number of women from the ages of 16 to 44. In the first decade of settlement it is 2260.

See Leet's discussion of the fertility of Ohio women, particularly his comments on

Northeastern Ohio women in "Population Pressure," 51; also Don R. Leet, "Human

Fertility and Agricultural Opportunities in Ohio Counties: from frontier to maturity,

1810-1860" in David C. Klingaman and Richard K. Vedder, eds., Essays in Nineteenth-

Century Economic History: The Old Northwest, (Athens, Ohio, 1975), 145 (hereafter

cited as Leet, "Human Fertility"). No similarly detailed study of fertility is intended

here, but the comparisons do suggest a similar trend with some exceptions.

11. The figure is 1080. Leet argues that those in the predominately New England

northeastern quadrant of Ohio had the lowest fertility of any migrant group and

continued the trend after they became Ohioans. Claridon fits this pattern, but Leet does

not account for this drop in fertility; he simply notes it. See Leet, "Human Fertility,"

152-53. See also James Q. Graham, Jr., "Family and Fertility in Rural Ohio: Wood

County, Ohio in 1860," Journal of Family History, 8 (Fall, 1983), 262-78 (hereafter cited

as Graham, "Family and Fertility"). Graham uses more sophisticated techniques and a

different measure of fertility than Leet, but for Claridon his technique, which requires

the detail of the census manuscripts from 1850 onward, could not be used, and thus the

seemingly critical drop in the 1840s would not be observed. Wood County in the western

portion of the state was settled much later and would not have a similar problem.

Land and Community                                                   105

migrants to remain in a newly-opened area, especially if they were

household heads, the high rate of those who stayed from decade to

decade over the entire time period is nevertheless surprising.12 The

decennial persistence of household heads was 54 percent for both 1830

and 1840. Even at mid-century the rate dipped only slightly to 48

percent, and by 1870 it was still nearly 45 percent.¹³ In other words,

while some out-migration among young adults and reduced fertility

among residents probably occurred, a very high proportion of resident

household heads remained from decade to decade, creating a stable

and potentially cohesive township.

Furthermore, more township residents, particularly those who

stayed, were ethnically homogeneous since Claridon, unlike the area's

cities, did not attract foreign immigrants. In fact, Claridon's proportion

of foreign-born adults was generally less than 5 percent.14 Predictably,

New Englanders predominated. In 1850, when the federal census first

listed birthplace, the largest group of migrants, 33 percent, came from

Connecticut. There were also large contingents from Massachusetts,

10 percent, and the recently expanded states of New York, 20 percent,

and Vermont, 9 percent. These migrations came somewhat later than

the initial one from Connecticut. Consequently, by 1870 only 16

percent of township adults were Connecticut-born, whereas over

one-fourth, or 27 percent, of the adults were born in the other three

states. By 1870 the first Ohio-born generation had matured and

comprised half of all adults and nearly two-thirds of those under fifty.

This gradual change gave Claridon a decidedly native character.¹⁵

12. In the following discussion the proportion of those who stayed is understated

because no accurate way of determining which residents died during the period is

available and, therefore, all residents who did not remain were judged to have left the

area. For a discussion of geographical mobility among a very mobile population, see

Rebecca A. Shepherd, "Restless Americans: The Geographic Mobility of Farm Labor-

ers in the Old Midwest, 1850-1870," Ohio History, 89 (Winter, 1980), 25-45. Her finding

that 21 percent of farm laborers stayed each decade suggests that even this segment was

more stable, even though her analysis is not specific to the Western Reserve. The

findings of Jack Blocker, who argued that agricultural specialization can increase the

need for farm laborers while not increasing the need for more farms, probably account

for these data. See his article, "Market Integration, Urban Growth and Economic

Change in an Ohio County, 1850-1880," Ohio History, 90 (Autumn, 1981), 298-316.

13. Household members are not listed separately on the federal census until 1850.

14. The key indicator of the shift from immigrant to native is when the proportion of

adult residents become native. For this reason only those over 21 years of age are

included. In the 1830s and 1840s most native Ohioans were still children.

