FLORENCE TWP., ERIE COUNTY, OHIO

  The following three "memoirs" were 
   published in the FIRELANDS PIONEER: 
MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - FLORENCE 
 by Joab Squire.  November 1859, page 15
MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - FLORENCE
 by Eldad Barber.  November 1859, page 19
MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - BIRMINGHAM [FLORENCE TWP.]
 by Uriah Hawley.  Sept. 1861, page 23

    MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - FLORENCE.
           BY JOAB SQUIRE.
[note: Edw.A.Reising and family are the only
 descendants of Joab still in the Florence area,1998.]

   I arrived here on the 15th day of July, 1815.  I came 
from Mill River (now called Southport) by water to 
Albany; by land to Schenectady; thence up the Mohawk to 
Rome; thence across by canal to Wood Creek into Oneida 
Lake; thence up Seneca River to the Falls; thence by land to 
Buffalo; from there by water to the mouth of Vermillion 
river; from there to lot twenty-nine in this township, where I 
have remained to this day.  I was about two months on the 
passage.  My family consisted of myself and wife and nine 
children, the oldest fourteen years of age.  My expenses for 
the whole route were $225.  When I arrived, there were six 
families in this town, which was then called Jessup after one 
of the landholders.  For some frivolous reason the 
inhabitants got an antipathy against the landholders, and so 
they all met together and changed the name to Florence.  
The land is generally rolling; heavily timbered with oak, 
whitewood, basswood, ash, beech, maple, cherry, and 
walnut, in fact it was called the heaviest timbered township 
on the Firelands.  The soil is sandy loam, in places heavy 
clay, with hardpan underneath.  Freestone quarries are 
plenty; boulders more or less scattered over the whole 
country.
   The Vermillion River is the principal stream.  It takes its 
rise in a little lake called Vermillion, in Ashland County. 
Whether the lake takes its name from the river, or the river 
from the lake, I am unable to say.  It is the opinion of some 
that the stream takes its name from the red clay found along 
its banks. Its general course is north, and empties into Lake 
Erie in Vermillion township.  The Chappelle Creek runs 
through this township.  It takes its name from a Frenchman 
by the name of De La Chappelle, who discovered and 
explored it to its head long before the country was settled.  
It rises in Townsend township, runs nearly north and empties 
into Lake Erie about four miles above the mouth of the 
Vermillion. The animals found here were deer, bear, 
wolves, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, woodchucks, and 
rattlesnakes in plenty.  I believe there have been no Indian 
mounds discovered in this town, but arrow heads and stone 
hatchets were frequently found in early times.
   Ezra Sprague was the first actual settler. He arrived here 
in the Spring of 1811. In the fall of the same year, John 
Brooks Sr., and his son John Brooks Jr., Elias Barnum, 
Charles Betts, and Joseph Parsons came in. The Brooks' and 
Sprague came from York State, Barnum and Betts from Connecticut.
    Sprague settled on Lot 38.  He there built the first log 
house, and also the first framed house and barn in the town, 
and died in the winter of 1856.
   The first child born was Caroline Sprague, (now Mrs. 
Merry, of Sandusky City,) if I remember right.
   The first marriage was between my daughter Adaline and 
John Brooks, Jr., by Nathan Smith, first clergyman in the 
town. The woman is still living one-half mile south of 
Florence four-corners; descendants nearly all in this town.
   First person died was Judge Meeker's mother, and was 
buried on the banks of the Chappelle, near Florence corners.  
She was from Connecticut.
   The first factory was a carding machine, built on 
Vermillion river, at a place now called Terryville, by 
Hawley.
   The first settlers went to Cleveland for their grinding.  
The first mill was built on the Chappelle Creek, by Almond 
Ruggles, in 1813.  (Afterwards owned by Harley Mason.)  
Whenever there was a dry time, however, we were obliged 
to go to Cold Creek, and give one-half the grist for carrying 
it to mill.
   The first store was kept by Ferris & Wood.  Soon after or 
about the same time, Cyrus and Erastus Butler set up at 
Birmingham, then called Mecca.
