PIONEER LIFE IN ASHTABULA COUNTY
BY JOSEPH A. HOWELLS*
The days of the pioneers are past. We
may move
into and settle a new country -- or a
new part of our
country -- but with the settler or
immediately follow-
ing him, come the telegraph, the
railroad, the printing
office, telephone, electric lights,
water works, churches;
and long before the first child born in
the settlement is
of age, the place is an old town or
city, with all the mod-
ern improvements, comforts and vices.
No matter
where you go now, you will not do as
the pioneers in
the East, or more recently in the West,
did -- there is no
home built of logs green from the
stump, and the house
furnished from the surrounding woods;
often the only
tools being an axe and auger, and it
was a fortunate
pioneer who possessed the latter.
A pioneer in the true sense of the
word, who settled
in Ashtabula County before 1810, told
us that when
he built his log house, he had no
bedstead, but stepped
a few feet from the door of his new
house, cut down
small trees, and with his axe made a
bedstead, cutting
off pieces of the tree with a crotch.
These were used
for the four corner posts. Poles were
laid on these and
bark from the tree stretched from side
to side, and on
this bark -- instead of a woven-wire
mattress, as is used
today -- the bed was laid, and instead
of curled hair,
it was filled with fine twigs and
leaves, and the one
feather bed brought from the eastern
home placed on
the forest-made bedding.
* Written early in the year 1898.
(551)
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The pioneer of today moves to the
"far west," if
such a locality exists. He goes at the
rate of thirty
miles an hour, and with him is his
factory-made furni-
ture, an organ or piano, all the
necessary accessories to
a comfortable home and all the latest
improved farm
implements--from a riding plow to a
reaper and binder.
The settler of today cannot be a
pioneer any more than
could there be a discoverer of new continents.
The men who settled Ohio and the older
western
states, had been educated by early
training for the heroic
and romantic life they were to lead.
That life, no doubt,
was prosaic enough to them as they
toiled and battled
with the forest and what would seem
almost insur-
mountable difficulties; but to us, who
now see it bereft
of its rough and rugged exterior, it
appears a romance.
The heroism of the women of that day is
one to call
forth our unbounded admiration. Many of
them were
reared in the older New England States
where they
were surrounded with all the comforts
to be obtained
at that day. They left home, relatives,
friends, church
and society, and after a tedious
journey, in a rough
wagon, on horseback, or possibly a part
of the time
walking over roads through the woods,
camped where
night overtook them, surrounded with a
forest never
penetrated by a white man, full of real
or imaginary
dangers of Indians or wild animals.
After weeks of
such journeying they arrived at their
Ohio home, and
stopped in the woods until a house
could be cut from
the trees and built, perhaps miles from
a human habita-
tion.
If this would not make the wife and mother
faint at heart, what indeed would? Can
we praise or
honor such womanhood, such heroism, too
much?
Pioneer Life in Ashtabula
County 553
Such were the men and women who, by
inheri-
tance, were fitted to people Ashtabula
County and, al-
though not among its earliest settlers,
yet they were
pioneers to all intents and purposes
when they settled
in Trumbull Township in 1833. The
county had then had
white people living in it for nearly
forty years, but part
of it was as much in a state of nature
as when the first
surveying party landed at Conneaut on
the 4th day of
July, 1796.
With one family of this party, we now
have to do.
The head came of sturdy New England
stock -- almost
from Plymouth Rock, for their home was
in the quaint
town of Truro, Cape Cod. Record of the
family, as
early as 1665, is obtained and followed
down to this
day. The swell of the sea, the beat of
the old ocean and
the rough and broken shores of the
mainland was a good
foundation for character and physical
manhood.
Jonathan Rich, the fifth child and son
of Jonathan
and Thankful Newcomb Rich, was born at
Truro, Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, August 26, 1771.
Soon after his
birth, the father enlisted in the
Revolutionary War and
was one of those who perished in the
memorable cross-
ing of the Delaware River under command
of General
Washington.
This is the brief announcement we read
in the rec-
ords of Truro, a village of less than a
thousand inhab-
itants, but which has been settled more
than two hun-
dred and fifty years, and which has
sent out into the
world more than ten thousand sturdy men
and noble
women to people our land, and to carry,
to every state
of our Union, seed of the Puritan stock
to develop it to
its present proportion.
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Jonathan Rich, Jr., was the second
child of Jona-
than and Ruth Slate Rich, and was one
of nine children.
He was born August 6, 1792, and married
to Anna
Sanders. To them were born two sons,
Horatio G. and
George W.