15. Much of the preceding discussion of the evolution of Claridon fits into the patterns

discussed by Richard Easterlin, et al., for a much wider area in 1860. See Easterlin,

"Farmers," 22-84.

106                                                      OHIO HISTORY

II. Economy

Part of the reason for the consistency of most demographic indica-

tors was the economic evolution which transformed Claridon and most

of the Reserve from an isolated frontier area to a countryside dotted

with prosperous specialized dairy farms.¹⁶ Using Edward Muller's

construct, up to 1830 Claridon was part of the "Pioneer Periphery,"

the first stage in an area's search for economic viability, when its

residents established permanent settlement, cleared land for agricul-

tural production, and searched for exportable crops.¹⁷ Gradually,

during these two decades, residents purchased tracts so that by 1820

they owned five thousand acres and ten years later they owned the

entire fourteen-thousand acre township. The average farmer owned

145 acres of land on which he grazed five cows.¹⁸

After 1830 the area became part of the "Specialized Periphery," a

second stage marked by demand for the area's products on a regional

or even national level. During this period settlement intensified and

interregional connections and specialized staple production developed.

In Claridon, since all land was already owned, this intensification

meant that the number of owners increased by two-thirds, which

reduced the average holding to eighty-eight acres by 1840, a drop of 40

percent. Significantly, this reduction caused residents to respond to the

declining availability of land by dramatically reducing their fertility by

one-third.19 The trend continued to mid-century when another one-

fourth increase in owners further reduced the average size of a farm to

seventy-three acres and caused fertility to drop even further. These

16. For a general introduction see R. Douglas Hurt, "Dairying in Nineteenth-century

Ohio," The Old Northwest, 5 (Winter, 1979-80), 387-99. See also Robert A. Wheeler,

"Agriculture in the Western Reserve, 1800-1860," The Western Reserve Magazine, 5

(January-February, 1978), special insert.

17. Edward K. Muller, "Selective Urban Growth in the Middle Ohio Valley,

1800-1860," Geographical Review, 66 (April, 1976), 178-204.

18. In 1820, 100 percent of the farm owners owned cattle and 95 percent did so in

1830. The two-thirds who owned any horses owned one each in both years. County tax

records called Tax Duplicates were used for land ownership, and personal property lists,

also part of the county taxation system, were used to determine the number of animals

for the appropriate years. All are located in the Geauga County Library, Chardon, Ohio.

19. The ratio fell from 1500 in 1830 to 1080 in 1840. There is extensive literature on the

relationship between available land and the declining fertility of American women in the

nineteenth century. It basically argues that, as resources measured in available land were

progressively more difficult to obtain, family size dropped, especially in frontier areas.

This study of Claridon suggests that it was not a generational phenomenon but happened

virtually as soon as the land pressure first appeared to local residents. See Leet, "Human

Fertility," 145, 156-57, who suggests that for the whole state the transitions came later

and Graham, "Family and Fertility," 271-73, for a brief discussion of the literature.

108                                               OHIO HISTORY

ist, and more shopkeepers.²² Thus Claridon had evolved into a

township with an impressively stable population firmly committed to

making a livelihood from dairy farms.

But even though Ohio-born dairymen came to dominate the town-

ship, the associations which their forefathers created left indelible

marks on the geography of the township and on its sense of community.

As will be shown below, these associations fixed local living patterns,

defined social networks, and differentiated township neighborhoods.

III. Settlement Patterns: West-Center vs. East

A careful inspection of land records shows Claridon was settled in

two fairly distinct waves. These waves produced a complex, divided

township in contrast to the surface homogeneity suggested above.