   The town was organized about 1817. The first magistrate 
was Ezra Sprague. Trustees - John Brooks, Sen., Isaac 
Furman, and Elias Barnum; Clerk - myself. The first election 
was held in the log schoolhouse, (the first one built in the 
township,) near the residence of John Brooks, Sen., on lot 
37.  The number of voters present was about seventeen.
    The first Post Office was at Florence Corners, in Eli 
Barnum's house, and Barnum was the first Post Master.  The 
first mail route was from Cleveland to the old county seat on 
Huron River, through Florence Corners.   The first road 
opened was what is, or was, called the Reed Road, 
commencing at the lake and running south, between 
Florence and Berlin, (then called Eldredge.)
   The first public house kept was by Wolverton, at Florence 
Corners.  J. Baker afterwards bought him out, and kept 
tavern many years, and still lives near the same locality.  
Wolverton, besides keeping tavern, also started the first 
blacksmith shop, which will perhaps bear a short description 
here.  He first cut down a small tree by the side of the road, 
and set his anvil on the stump, and then set his bellows up 
between two trees, and was ready to accommodate travelers 
on the shortest notice. His shop extended all around without 
limit. One day, a traveler coming from the east, lost a shoe 
off his horse, and enquired of the first man he met, how far 
it was to the next blacksmith shop.  "Why!" says the man, 
"you are in his shop now, but it is three miles to his anvil!"
   George G. Baker,(now of Norwalk, Huron County), was 
the first physician.   George Brooks planted the first orchard 
in town, on my lot - No. 29.  The trees were planted in 1812, 
and some of them are still living.  The first school house, as 
above mentioned, was built on John Brooks' land, about one 
mile south of Florence Corners.  It was afterwards taken 
down,  and moved across the road, and a few rods farther 
south.  The first teacher was my daughter, Ruth Squire. The 
school was supported by private subscription.
   The first circuit preacher in town was William Waslick, 
Methodist.
   John Brooks, Sen., and Lambert Shafer, were 
Revolutionary soldiers and pensioners. John Brooks enlisted 
in the early part of the war, and served all through the 
struggle.  He was in several important battles; among others, 
those of White Plains and Monmouth.  He was twice 
wounded.  He died at the age of 91.
   The first specie currency that we had was cut money.  
They would take a silver dollar and cut it into ten or twelve 
pieces, (instead of eight,) and pass them for shillings. The 
first paper currency was Owl Creek Bank notes, of the 
denominations of six and one-fourth, twelve and one-half, 
thirty-seven and one-half, and fifty cents.  This bank was a 
private enterprise, and quashed in a short time, and was a 
total loss to the bill holders.  In those days salt was worth 
$10 per barrel.  About two or three years after I came in, I 
went to Sandusky with 200 pounds of maple sugar, and got 
two barrels of salt for it, and thought I did well. It took me 
three days.  Common factory cloth was worth fifty cents per 
yard. Home-made woolen was worth four dollars. Tea, two 
dollars and fifty cents per pound, and everything we had to 
buy in about the same proportion.  Pork was worth twenty 
dollars per barrel; flour, sixteen dollars. Shortly after 
I came in, I went to Huron, paid twenty-five cents per pound 
for twenty-five pounds of pork, and brought it home on my back.    
   You said you wanted particulars of our first living here.  
I am not one of those who are afraid to look back more than 
one generation, for fear of running against something they 
are ashamed of.  On the contrary, I look upon our patience 
and endurance here as all honor rather than a reproach.  And 
whenever I meet with any of the old settlers, I honor and 
respect them.  And I can safely say that the ten years that I 
lived in a log house, was the happiest period of my life.  For 
we all lived alike, and were more friendly than we have ever 
been since.  If one had provisions and the rest were out, it 
was divided up as long as it lasted.  If one was sick, they 
had the care and sympathy of all the rest.  For we had all 
suffered affliction and learned mercy.  The most of us came 
into the country very well clothed, but after we had been 
here two or three years, the value of all the clothing in town 
would hardly furnish one modern lady's wardrobe.
   The murrain destroyed nearly all our cattle, and teams 
were scarce; so we used to have logging bees, and join all 
our forces together to roll logs. Had you seen us returning 
from one of these gatherings, you would have thought of us 
as old Falstaff said of his soldiers: "We look like a company 
of tattered prodigals lately come from swine feeding."  No 
eye had seen such scare-crows.