The next we know of this sturdy New
Englander,
we find him living at Fort Covington,
Franklin County,
New York, in 1812, and not far from the
Canada line.
Militia companies were organized all
along the borders
to repel invasions of the enemy from
either side; and
at the age of 20, young Rich was
enrolled in the New
York Militia, Captain David Erwin in
command. As
no invasion was attempted, the members
of the company
were allowed to go to their homes
subject to call. In
March, 1813, the company was called out
and stationed
near the Canada line some miles east of
his home. The
British were holding a position near
Huntington in
Lower Canada -- now the Province of
Quebec.
Capt. Erwin learned from a deserter
that the British
force at Huntington consisted of only
about forty men.
He determined to capture them. At 12
o'clock on the
morning of March 15, 1813, Captain
Erwin with about
100 men took up his line of march. An
hour later they
were upon the enemy. So quietly had the
approach been
made that the Yankees were past the
main guard of the
British before they were discovered.
When the alarm
was given our men were at the British
headquarters.
A brisk fire began on the Americans
both from front
and rear -- the guards they had passed,
having been
aroused, soon began to fire on our men.
Captain Erwin,
thus finding himself attacked in front
and rear, thinking
discretion the better part of valor,
ordered a retreat.
Pioneer Life in Ashtabula
County 555
The British had formed a line across
the road, and in
order to escape, our line was broken
and the men took
to the woods on each side of the
enemy's line, and every
man of them ran for himself. Mr. Rich,
who was mak-
ing his way through the woods, felt a
bruise and thought
he had struck his knee against a stump.
Although the
hurt caused him much pain he was able
to walk back
four miles to the camp. The wound was
so painful that
the surgeon examined it and found that
in the skirmish
or retreat he had been struck with a
musket ball just
above the knee pan. This wound made him
lame for
life. The result of the foray was two
killed and five or
six wounded.
This wound did not lessen his ardor or
cool his pa-
triotism, for in September, 1814, when
he heard the
Americans were in danger at Plattsburg,
he shouldered
his musket and tramped the intervening
sixty miles in
three days, and arrived just in time to
see the British
retreating and the Stars and Stripes
waving in triumph.
He then wearily retraced his steps to
his home and that
ended his military career.
On the 26th of January, 1833, Mr. Rich,
with his
wife and two sons, started for the
"Ohio Country,"
which was then considered in the far
West. It was a
romantic episode, and required both
moral and physical
courage in the father and mother to
undertake it. There
were no swift-moving, comfortable cars
to transport the
movers in those days. Nothing but slow
and tedious
travel by sled or wagon, drawn by
horses or oxen. In
this case the family started on a sled,
through the snow,
for their long journey. The cash in
hand was just $30,
which was the entire amount of Mr.
Rich's riches, aside
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
from his wife, boys and a few household
goods. When
they reached Big Sodus Bay, New York,
the snow gave
out and the sled was traded for a
wagon, the difference
in the supposed values was a gun and a
small amount of
money.
The journey was continued and in due
time they
arrived in Monroe Township, Ashtabula
County. Here
they tarried for the summer and raised
a crop of corn.
After the crop was in, Mr. Rich and his
oldest son,
Horatio G., went to Painesville to cut
wood, leaving
George W., then about thirteen, at home
to do the farm-
ing. In the fall Mr. Rich moved into
the woods in
Pierpont Township and built a log
cabin. By spring
they had cleared off several acres,
which was planted in
corn. After living in Pierpont Township
about two
years, Mr. Rich sold his place and
bought 100 acres in
Trumbull Township, south of the Center
-- agreeing to
pay $400 for it.
This was in 1836. The township was
almost a solid
forest -- indeed you could travel for
miles in some dis-
tricts without seeing a house or
clearing.
During the fall Mr. Rich had built a
cabin on his
purchase. In early winter he moved from Pierpont
Township to his new home, arriving in
Trumbull Town-
ship in the evening. He had sent his
two sons on to the
cabin, telling them that they must
follow the trail; that
if they left it to the right or left
they would only find a
dense forest, and that to leave the
trail meant to lie in
the woods all night.
Among other characteristics possessed
by Mr. Rich,
and he had several eccentricities, one
was that if he set
out to do a certain job, which he
thought ought to be
Pioneer Life in Ashtabula County 557
done in one day, there was nothing to
be done but finish
that job. On this day he set out with
the determination
to reach his cabin that night. He
arrived at East Trum-
bull in the evening and was at the end
of any visible
road. There was about an inch of snow
on the ground,
and it was three miles to the cabin. At
last Seymour
Brown volunteered to carry the few
household goods
and Mrs. Rich to their wilderness home.