Prior to 1820 most settlers took land in the western third of the

township in the Holmes purchase along the western branch of the

Cuyahoga river. As they spread they followed the early surveys and

settled from north to south on what would soon be called "west

street." More families followed, probably encouraged by the positive

reports sent back home, especially to Hartland and New Hartford,

Connecticut. At least five founding families of the western portion of

the township-Taylors, Cowles, Spencers, Kelloggs and Wells-came

from these two towns and had representatives in Claridon before

1818.23 Many of them intermarried either before they left Connecticut

or within several years after they arrived. They so dominated Claridon

that when the first township officers were chosen in 1817 seven of the

ten were from these families. Together they comprised 20 percent of

the residents in 1820.24 Mary Taylor, writing home to her sister in

Hartland in 1821, reported visiting several Connecticut relatives in her

new home. She noted that even fashion was transported to the Reserve

when she "saw as much silk and crepe gowns as I would in Hartland"

at a church meeting in Burton several miles from Claridon.²⁵

During the early 1820s, settlers moved into the second and third tier

of tracts along what was to become "middle street" in the central

portion of Claridon. First they moved east and south on a road which

22. See U.S. Census manuscripts for Claridon in 1870.

23. Pioneer History, 378-89.

24. Chiles Blakeslee forword to the Record Book of the Congregational Society,

Claridon Township, Geauga County dated March 7, 1831, located in the church archives,

Claridon, Ohio (hereafter cited as Record Book).

25. Mary Taylor to her sister, Claridon, Ohio, June 28, 1821, in the Lester Taylor

folder, Geauga County Historical Society, Burton, Ohio.

Land and Community                                           109

led south to Burton. Then, in the mid-1820s they bought land on the

north-south "center street" which bisects the township. Rarely did

they purchase in the eastern tier.

These new immigrants began to create local institutions. Mary

Taylor and her husband joined other families in a Congregational

group. At first, members shared a minister with nearby Burton. In 1827

they began the process of forming a separate church when they created

the Claridon Congregational Society. Its officers were selected over-

whelmingly from the founding families.²⁶ Two years later a revival

swelled the number of society members. In response, the group moved

its meetings from the houses along west street to a larger building, a

schoolhouse built at the crossroads in the center of the township.

Finally, in 1831 a church building was constructed there.²⁷

At the crossroads, on land donated by a church member, a township

square took form modeled on New England town squares of the late

colonial period.²⁸ Slowly other structures, including a meeting hall,

several shops, and another church, were added. As early as the

mid-1830s, then, much of the township was a developing community of

like inhabitants.

While that process was running its course, another process was

beginning. From the mid-1820s onward development moved away from

the center and western portions of the township. A meager start was

made in 1816 when Lot Hathaway and Holder Chace purchased land in

the eastern portion within the Erie Company tract. Ten years later this

area began to prosper, in part because a state road which ran from

Warren on the southeastern edge of the Reserve north to Painesville on

the shores of Lake Erie cut through it on a north-south axis.²⁹

This eastern section was different from the older portions of Claridon

in several important ways. Many of the first settlers were not from

Hartland or New Hartford. Chace and Hathaway, for example, were

from Freetown, Massachusetts, and neither joined the Congregational

church.³⁰ Nathaniel Mastick, who arrived from Vermont, and other

26. Record Book, passim.

27. Pioneer History, 401-02.

28. D.W. Meinig, "Symbolic Landscapes: Some Idealizations of American Commu-

nities" in D.W. Meinig, ed., The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical

Essays, (New York, 1979), 165-66 (hereafter cited as Meinig, "Landscapes"). See also

Chapman, Cleveland, 1-35.

29. The road appears on land maps as early as 1830 and on the first atlas of 1857. For

the land maps see those located in the County Recorder's Office in Chardon. For the

atlas see Map of Geauga and Lake Counties from Surveys and County Records

(Philadelphia, 1857).

30. C.V. Chace, Genealogical Record of the Chace and Hathaway Families from

1630 to 1900 (Ashtabula, Ohio, 1900), 9, 29.