   But our hearts were right.  We had a singleness of 
purpose.  That was, to clear away the forest and make a 
home for our families.  And by hope, patience, resolution, 
and a strong faith in Divine Providence, "the sheet anchor of 
life", the most of us in this neighborhood succeeded.
   When we first came here we were destitute of nearly all of 
the conveniences of life, and many of the necessaries.  
Among other conveniences what we left behind, was the 
cradle.  And in raising a family, I might perhaps safely place 
this among the necessaries of life.  Well, we had the baby 
(the late Charles B. Squire,) but no cradle; and this was not 
the least among the many trials of the wife.  The deficiency 
was finally supplied, however, by a lucky tho't of hers.  On 
coming in from work one day, I was not a little amused to 
see the youngster snugly tucked up in a sap trough, which 
she had brought from the sugar camp near at hand.  That 
was the way we rocked our first child in the wilderness.  In 
fact, our every day experience proved the old proverb that 
"Necessity is the mother of invention."
   After the clothes we brought with us were worn out, we 
depended almost entirely on buckskin for clothes.  And 
when properly tanned, it was not a bad substitute.  In fact, a 
new suit of buckskin was thought good enough for the best.  
There were, however, some inconveniences attending them; 
pants made of the best were materially affected by wet 
weather, and were apt to elongate marvelously.  When 
working in the wet with them, we were obliged to keep 
rolling them up at the bottom during the day, to keep them 
from under our feet; and at night, on going to bed, we would 
unroll them and hang them up before the fire to dry; and 
marvelous as was their length the night before, their 
shortness was equally astonishing in the morning, and it 
required a good deal of skill and experience to get them on, 
or bend in them after they were on.
   It was some time before we had any horses here, and still 
longer before we had any saddles to put on them.  And I 
presume I am not the only one who remembers when our 
worthy townsman, Judge Sprague, was on the bench, he 
rode to court with a blanket doubled-up for a saddle, and 
strips of basswood bark for circingle and stirrups.


MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - FLORENCE
 by ELDAD BARBER 

  The tract of land now constituting the township of 
Florence, together with Vermillion and Wakeman, were 
first purchased by Isaac Bronson, Ebenezer Jessup and 
Jessup Wakeman, all residents of the State of 
Connecticut.
  This township was first named Jessup, from the name of 
one of the proprietors; this name was retained until the 
year 18__ when the present name was adopted by a vote of 
the residents.
  The proprietors employed Jabez Wright to survey the 
township into lots, which survey was made in March, 1809. 
The territory had been surveyed into townships and 
sections one or two years before. They also contracted 
with Almon Ruggles and his brother, to erect a mill in 
the township, for the encouragement and accommodation of 
the settlers.
  The surface of this township is rolling. The soil clay, 
with a considerable mixture of sand. The timber: white 
oak, whitewood, hickory, beech and maple. Quarries of 
sandstone have been opened in various places in the 
township.  The principal streams are the Vermillion, in 
the East part of the township, and the La Chappelle in 
the West.
  The first family that settled in this township was that 
of Ezra Sprague, who with his wife and one child, came 
from Grand River to the mouth of the Huron, by water, in 
May, 1809, and thence through an unbroken wilderness to 
this place, on which he located, and on which he resided 
until his death.
  Mr. Sprague was from Berkshire County, Mass., and his 
wife a native of Hartford County, Conn. They are both 
deceased, Mrs. Sprague in 1853, and Mr. Sprague in 1856. 
Their daughter Caroline, now the wife of Henry F. Merry, 
of Sandusky, was the first white person born in the 
township.
  In July, 1809, Rufus Judson and his family, and Eli S. 
Bronson, with his sister Rachel; also, Charles Betts and 
Joseph Parsons, arrived in the township. In the Spring of 
this year a road had been opened from Rocky River to 
Huron, on the take Shore, and their families came on by 
land. They were from Danbury, Connecticut. In the 
following year, 1810, three families were added to their 
number, viz.: John Brooks Sen., Joseph Sears and John 
Wilson, with their families; and in 1811, George Brooks 
with his family, and Lorin Clark with his mother and her 
family came in. No additional families came into the 
township until the close of the war in 1815. This was a 
period of constant anxiety and alarm to the settlers, as 
in their secluded and defenseless state, they felt 
themselves at the mercy of any wandering band of Indians, 
who might choose to fall upon them.
