[Vermilion Twp., Erie County, Ohio]
PIONEER WOMEN OF VERMILION TWP., 1809-1845. 
from PIONEER WOMEN OF THE WESTERN RESERVE, 1896. Pages 783-788

   The first woman settler was Mrs. Austin, wife of Capt. 
William Austin. Her maiden name cannot now be ascertained. They 
prospered in the new country, evidently, for they lived in the 
first stone house erected in town. The daughters were Betsey, 
Nancy, Sally and Polly. 
   Mrs. Solomon Parsons was another woman whose antecedents are 
lost. She came from Delaware County, N.Y., and lived but a short 
time after reaching Vermillion, dying in 1812. She left two boys 
and two girls, afterwards well known in the history of the town. 
They were Burton and Levi, and Sarah and Phebe. 
   Charlotte Tuttle, wife of Frederick Sturgess, came to 
Vermillion from Roxbury; N.Y., in 1810, with her husband and 
six-weeks-old girl baby, Eunice which was carried on a pillow 
most of the way over the rough roads through the wilderness. 
They were six weeks on the way, arriving at Vermillion in 
October. 
   Near the mouth of the river they found log cabin which had 
been built and deserted by a former settler. This they took 
possession of and made themselves as comfortable as possible for 
the winter, intending to build a more comfortable home in the 
spring, when the parents of Mr. Sturgess were expected to join 
them. For chairs they used blocks of wood and for window glass, 
greased paper, with many other makeshifts to get along. 
   During the following summer they were all attacked with 
malaria and suffered greatly with fever and ague. The only 
alleviating feature of the sickness was that it was worse every 
other day and as some were ill one day and some the succeeding 
one, they could manage to take care of each other. One who never 
experienced the chills of ague and the burning fever that 
follows can have no conception of what the pioneer suffered from 
this disease. Nothing will bring on a relapse of it so surely as 
over exertion, and that was inevitable both for the husband in 
his rough work clearing the forest, and for the wife with a 
house full of little children to feed and clothe. Many a woman 
in those days knew what it was to work when she should have been 
in bed, and such a firm hold did the disease obtain that for 
years one would expect the miseries of chills and fever every 
other day, and expect it as surely as that the sun would rise. 
   One night Mr. and Mrs. Sturgess heard their cow bellowing, 
and on opening the door to see what the trouble was, she rushed 
into the house with a pack of wolves close at her heels. 
   Travelers on their way to Cleveland from other towns often 
stopped over night at the Sturgess house. Some time in 1812 some 
Indians murdered two men near Sandusky. They were arrested and 
taken to Cleveland for trial, and while on their way there the 
officers having them in charge remained one night at Mrs. 
Sturgess's. She was much afraid of the party and was greatly 
relieved when morning came and the savages were on their way 
again. 
   Mr. Sturgess died and his widow married George Austin, again 
becoming a Widow in 1826. She died in 1877, aged eighty-five 
years. 
   Among the earliest settlers of Vermillion was Mrs. George 
Sherarts, nee Margaretta Krick, who came from Pennsylvania in 
1809. She was the mother of fourteen children, one of her sons 
being the first white child born in the town. Thirteen of these 
children married and had homes in and near Vermillion. 
   The daughters were Christina, Betsey(or Elizabeth), 
Catherine, Polly, Rebecca, Hannah, Rachel, Barbara, and Sophia. 
One of them is still living, being past eighty. Sophia, wife of 
Wm.B. Andrews, died recently, aged seventy-seven years. 
   There was much hard work to be done for such a family; when 
carding, spinning, and weaving were obligatory in every home. 
But the home-spun, woolen dresses did not wear out in a few 
months, and they were made with big tucks and wide seams to be 
let down or out to fit the growing child. 
    Catherine Sherarts was the first bride in Vermillion. She 
married Burt Martin in 1814. 
   It was in the spring of this year also, that the first 
schoolhouse was built in the township, about one and one-half 
miles up the lake shore; and that summer it was taught by Miss 
Susan Williams. 
    There were two families by the name of Cuddeback in 
Vermillion that were very prominent in affairs at that early 
day, and have continued so until the present time, Peter married 
Jenny Courtright, and James, his Brother, married Hannah 
Courtright, a sister of Jenny. 