110                                                 OHIO HISTORY

new settlers constituted a second migration. Many arrived in the late

1820s and early 1830s, more often from New York and Vermont rather

than Connecticut. Quite possibly many of these newcomers felt left out

of local society which was already partially formed. In any case, few

joined the Congregational church. Some probably became members of

the Methodist society formed in the mid 1820s. Its ranks increased

sufficiently enough by the late 1830s that it built a church across the

square from the Congregational church. The new migrants, many of

whom were or became members of this church, also began to inter-

marry within the confines of the eastern third of Claridon.

These emerging sections, or perhaps neighborhoods, were further

differentiated in the 1840s and 1850s. Beginning in 1840 a hamlet began

to develop in the eastern portion at the intersection of the state road

and a smaller east-west road which divided the township in half. Over

the next thirty years this concentration of commercial and craft

enterprises became the hamlet of East Claridon and gradually eclipsed

Claridon Center in terms of number of stores and shops. It housed the

area's only hotel, first tavern, and drygoods and hardware stores. East

Claridon differed significantly from the square called Claridon Center.

Like most new nineteenth century towns, it focused not on institutions

but on business and commerce.31 Its people were different, too. A

study of the eighty-four inhabitants who owned land in East Claridon

from 1840 to 1870 reveals that only three were ever members of the

Congregational church.³² Claridon Center, on the other hand, was

overwhelmingly peopled by Congregationalists. Here is evidence of a

significant socio-geographical differentiation in Claridon township.

Fortunately, it is possible to confirm this separation in the late 1860s.

The Methodist church located in Claridon Center since the late 1830s

decided to move. Not surprisingly, the congregation and its building

moved to East Claridon in 1867. Surviving sources attest to the virtual

bifurcation of Claridon which this relocation confirmed. Of those who

owned land in the eastern third of the township, fully three-quarters

were from the church. Moreover, no Methodist lived in the middle or

western portion of the township.³³ The hamlet of East Claridon

likewise was virtually all Methodist.

31. See Schlereth, "New England Presence," 134; Meinig, "Landscapes," 168-69.

32. Twenty tax duplicates were used to trace land ownership patterns. Fortunately,

the original surveyor's lot designations were kept throughout much of the period and

could be combined with maps of land ownership which were redrawn for the conve-

nience of the county recorder at approximately ten-year intervals. All located in Geauga

County Recorder's Office, Chardon, Ohio.

33. The original lists were graciously lent to me by Mrs. Michael Pitorak, a member

of the Methodist Church of East Claridon, Ohio. The lists were compared with maps, tax

112                                               OHIO HISTORY

Furthermore, the nativity of Methodists confirms a distinction

already suggested. They were newer migrants (one-third were born in

New York) and were less likely to be native Ohioans (29 percent) than

the township in general (49 percent). Unlike Congregational church

members, 95 percent of whom were born either in Ohio or Connecticut,

only 45 percent of Methodists were born in either state.³⁵ A compari-

son of occupations of the two groups shows that fully half of the

Methodists were not employed as farmers but made up much of the

skilled and service work force in the area. Congregationalists, on the

other hand, were three-quarters farmers. While still part of the rural

economy, many Methodists worked in East Claridon where they were

more easily linked to the local and regional business network. This

orientation continued when in the early 1870s a railroad was built along

the eastern side of the state road close to East Claridon and the

Methodist church.³⁶

Although Methodists were committed to business, they were not as

wealthy as the Congregationalists. An 1853 tax assessment valued the

Methodist church building at $675, while the Congregational building

was listed at $1200.³⁷ The disparity is also reflected in personal assets.

Methodists averaged $5,400 of personal and real property in 1870 while

Congregationalists averaged over one thousand dollars more.