  In the course of the Summer of 1809, Mr. Ruggles and 
his brother, in fulfillment of their contract with the 
Proprietors, were employed in erecting a mill on the 
Vermillion River, near the South line of the township. 
This mill was so far advanced that the same was put in 
operation, when a sudden freshet swept the dam, mill and 
all before it. This was a serious event to the settlers, 
as they could obtain no grinding short of Cleveland. 
During the Summer of 1810, a saw mill was erected by Eli 
S. Barnum on Chapelle Creek, since known as *** Mill. The 
object of the proprietors was subsequently effected by 
the same persons, who in 1811 and 1812 erected a mill on 
Chapelle Creek, near the north line of the township, 
since known as Mason's Mill. The Winter and Spring of 
1809-10 was a period of severe privations to the first 
settlers. No provisions could be obtained nearer than 
Cleveland. They arrived too late in the Spring to raise 
any, with the exception of the first family, who raised a 
small quantity of corn and potatoes. But for this, they 
must all have suffered severely for provisions the first 
winter. Grated corn and potatoes constituted the 
principal food in the settlement for several months.
  On the declaration of war, the settlers, as well they 
might be, were filled with apprehensions for their 
safety, and the slightest report of the approach of an 
Indian, filled the whole settlement with dismay.
  On one occasion they had deliberated on the subject of 
assembling in one house, and fortifying it as well as 
they could, and keeping so near, that in case of an 
attack by the Indians, they could retire into it for 
defense. They had a block-house which was selected for 
this purpose; but some of their number were not 
altogether in favor of this measure. A circumstance, 
however, occurred soon, that satisfied the most reluctant 
of the propriety of such a measure. One of their number 
was removing his family to this house near the close of 
day, and had given his gun to a young man with directions 
to go a little ahead and keep a good look-out for Indians 
while he came on with his team and family. They had 
approached within half a mile of their fortress, when the 
report of a gun was heard, and the young man came running 
back with a bullet hole through his coat, declaring that 
he saw two Indians cross the road, one of whom shot at 
him. All were now satisfied that an attack must he 
expected that night, and hastily assembled in their 
block-house, and the best means of defense in their power 
resorted to. The doors were barricaded, the women and 
children sent into the chamber. Those who had guns stood 
ready to discharge them upon the first assailants, and 
others with clubs or pitchforks stood ready for the 
deadly encounter. In the course of the night the alarm 
was given by those in the chamber, of the approach of the 
Indians, with firebrands swinging in their hands. This 
was a mode of attack for which they were poorly prepared. 
A small shanty stood near the house, and it was manifest 
that their enemies intended to set it on fire, which 
would unavoidably communicate it to the house in which 
they had taken refuge, and compel them to come out and 
fight without shelter, or perish in the flames. This 
design was manifest, as their course could be traced by 
the appearance of the brands moving in that direction 
instead of directly approaching the house.
  The feelings of hope and fear alternately taking 
possession of the breasts of those assembled in that 
house this night, can be better imagined than described. 
It is often said by those who have mingled in the 
confused din and roar of the battle-field, that the most 
trying moment is just before the onset commences. The 
peculiar anxiety of this moment must have been greatly 
prolonged with this band during that memorable night. The 
morning dawned however, without any molestation from the 
Indians; and as the individual who gave the alarm, and 
whose coat had been pierced with a bullet the evening 
before, was the only one in that house who showed any 
disposition to sleep that night, strong suspicion fell on 
him that he had given a false alarm; that he discharged 
the gun himself; and made the hole in his coat to 
strengthen his report. --This suspicion was the more 
confirmed on going to the place where the Indians were 
seen carrying the fire, and discovering no tracks on the 
plowed ground; but satisfactory evidences that the wind 
by blowing the sparks and cinders from a some log-heaps 
that were burning there, had given to their excited 
imagination the appearance of Indians carrying fire-
brands.