   They came in 1810 from Minnisink, N. J.  Mrs. Jenny Cuddeback 
brought several children with her, and more were added until she 
had eleven in all; five of these were girls. Her husband set out 
the first orchard in the township, and some of the trees are 
still standing. Aunt Jenny Cuddeback was noted for her unbounded 
hospitality. She became blind some years before her death, and 
it was a great trial for her, to give up and depend upon, other 
people's eye sight. Her last days were spent. with her son, 
James, on the old homestead, and she was ninety-four years old 
when she died. 
    Her sister, Hannah, came from the same place but a year 
later. Their farm was nearer the river than that of the other 
family. A few years after their arrival James Cuddeback became 
insane, and Hannah was left to care for home and children alone 
in a new country and one can imagine her hardships and trials; 
but with it all she found time and strength to help her 
neighbors in sickness, and a little of her own stores to spare 
for those who were needy. 
   After her children were grown up, married, and living in 
homes of their own, she sold the farm and lived with her 
youngest daughter, Mrs. Simpson. She died in the spring of 1896 
aged 105 years. Her hearing and eyesight had become somewhat 
impaired but to the last she loved to receive attention from 
friends and welcomed all callers. 
   Her daughters were Rhoda, Hannah, Emily, Sarah, and Paulina. 
Hannah married Wright Meeker of Huron, 0., and lived in a fine, 
large farm house on the lake shore, about a mile east of that 
town. She had one daughter Polly, now Mrs. Benjamin Brigsby; and 
several boys, dying when the youngest was a babe. 
   Emily married Capt. George Stone and lives in Cleveland. The 
Cuddebacks were of Dutch stock. 
   Horatio Perry came from Cleveland and settled on a farm west 
of Capt. Austin. He married Miss Prentiss, who died, leaving a 
daughter, Sophia. The second Mrs. Perry was a Miss Smith. 
   Mrs. Philo Wells (Hannan Lewis) arrived in Vermillion in 1817 
from White Plains, N.Y., with her husband and three young 
children. They were several weeks on the way. The roads through 
the forest were very bad; they would often get stuck in the mud. 
Most of the streams had to be forded. In fording Rocky River 
they got stuck, and Mr. Lewis Wells, only three years old at the 
time, remembers his father lifting him and his older brother 
from the wagon and carrying them to the shore, his mother and 
the baby having been taken across in a canoe. 
   On reaching Vermillion they stopped over night with Capt. Wm. 
Austin and the next day set out for their home a few miles south 
of the lake The road was through the forest and the wind blowing 
hard, dead branches of the trees were falling all about them, 
one falling between the horses and wagon, not a foot from where 
Mrs. Wells and her children were sitting They were very much 
frightened and very thankful that their lives were spared. Their 
home was the log cabin of the new country, their door a blanket 
hung over an opening in the logs, and greased paper fastened 
over an other opening for a window. 
   Wheat flour was a rare thing, their bread being made of rye 
and corn meal which was often ground in a handmill. Sometimes 
they had to go without a mouthful of bread for weeks at a time. 
Visiting in those days was not as easily done as at the present 
time and a family living a mile away were considered near 
neighbors but they were oftener three or four miles apart. 
   A family settled on the east side of the river about three 
miles from Mrs. Wells. She wished to become acquainted with them 
and set a day in which she would visit them. Her husband went to 
the river with her, but finding it so swollen by the recent 
rain, they could not cross it on foot, and were about to return 
to their home when the gentleman on the east side appeared with 
a yoke of oxen. He got on the back of one of them and crossed to 
where Mrs. Wells was waiting, when she jumped on the back of the 
other ox and reached the east side, where she spent a very 
pleasant day with her new neighbors. 
   Mrs. Deacon John Beardsley, with her husband and two or three 
children, came from one of the New England States in 1810. They 
first settled near the mouth of the river, where they stayed a 
couple of years, but as the location was so unhealthy, they 
moved three or four miles back from the lake, where the first 
log house was built. 
   During that year Enoch Smith built and moved his family into 
house about a mile west of them. His daughters were Rebecca, 
Laura, and Amanda. 