Therefore, according to these records, below the level of the

township a set of distinctions served to differentiate Claridon. The

township contained two sections settled at different times by people of

different religious commitments who had different levels of wealth. In

fact, the distinctions were in some ways the equivalent of a wall which

separated neighborhoods and perhaps even communities. This thesis is

further supported by an impressionistic study of the 325 marriages

recorded for the township from 1825-1869 which indicates that few

local couples included partners from both sections.³⁸

It would be a mistake to think that these patterns created insur-

mountable obstacles to communication and to all forms of institutional

interaction. Township officers by the 1830s included at least one or two

members from East Claridon, and the sharing of political offices

35. A complete list of members compiled in 1871 was used. See Records of the

Congregational Church.

36. Pioneer History, 410-15, and town record books located in the Township Hall,

Claridon, Ohio.

37. See Tax Duplicate for 1853, Geauga County Public Library, Chardon, Ohio.

38. A list of marriage license applications from Claridon was used. The applications

are located in the Probate Court Records in a separate volume at the Geauga County

Court, Chardon, Ohio.

Land and Community                                             113

continued into the ¹⁸⁷0s. Several farmers' clubs attracted members

from both areas as well. But other social organizations formed in

Claridon reflected the differences. For instance, there were separate

temperance organizations, and a chapter of the Independent Order of

Odd Fellows formed in 1850 was exclusively an East Claridon group.³⁹

Consequently, while the two groups did cooperate in some institutions,

the separation seems to be an important dynamic in Claridon.

IV. Social Contact and Neighborhood Context

The preceding analysis of geographical and institutional separation is

somewhat limited because the records which preserve these associa-

tions often list only membership, ownership, or tax status and do not

reveal the daily activities of residents. Fortunately, four detailed

personal diaries survive for Claridon which help disclose the nature

and extent of local social networks and reveal the degree of contact

which occurred within and between the sections of Claridon.⁴⁰ Also

fortunately, the diarists who are in their 20s and 30s are socially active.

One, Clinton Goodwin, was a young married farmer, and the other

three-Elnora Spencer, Lectrus Newell, and Mary Taylor-were young

unmarried adults in their early twenties. Their diaries help determine

the nature of Claridon society and whether the differences noted above

merely happened on Sunday at church, at meetings of some voluntary

organizations, or were an important part of community social networks

as the previous discussion implies.

The diaries do have several limitations. First, they are concentrated

in the period from 1855 to 1867 when the community was well formed

and had reached its geographical and population limits. Second,

unfortunately, all of the diarists live in the central and western portions

of Claridon and were either members of the Congregational church or

attended services there. Therefore, only this viewpoint is available to

describe and analyze the social, economic, and spatial context of

Claridon.

The diarists had very busy social lives. Regardless of the time of

year, an extensive system of interaction is evident. Nearly everyday

39. Pioneer History, 411-13; History ofGeauga, 170-72. From 1839 until at least 1860

there was a Mother's Club in Claridon which was made up of Congregationalists

exclusively. In the 1840s the club included eighteen mothers and fifty-two children,

mostly from the Center area. See hand-written history citing the original record book,

Claridon folder, Geauga County Historical Society, Burton, Ohio.

40. Jeanette Grosvenor had copies of all of these in her collections. I wish to thank

Mrs. Virginia Hyde and Mrs. Elnora Zepp for allowing me to use these documents.