  During the war, it does not appear that any school, or 
any stated meetings for public worship were held in the 
township, and little improvement was made in the 
settlement in any respect
  The township, according to its present limits, was 
organized in April, 1817, and the first election for 
township officers was held on the 7th of the same month. 
Previous to this date a considerable extent of territory 
was included in the bounds of the township, extending to 
the mouth of Black River on the East, and how far South 
and West, is not well ascertained.
  The only religious meetings in the township for several 
years, were attended at the house of Mr. Barnum, whenever 
a Missionary passed through this part of the country. In 
1817 the first church or society of the Congregational 
order was organized by a Missionary by the name of 
Loomis. The meeting was held at the house of Eli S. 
Barnum, and included members residing in the townships of 
Vermillion, Florence, Wakeman and Clarksfield.
  A Baptist Church was organized in 1818 at the house of 
Luther Norris, by John Rigdon, an Elder from Richland 
County, and their meetings were held alternately at this 
place and at Florence Corners.
  The Methodist Society held meetings at the School House 
one mile south of the Corners, as early as 1816 or 1817, 
and have sustained a class most, if not all the time 
since.  

MEMOIRS OF TOWNSHIPS - BIRMINGHAM 
[FLORENCE TWP. ERIE COUNTY, OHIO ] 
by Uriah Hawley 
[from the FIRELANDS PIONEER, Sept. 1861 ] 

  The writer, U. Hawley, was born in Darby, New Haven Co., 
Conn., July 30th, 1787. My father moved from there in 
July, 1797, to New Milford, then in Lucerne, now in 
Susquehannah Co., Pa., where I married Polly Ward, from 
Roxbury, Conn. I moved from there to Florence, Huron Co., 
O., June 4th, 1816, upon lots Nos. 86 and 85, into what is 
now called Birmingham - the first settler. My nearest 
neighbors were at Florence Corners, three miles west, and 
at Webb's Corners, five miles east. I kept tavern for 
several years.
  My wife died Sept. 18th, 1818. We buried three children 
(sons) in Pennsylvania,
  I was married the second time to Betsey Crocker, of 
Dover, 0., Dec. 5th, 1819; we had born to us eight 
children; three daughters and two sons are alive at this 
date, 1860.
  In 1823, I commenced partnership with Charles 
Whittlesey; bought an addition to my farm of forty acres, 
built a saw mill and set up cloth dressing and carding. 
April 3rd, 1827, we took in Silas Wood as a partner. In 
the Spring of 1832, we dissolved partnership - Charles 
Whittlesey and Silas Wood sold to Jonathan Ward and 
Steadman, and U. Hawley to Daniel Wand. In 1833 I moved to 
Brownhelm, on the first farm east of Judge Brown's on the 
lake shore. On January 1st, 1846, I moved to Oberlin My 
wife, Betsey, died October 23d, 1854. I was married to 
Sophia Baldwin, widow of Daniel T. Baldwin, and daughter 
of John S. Keid of Black River, January 21st, 1855.
  I am now committing this to writing, November, 1860.
  I now come to give a few incidents of the first 
settlement of Birmingham. A. M. Anderson, of Ridgeville, 
on returning home from Columbus, where he had been to move 
his son, would not be persuaded to stay over night with 
me. He said he would go a little way east of the river, 
take off his oxen and lie in his wagon.
  In the night his oxen came back, and we stopped them. In 
the morning we looked for the man, but could not find him. 
We sent word to Florence Corners and they turned out to a 
man[hunt?], and in two or three hours we found him beside 
the river - dead, where he had fallen forty feet from the 
bank on a rock. He had been subject to turns of 
despondency, and had been heard to say that he would 
sometime make way with himself. This was in July, 1816.
  In 1817 or '18, one Mr. Chamberlin, in attempting to 
ford or swim the river, was separated from his horse and 
never found.
  Capt. James Pike, while with his brothers and myself, 
cutting timber for building the bridge across the river, 
was killed by the falling of a tree, and buried Dec. 20th, 
1820.
  Nathaniel Hine was drowned in my mill pond by swimming 
his horse across, I think in July, 1830.
  In the first year of my settlement, the Indians would 
return from their reserved lands in the counties west, 
with their ponies loaded down with venison, skins, furs, 
and pappooses.