   There was a schoolhouse erected in 1813, just over the line 
in Florence township, and a Miss Abigail Harris taught in it. 
She was a high-minded, earnest Christian girl, who afterward 
married the Rev. John Montieth. Not content with earning her 
very small salary, she looked about to see what else she could 
do to help the children in a spiritual as well as intellectual 
way; so she invited them to come Sabbath days for religious 
instruction. Then, wishing the parent understand and approve of 
it, she rode alone on horseback through the forest to see them 
and obtain their consent. Sunday schools were not generally 
established in those days anywhere. 
   One of the first persons upon whom she called was Mrs. John 
Beardsley. At first she did not approve of having her children 
attend school on the Sabbath but after Miss Harris had talked 
with the deacon and his wife a short time, they changed their 
minds and consented to allow their little ones to go. The next 
Sabbath morning at an early hour, Mrs. Beardsley, with a child 
in her arms and four by her side, knocked at the door of Miss 
Harris' home. They had walked two miles through the woods. She 
said she supposed it was rather early, but the children were 
anxious to get to Sunday school. 
   The school prospered, and Mrs. Beardsley and her family were 
the most regular attendants, one of her little boys often 
reciting five and six chapters from the Bible 
   Necessity was the mother of invention in those days, and 
everything was turned to some good use. Mrs. Beardsley made caps 
for her boys from the skins of the coon; then the hair from the 
opossum and coon skins she would shear off, card and spin it; 
and knit into stockings for her children. 
   Her daughters were Sophia, Harriet, Maria, and Irene. 
   About two years ago Aunt Hannah Cuddeback was telling of the 
fear and anxiety they endured the day of Perry's victory. Many 
of the settlers had left their homes for a place of safety at 
Black-River (now Lorain). They could see the smoke of the battle 
and hear the booming of cannon, and mothers clasped their little 
ones nearer to them as they thought of the peril the husbands 
and fathers were in and the fear that they might all be murdered 
by the Indians and British. Those who had started for Black-
River got word of the victory and returned to their homes. 
   Mrs. Jesse Ball ( Susan Gilbert ) came to Vermillion in 1816 
from Herkimer, N.Y. They came as far as Buffalo with their 
teams, where they found a vessel ready to sail up the lake. They 
put their goods on board and came the rest of their journey by 
water. When they arrived at Vermillion, there being no wharf or 
dock, they were set ashore in a small boat. 
   They settled first on the lake shore, where they stayed about 
four years, but finally moved about three miles back from the 
lake on a new place, where some of the descendants still live. 
   There was plenty of hard work for the father and sons in 
clearing the land, and the mother and daughters had their share 
of work in the carding, spinning, and weaving of cloth to be 
made into clothing for the men and women. Some of the daughters 
were school teachers. There are three of the children living 
within a few miles of the old home. 
   Orissa Ball, one of the daughters, never married. She made 
bonnets for the whole town many years, bleaching the rye straw 
herself and braiding it. Her bonnets were considered beautiful, 
and for quality compare favorably with the same class of goods 
today. 
   Mrs. Augustin Peltin ( Eunice Sturgiss ) [ error: Eunice was 
wife of Sylvester Pelton ] was an infant six weeks old in 1810, 
when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Sturgiss left Roxbury, 
N.Y. for the "Firelands" in Ohio. Her childhood passed like the 
rest of the children in pioneer days. 
   Schools were kept only during the winter as a general thing, 
and then quite a distance from her home. The American Preceptor 
and Webster's spelling book were all the books she ever studied. 
She was married when nineteen years old, and like all other 
young married people of those days, moved into a log cabin. 
There she spun her yarn for her bed blankets and the flax for 
her towels and table-cloths. The hatchel they combed the flax 
with is still in the family, also the side-saddle which her 
grandmother, Mrs. Barbara Sturgiss, rode when she came to Ohio. 
   Their furniture was all homemade, even to the broom, which 
was a hickory stick, one end finely splintered and bound with a 
strong cord. Her husband killed a good many deer, bear, and 
wolves. The deer skins were tanned and made into pants; the bear 
skins made nice rugs and were often used for the bottoms of 
chairs. There was a bounty given for every wolf skin, so they 
were sold. 