114                                                   OHIO HISTORY

someone visited them or they visited others. Typically, every other day

they left their farms. Seldom did they visit East Claridon or "call" on

Methodists. Approximately one-fifth of their trips took them beyond

the township.⁴¹ Chardon, the county seat located several miles to the

northwest, attracted them because of its official role as keeper of

county records, its political meetings, and its businesses which were

more extensive than local ones. Occasionally a special event attracted

their attention, such as the trial Elnora Spencer and her friend and

neighbor, Maria Allen, attended in Chardon on March 9, 1858. Spencer

noted, "we got a good seat in front of the jury & heard Mr. Riddles plea

against Mr. Cole he sat most of the time with his handkerchief over his

eyes."⁴²

Relatives, friends, businesses, and church activities drew them to

the neighboring townships of Huntsburg, Hamden, Burton, Middlefield,

and Munson. Four young members of the Taylor family journeyed to a

Musical Association probably attended by Congregationalists in

Huntsburg on October 28, 1856.⁴³ Mary Taylor, who was twenty-five,

acknowledged her difficulty fitting into the social context because of

her age. She noted that some "young people had gone to Burton this

eve. I do not feel so lonely & sad ... nevertheless it is not very pleasant

to think ones self has grown out of society and is to be left alone Alas

I am so."44 Age was only one reason for her feelings. Another was the

mobility of her contemporaries. While she had remained in Claridon

with her parents, she found few "out of the family that I care to visit

with. My School Mates are all West."⁴⁵

Elnora Spencer was much more positive and active. She recorded a

trip to a nearby natural attraction, Nelson's Ledge, with a group of ten

friends. Most of them were from center street and four were Taylors,

but Emily Ensign, probably a school friend, was part of the group. She

was unusual since she lived in East Claridon. Of the individuals

mentioned and identifiable in these ventures outside Claridon, fewer

than 5 percent were East Claridonites.⁴⁶

41. An analysis of each diary indicates that Clinton Goodwin took 21 percent of his

trips out of the township. The percentages for the other diarists were Lectrus Newell 15

percent, Elnora Spencer 15 percent, and Mary Taylor 10 percent.

42. Elnora Spencer, Diary, March 9, 1858.

43. No entry in any diary which mentions those present at the various extra-township

activities lists Methodists. It could be that they were simply not in the sphere of friends

of the diarists, but this seems unlikely.

44. Mary Taylor, Diary, December 12, 1855.

45. Mary Taylor, Diary, October 2, 1856.

46. Elnora Spencer, Diary, August 25, 1858.

116                                             OHIO HISTORY

times young people visited each other in groups, as Lec Newell did

with four friends in January, 1858.49 A month later Elnora Spencer

recorded an exceptionally large gathering in the afternoon at which her

family entertained "a party of relatives twenty-four to tea."⁵⁰ Of the

several hundred teas listed in the diaries, only two included Method-

ists. Dinner or overnight guests also appeared at least once a week. A

busy but typical round of visits to the Spencers on June 21, 1861,

included a dinner stopover by six couples who lived either along center

street or on west street in the southern portion. Another diarist,

Clinton Goodwin, said he "took supper at [Laroyal Taylor's] with the

rest of the Taylor family" on December 25, 1867.51 Typically, family

and close friends made up the bulk of these exchanges.

Parents and children often had different activities on the same

evening, such as when Newell's parents went to "Deacon Treat's to

party while I was at N. Treat's spending the PM in singing and chatting

etc.^"52 The nature of local neighborhoods is suggested by Elnora's

comments that her brother went "to the meeting at the center. Parents

gone up street" on the evening of March 26, 1858.⁵³

The social life of adults in Claridon can be suggested by Clinton

Goodwin's activities during the third week of October, 1867. All week

he spent his days harvesting corn and potatoes, but his evenings were

filled with relatives and neighbors. On Sunday his young brother-in-law

came to visit him after much of the day was spent at church. On

Wednesday he went to his father-in-law's to eat peaches, and the next

day his father and mother visited him at his farm. Friday "Mrs. Andrus

and 4 neighbors [were] visiting," and on Saturday a friend of his who

lived near the Center came to his farm.⁵⁴ Apparently, adults often went

visiting in groups. Goodwin went with his uncles and their wives to

visit on "street south of Wells" where they stopped at two places.⁵⁵

There is no indication that any of Goodwin's rounds ever included East

Claridon residents.

Elnora and Lectrus did, on occasion, interact socially with East

Claridon people, however. On July 13, 1861, Elnora Spencer went to

the Claridon Center with her father, but later she continued east on the

49. Lectrus Newell, Diary, January 21, 1858.

50. Elnora Spencer, Diary, February 22, 1858.

51. Elnora Spencer, Diary, June 21, 1861; Clinton Goodwin, Diary, December 25,

1867.