They were
soon loaded upon an ox sled, for a
wagon could not be
taken through the woods and they began
their tedious
night ride. Taking the trail up the
north bank of Trum-
bull Creek, Mr. Rich went ahead and cut
down small
trees and brush which stood in the way.
After a most
laborious journey of five or six hours,
at one o'clock in
the morning, they saw a light ahead, in
the cabin, where
the boys had a rousing big fire.
What a scene presented itself to that
weary family
on their awakening in their forest
home. The almost
impenetrable forest on every side; the
ground covered
with snow; not a single comfort, now to
be found in
every home, with the exception of a
fire. What resolute
hearts it must have required not to
break down under
such surroundings. But the man who came
to conquer
the forest and hew out of its depths a
home for himself
and family was equal to the task.
Without a horse or
ox, he and his boys set to work, and
with their strength
and willing hands and sharp axes, they
chopped down
the trees and cleared them from twelve
acres of land.
Then without a plow, for even if they
had possessed a
plow, it could not have been used among
the stumps, they
hoed the ground over and put in wheat and
corn, which
yielded bountiful crops.
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The ground selected was quite rolling,
and taking
advantage of the hillsides, Mr. Rich
and his two boys
were able to clear off a large amount
without either
horse or ox. The logs were rolled into
piles and there
burned. The ashes were scraped up,
leached, and the
lye, thus obtained, boiled down to
black salts and sent
by wagon to Pittsburg. Black salts was
about the only
article which always brought cash, and the
cash was
necessary to pay taxes and to pay for
the land.
It was all hard work in those days.
Men, women
and children were mostly in the open
air and were
healthy -- indeed, even when they were
in the house,
there was no lack of fresh air, for
besides the great
chimney at the end of the cabin there
were plenty of
air holes under the door, between the
logs and under
the eaves of the house and divers
places. There was no
lack of ventilation.
It was pretty much all work and little
play. Holi-
days were few and far between.
Christmas was not
then the social day it is now. New
Years was rather
more of a holiday. Easter was not
observed. There
was no Memorial Sunday, no Decoration
Day. Fourth
of July was made more of in proportion
to the inhab-
itants than it is now -- it was nearer
its source.
Thanksgiving was not generally observed
nor pro-
claimed, as now, by the governor.
But with all these omissions there were
many social
gatherings. The young people attended
raisings, husk-
ings, logging bees, quiltings, etc.,
and the older ones
made social visits for the afternoon,
staying to supper
and spending the evening. Sometimes
there would be
a grand hunt. Two hunters would
"choose sides," and
Pioneer Life in Ashtabula
County 559
all the good hunters for miles around
would gather on
a given day, scour the woods and return
at night with
the trophies of the chase in the form
of deer, wild tur-
keys, scalps of squirrels, etc. The
losing side paid for
the supper. These gatherings lightened
the humdrum
life of the pioneer and his family.
Then during the
winter, the long evenings would be made
short by spell-
ing matches, singing schools or
debating societies.
Thus the winters would pass. Sometimes
the father
or an older brother in the family would
start in the fall
and walk to his old home in Connecticut
or Massachu-
setts, or one of the other Eastern
States -- but these
pilgrimages were not frequent, for
although the abso-
lute cash outlay was comparatively
little, even that little
was very hard to get and was needed for
taxes or pay-
ment on the land.
The wants of the people were few and
mostly sup-
plied from the woods or fields. The
housewife of these
better days has but small conception of
what straits her
mother of sixty or seventy-five years
ago was put to in
the way of cooking for the family. All
cooking was
done on the open fire; the bread was baked
in a deep
iron spider -- called a Dutch oven --
or an iron kettle,
set in front of the fire and heaped
with hot coals from
the burning fire. There was no
compressed yeast, bak-
ing powder or anything of that kind,
and the bread was
salt-rising, milk rising, or home made
yeast. Sometimes,
in order to make biscuits, corn-cobs
would be burned in
a kettle and the ash used the same as
saleratus, a great
quantity being required.
The first apple-trees planted on
Jonathan Rich's
farm were started from the seed in a
box, planted by
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
his son, George, who watched their
growth until they
were large enough to be transplanted
and then they had
to be guarded against the cattle,
rabbits and other dan-
gers -- all going to show the slow and
patient ways
which had to be followed by the
pioneer. One of the
pathetic features, which marks these
early trials, are
the old apple-trees still standing, the
only monuments to
mark the forest home, long after the hands
which
planted them have been laid across the
breast of the boy-
man in his everlasting sleep.