   She often said she thought she took more comfort in her log 
cabin than in the new frame house which was built about the year 
1835. It was considered a large, fine house at that time. She 
loved to entertain her friends, and always had more or less 
company. She died in 1873, aged sixty-three. Her husband 
outlived her seventeen years, dying at the age of eighty-four. 
   Mrs. Benjamin Brooks (Asenath Van Vliet) came from Marcellus, 
N.Y., in 1810. She was twice married. Her first husband's name 
was Cuddeback. She was the mother of Peter and James Cuddeback, 
who also came to Vermillion in 1810 and 1811 with their 
families. She remembered many incidents of the Revolutionary 
war, which she passed through while living in the state of New 
York, and often told her children and grandchildren stories of 
that war and also of the war of 1812, which took place about two 
years after coming to Ohio. 
   While east during the war, word came to them that Indians had 
been seen in the settlement and the people must all get to the 
fort. They all started, leaving everything in their hurry to get 
to a place of safety. Herself and a friend were overtaken by an 
Indian. They expected to be killed, but he contented himself by 
taking a string of gold beads from her neck and some of their 
clothing, then let them go on to the fort. 
   At the time of the battle of Perry's victory, she and her 
family were in great fear and anxiety, knowing it would be 
almost sure death if the British and Indians gained the day. 
There was great rejoicing when the news of the victory came. Her 
son, Jonathan Brooks, about seventeen years old, and another 
young man, went over to the battle ground, between twenty-five 
and thirty miles distant, in a small open boat. Mr. Brooks cut 
one of the cannon shot from the side of one of the boats that 
was in the battle. It is now in the possession of his grand son, 
Herbert Loomis, of East Cleveland. 
   Mrs. Asenath Brooks was ninety-four years old at the time of 
her death. 
   Elizabeth Sherrets, daughter of Geo. and Margaretta Krick 
Sherrets, married Mr. Benjamin Brooks, son of Jonathan above 
mentioned [error: Elizabeth's husband was Jonathan Brooks]. They 
lived a mile west of the river on the lake shore. 
   Her daughters were Asenath, who married Zebulon Carey; Laura, 
Mrs. Richard Harris; Mary, Mrs. Philander Crosier; Margretta M., 
Mrs. Leonard Loomis, of Cleveland; and Sarah, Mrs. Jonathan 
Jones. 
   Parents were strict with their children in those days, and, 
as a rule, stood by the school teacher in all cases of 
discipline. When a very little girl, Margretta Brooks, afterward 
Mrs. Loomis, for some misdemeanor was shut up in a little closet 
near the schoolhouse chimney. Becoming impatient of her 
confinement, she crawled out unobserved and ran home. But, when 
she reached the house, dared not go in, fearing she would be 
punished and sent back, so she hid in the old Dutch oven and 
awaited developments. The teacher must have sent word after 
school was closed for she saw and heard the search that was made 
for her, and so safe was her hiding place that it long continued 
before she was finally discovered. 
   Another child of Mrs. Benjamin[Jonathan] Cuddeback Brooks was 
Elizabeth Brooks, who married James Prentiss, a brother of Mrs. 
Horatio Perry. Mrs. Compton ( Christine Sherrets ), another 
daughter of George Sherrets, who came to Vermillion in 1809, was 
quite a grown-up girl at that time, and afterwards often told 
her nephews and nieces how afraid she used to be of the Indians. 
They Indians had a camping ground across a creek just east of 
her father's house. Sometimes quite a number of 
them, in  the evening would get drunk.  They would build a big 
fire and then dance around it till they would nearly fall into 
it. Finally, from their yelling singing and dancing, they would 
get tired out and would all lie down around the fire.
     Mrs. Compton became blind a few years after her marriage, 
and after her husband died she lived with her daughter, Mrs. 
David Sherret.  She was past eighty at the time of her death.

     Mrs A. M. Goodell,  
       Chairman and Historian
Vermillion Committee - 
Mrs. Mary Titus Cahoon, aged 77; 
Mrs Lewis Wells.

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