  In that early time the wild animals troubled and vexed 
us some. One evening we heard a wolf making his moans at a 
little distance from the house. The next morning my 
yearling calf came home with his hams eaten out, so that 
we were surprised that he was able to walk at all. At 
another time, while I was holding my child, which was 
crying, and my wife was milking, there came a small bear 
within two or three rods of me. Whether it wanted company 
or game I know not. At three different times we turned out 
by scores and had good times in killing game.
  James C. Neal, boarding with me, came in one evening at 
dusk, with great haste, and said that there was a deer, or 
bear, or something else, in the cat swamp west of the 
house. He caught his rifle and ran out and fired away, and 
then came in and loaded again. He said, "She has got it 
now." I went out with him, and we found the track of 
Jerrod Starr's cow and followed her home. She died the 
next day. He delivered over his rifle and fiddle and gave 
us leg bail.
  In 1817 I dug a well in front of my house, on the farm 
now owned by Mr. Bristol, and found first-rate water. 
While digging a hole to get up the old fashioned well 
crotch, I found, about four feet under ground, a large 
human skull, perfectly sound; white and clean, with all 
the teeth in; and an infant skull by the side of it. I 
found, also, the arm bones, which were decayed near the 
joints.
  Jan. 1st, 1827, Jacob Ennes, James Ennes and Philip 
Andrews hunted three days, and killed and brought in 
twenty-seven deer.
  The first religious meeting was held in Birmingham by 
Dr. A. H. Betts, in 1817. Having been called for medical 
aid he was invited to lead in worship. He prayed and read 
a sermon, and we sung. The number in attendance was three 
- Dr. Betts, U. Hawley and wife. He agreed to hold another 
meeting in two weeks, but desired us to say nothing about 
it; but somehow it leaked out, and the next meeting was 
composed of a larger number. And he continued to hold 
meetings until he was urged by Mr. Hanford and others to 
study Theology. He complied and studied seven months. He 
then quit the practice of his profession as a physician, 
and commenced preaching, which he continued with entire 
acceptance till the infirmities of age prevented. He died 
in Brownhelm, where he first settled as a preacher, Sept. 
8th, 1860.
  The first Congregational Church was formed in Florence 
Jan. 7th, 1832. The names are on the church book, twenty 
in number. I recollect some of them: Chas. Whittlesey and 
wife, Simeon Crane and wife, John Phelps and wife, Mrs. 
Barnum, Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Olds, U. Hawley, &c.
  A burying ground was selected by U. Hawley, where he 
first settled, forty rods south of his house, where he 
buried his wife, Sept. 18th, 1818 Wm. Starr's wife, I 
believe, was buried next. Ten or fifteen were buried 
there; but as there was no public highway running by it, 
we selected the present burying ground and removed the 
dead in 1825 or '26. Hiram Starr has in his keeping the 
deed, plot, and all the writings, in which it is called 
Birmingham Cemetery.
  The first school-house was built in the vicinity of 
Birmingham, half a mile west of the river, by U. Hawley. 
The amount to be expended in erecting it was fixed upon 
and divided into shares, each one taking as many as he 
could afford: so that it was owned as individual property. 
Rhoda Root was the first teacher. Dr. H. became 
dissatisfied with her because she opened her school with 
prayer. A school meeting was held, and it was shortly 
decided that she might take her own way. In a few years 
they wanted a school-house in the village, and accordingly 
built one. The owners of shares in the old house sold them 
to Dr. K., and this building, with another story added, is 
now occupied as a dwelling, east of the Birmingham 
Cemetery, where it was moved.
  The first bridge across Vermillion river, in Birmingham, 
was built in 1820. The Commissioners of Huron Co. gave 150 
or 200 dollars and the inhabitants gave the rest. It stood 
several years, till a freshet took it down stream.
  A temperance society was formed about the same time that 
the church was, and has ever since been supported by all 
denominations of Christians.
  The first frame raised in Florence, without liquor, was 
U. Hawley's barn; the second, Chas. Whittlesey's barn; the 
third, I believe, was a barn belonging to Whittlesey & 
Woods. All went off well with a good treat of cakes, pies, 
and cheese, and new cider, if we could get it.