Jonathan Rich was soon well known. His
sterling
character and somewhat eccentric manner
marked him
as more than the ordinary man. He was
absolutely hon-
est. His word was his note, for he
would give no other.
If he owed a man money, grain or labor,
it would be paid
to the last cent or grain. If he
borrowed grain or meat,
as was often done, he always returned
more than he
received -- it was said that his
measures were always
heaped and his pounds weighed seventeen
ounces. In
those days when a farmer killed a beef,
sheep, or hog, it
was the rule to send a piece to the
neighbors. Uncle
"Jock" rigidly followed this
neighborly rule, but it was
a noticeable fact that the large pieces
went to families
who were in poor circumstances and
generally where
there was small prospect of a return of
the compliment.
After living a number of years on the
farm first
settled upon in Trumbull Township, he
bought fifty acres
just west of the Center, and began
again to clear a farm
from the woods. While constructing the
house on this
farm he went to Fairport for lime. On
his return he
was thrown from his wagon, and so
injured that he died
shortly afterwards. Thus ends the life
of one of "Na-
ture's Noblemen." He was a man who
valued truth
Pioneer Life in Ashtabula County 561
above all else. If he made a statement,
it was to be relied
upon in the fullest sense, and he was
equally honest in
all respects -- but that goes without
saying, for a truth-
ful man is always honest.
His sons, Horatio G. and George W.,
were, while
differing from their father in many
respects, worthy
examples of men grown up under good
influences al-
though surrounded with few of the
privileges now en-
joyed by almost everyone in the
country.
Horatio, in his later youth and early
manhood,
taught school during the winter. When
married he be-
gan farming and, being of a business
turn, soon added
acre to acre until he had a big farm.
In 1855, he entered
into the mercantile business and was
quite successful,
having excellent stores both in
Trumbull and Montville,
and did the largest country trade of
any merchant in
either Ashtabula or Geauga County.
During the twenty
years he was in the mercantile business
he was town-
ship clerk or township treasurer most
of the time. He
was postmaster at Trumbull Center from
February 22,
1855 to January 19, 1857, and from May
19, 1862 to
September 27, 1875. He was born at Fort
Covington,
New York, January 6, 1819, and died in
Trumbull, Feb-
ruary 14, 1889.
George W. Rich, the second son, was
born at Fort
Covington, New York, April 29, 1821,
and before he
was of age, established the first store
in Trumbull
Township, Ashtabula County, and was
postmaster from
August 4, 1848 to January 3, 1854.
While he was post-
master, Platt R. Spencer, the author of
the world-
renowned "Spencerian
Penmanship," was a county tax
collector, and when in Trumbull would
stop with
Vol. XXXVI--36.
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Mr. Rich. By way of pastime while
there, he would
make out way-bills which always
accompanied the let-
ters, and would also write the wrappers
in which the
packages of letters were tied up. The
display of his
wonderful art in chirography attracted
attention in all
the offices through which they passed.
In the earlier days of his business,
Mr. Rich bought
all of his goods in Cleveland, which is
fifty miles to the
west of Trumbull. There being no
railroad at that time,
his plan was to take a couple of teams
and load them
with cheese, maple sugar and other
articles taken in ex-
change for goods, and drive to
Cleveland, and then sell
his products or exchange them for
groceries, dry goods,
nails, glass and such commodities as
his trade de-
manded.
In 1853, he sold his store, resigned as
postmaster,
and bought a fifty-acre farm just east
of the Center,
began dairying, and added to this farm
until the
business was too big to be done at home
by the family.
He then, in company with his brother,
Horatio G., and
A. M. Proctor, Azro Sinkler, A. H.
Dodge, James Mas-
singham, Frank Cook and Ansel Woodruff,
built the
first cheese factory in that part of
Ohio. For many
years he was the salesman and treasurer
for the factory.
In 1880, he sold his farm and moved to
the Center
where he resided until his death, which
took place in
Trumbull, July 8, 1889. The two sons
are buried by the
side of their father in the country
cemetery not far from
where they spent almost the whole of
their useful lives.
Over the grave of George is erected a
Quincy granite
monument -- the exact counterpart of
that on the grave
of the late Senator B. F. Wade, in the
village cemetery
at Jefferson.