52. Lectrus Newell, Diary, January 29, 1858.

53. Elnora Spencer, Diary, March 26, 1858.

54. Clinton Goodwin, Diary, October 14-October 20, 1867.

55. Clinton Goodwin, Diary, January 10, 1867.

118                                             OHIO HISTORY

Claridon. Probably because of this family connection, he attended a

gathering at Wilmot's (a Congregationalist) on center street on March

7, 1858, with J.C. Hathaway (a Methodist).⁵⁷ Apparently, these

"mixed" social gatherings happened occasionally in Claridon, but the

other diarists do not record similar gatherings, and Newell moved

between the groups more easily than others because of his family

connections with both Methodists and Congregationalists.

All diarists were consistently drawn to Claridon Center but rarely to

East Claridon. At the Center the Congregational church and, in the

mid-1850s, an agricultural hall were sites for Sunday services and for

numerous meetings and "select" schools. Clinton Goodwin, who was

a deacon during 1867 and 1868, missed only four Sunday services

during the two years. His younger counterparts were nearly as diligent,

although they were occasionally dissuaded by the weather or sickness.

Mary Taylor attended three times a month during 1855 and 1856, for

instance. She also went to the hall at the Center to donation parties for

the minister and to a musical concert. Lectrus and Elnora attended

singing school, which often attracted Congregationalists from sur-

rounding townships. Perhaps Methodists also attended, but none are

specifically mentioned.

Elnora recorded another social and religious separation in her diary.

She noted on May 19, 1858, that she heard the bell in the Congrega-

tional church toll because two people died.⁵⁸ She attended the funeral

of the deceased Congregationalist but not of the Methodist, a Hathaway

from East Claridon.

Socially, then, the diarists tended to stay among family, friends and

neighbors within Claridon. Economically, they were attracted to East

Claridon for its mills, stores, and meeting rooms. Goodwin "went to E

Claridon and got flour etc for which I owe Mastick 4 and Lukens 2" on

July 12, 1867. A year later he went for a hog.⁵⁹ While he rarely visited

in East Claridon, he did trade there. On the other hand, he went to

Chardon to take hides for tanning and he also went farther afield for

more specialized items such as a carpet or a stove which he found in

Painesville.⁶0 Lec Newell went to East Claridon fairly often because

his uncle, T.W. Ensign, was a hotel keeper there. In fact, J.P. Luken,

a Methodist store owner in East Claridon, asked him to "live in the

57. Lectrus Newell, Diary, March 7, 1858.

58. Elnora Spencer, Diary, May 19, 1858.

59. Clinton Goodwin, Diary, June 22, 1868, July 12, 1868, November 23, 1868.

60. Clinton Goodwin, Diary, December 17, 1867, November 1, 1867.

Land and Community                                           119

store for a year or two." Lec recorded, he "did not give him a definite

reply."⁶¹ Presumably, this job offer shows that the lines between the

two segments of the township were not impenetrable.

Claridon Center also attracted visits for business and craft. Both

Goodwin and Newell went to the center to have wooden items

repaired.⁶² The blacksmiths, milliners, and the social function of the

post office undoubtedly provided time for economic and social trans-

fers. Diarists who often say that they "went to the center" probably

mean they went to pick up mail, "trade," and socialize. They never

report they "went to East Claridon."

The reasons for this are clear. With few exceptions the diarists

remained among family, intimate neighbors, and friends within the

north-south streets of Claridon. They often stayed within their neigh-

borhood. Plotting the distance traveled by the diarists suggests that

most of the time they were in Claridon they stayed within two miles of

their farms. Clinton Goodwin was typical. Goodwin lived north of the

Center on "center street," and was within two miles of both the Center

and East Claridon. He traveled north and south on the center road

almost exclusively when visiting or doing business within the town-

ship, and he sometimes worked for or with neighbors or with his family

who lived within one mile of his farm. When he ventured beyond these

bounds, it was generally to visit family, specifically his father-in-law.