  I will now give a short account of a few of the first 
settlers.
  Daniel Chandler, in 1816, bought parts of lots No. 76 
and 75. He married Sally Summers, Oct. 11th, 1818. He had 
one box of carpenter's and joiner's tools, and poor at 
that. He commenced farming and working at his trade, paid 
for his farm and added to it, piece by piece, until for 
himself and family he gained five hundred acres of 
valuable land. He has raised a family of ten children, and 
has fifteen grand children. Eight of the family belong to 
religious societies. He was the first carpenter and joiner 
in the township, and framed P. Starr's mills and Eli S. 
Barnum's barn, the first frames in the township.
  Percy Starr settled in Birmingham in 1817; built his saw 
and grist mills in 1819, which were framed by D. Chandler 
and put in operation by the assistance of Dudley Starr. He 
sold, of his land, 160 acres, and his mills to Cyrus 
Butler about 1823, and continued on his farm till he died. 
There were five Starrs - Percy, Thomas, William, Dudley 
and Jerrod. These were not the "seven stars" but the "five 
Starrs" that illuminated the country where they lived
  Cyrus Butler, a merchant of Norwalk, bought the farm and 
mills of P. Starr, in 1823, and went into the mercantile 
business - the first in Birmingham. He also built a forge; 
but he did not prosper in hydraulic works, and the 
property came into the hands of Mr. Cobb, who rebuilt the 
mills, put in an engine to drive the grist mill, and 
traded and built largely.
  Aaron Higgins built the first tanhouse, east of the 
river and south of the diking, where he carried on tanning 
and shoe-making. He also built the block for a tavern 
house on the east side of the river; made a considerable 
part of the macadamized road through Maumee swamp; 
superintended the making of the canal up the Huron river 
to Milan village; and now, over seventy years of age, is 
taking daguerreotypes in his portable house in Northern 
Ohio.
  Jonathan Bryant moved from New Milford, Susquehannah 
Co., Pa., in 1815, to Judge Ruggles' in Vermillion and 
thence to Florence, and then to Birmingham, in 1827, where 
he now resides. He buried his wife February 16th, 1839, 
aged 63 years. He is now living with his third wife. He 
has had fourteen children; eight by his first wife are now 
living. He was elected Justice of the Peace and served 
eighteen years.
  Silas Wood carried on business with Hawley and 
Whittlesey several years, in carding and clothdressing, 
and in the saw mill. He was married to Hannah Ennes, 
August 30th, 1827 In 1833 he moved from Florence to Berlin 
and bought out Joseph Tillinghast. He stayed there one 
year, and then bought out Calvin Leonard and moved to 
Henrietta. In 1853 he sold his farm and moved to 
Birmingham; went into the mercantile business, and built 
the saw mill and grist mill, which have since been burnt 
down. He sold out his goods in 1856, and his mills a year 
after; commenced trade again 1859, and died October 30th, 
1860. He suddenly dropped down dead by his counter, while 
trading. He has had five children, one of whom is dead. At 
the age of twenty-one he had nothing but his trade; but 
being frugal and industrious, he acquired firm after firm, 
and lent money; so that he became wealthy. For twenty-
seven years he maintained the title of a disciple, and 
lived out his profession. His death was lamented by all 
his acquaintances.
  Charles Whittlesey, my partner, was born March 12th, 
1796, in Stockbridge, Mass., and came to Brownhelm, Ohio, 
in 1817. He was married June 11th, 1820, to Mary Crocker, 
of Dover, who died August 2d, 1843, in Ridgeville. He died 
July 12th, 1852, with a cancer, which commenced in one eye 
and eat it out, then eat off the nose, and then eat out 
the other eye so that he was totally blind eight or ten 
months. The cancer did its work in eighteen years. His 
extreme sufferings he endured with a Christian patience 
and fortitude.
  I might mention other things, but have probably written 
enough. In some things I have recorded I may be mistaken, 
in some immaterial point - perhaps in some date but I have 
endeavored, with much pains, to be as nearly correct as I 
could be. 

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"Notice: the above material is Public Domain (no copyright)."
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Ted Reising
tedohio@yahoo.com
Dec. 15, 1998
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