He went weekly to the center to the Congregational church and

biweekly for business. In contrast, he went to East Claridon rarely, and

then to the stores or meeting rooms there rather than to visit.⁶³

Goodwin, then, rarely interacted with Methodists or with anyone along

the state road. He stayed within his neighborhood and within his

religious group almost exclusively. On February 12, 1868, he acknowl-

edged that he was going to another neighborhood when he recorded he

had attended a "meeting on Spencer Street for Young folks." "Spencer

Street" was a Congregationalist neighborhood along the west road

where many members of the Spencer family, including Elnora's family,

lived.⁶⁴

The spatial relationships of the younger diarists confirm these

definitions. Elnora Spencer limited most of her contact to her street,

61. Lectrus Newell, Diary, January 25, 1858.

62. See Clinton Goodwin, Diary, February 11, 1868, and March 3, 1868.

63. Clinton Goodwin, Diary, July 12, 1868, and November 23, 1868.

64. The preceding analysis is the result of mapping all the known individuals and

locations given in the diary, which was possible for approximately 80 percent of the

entries. Similar procedures were followed to determine the spatial relationships of each

of the other diarists.

120                                             OHIO HISTORY

the Center and the road extending north of it. While she did venture

south in the western portion and occasionally a little east, her contacts

within the township were limited. She often left her house in the

company of her suitor, Lec Newell, who lived north of Claridon

Center. She had very little contact with East Claridon even though she

appeared to know residents there. Lec Newell lived on his father's

farm which was just north of Claridon Center and, like Goodwin, had

most of his contacts on the center road. Newell rarely ventured west

unless it was to Elnora's. He often worked with neighbors and relatives

who lived on adjacent farms. He did visit his relatives in East Claridon,

but most of his social life revolved around singing activities and a series

of parties held for his Congregational peers.⁶⁵ The third young adult,

Mary Taylor, had very limited spatial and social contacts. She lived on

Middle street just west of the Center where most of her spatial and

social interaction took place. While she constantly noted that her

parents and siblings visited others, she was reclusive; although she

enjoyed visits by others, she rarely went out herself. During 1856 she

made only fifteen visits, many of which were to family or events

connected with church.⁶⁶ Typical of all diarists, she mentioned only

two interactions with East Claridon residents and did not go to the

hamlet itself.

Therefore, socially, economically, and spatially the four diaries

demonstrate that the division within Claridon township was a vital part

of daily life. They also reveal several overlapping spheres of interac-

tion. The first and smallest sphere includes the farm, intimate family,

and neighborhood which take up much of the daily activities. Second,

a larger sphere used less often was defined by church-related activities

and more extensive family contacts which drew residents farther from

their farms and sometimes into contact with those beyond the town-

ship. An even larger sphere of economic, political and social ties

occasionally involved them with residents from other groups, including

Methodists. One can safely speculate that diaries written by Method-

ists in East Claridon would include these same spheres and include few

contacts with Congregationalists.

V. Conclusion

This analysis of Claridon township has shown that the nature and

parameters of social change as measured by social statistics do not

65. Lectrus Newell, Diary, January 29, 1858, February 26, 1858.

66. She provided the summary information in the diary. See Mary Taylor, Diary,

December 30, 1856.

Land and Community                                      121

always suggest the complexity of social life itself. Despite data which

indicate that a homogeneous, stable community had emerged in

Claridon by the mid-nineteenth century, migratory patterns created

differences in settlement areas and social contacts which in some real

ways divided the township physically and socially. As early as 1840

two groups appeared, and later developments mirrored in the physical

evolution of Claridon Center and East Claridon kept them separate in

some ways. By the 1850s and 1860s, spatial and social interaction

continued to preserve the distinction and even perpetuate it within the

limited spheres of Claridon social life.

The evolution of social contacts and social life on the Trans-

Appalachian frontier suggests that the Yankee heritage, while still

firmly rooted in Protestant Christianity, created separate social and

religious contexts which in part determined the social life of commu-

nities as they matured.