LORAIN COUNTY OHIO - History of Lorain County, Columbia Township (Part 2)
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Joseph BURKE was the earliest settler in Euclid.  He came from New
York, in 1798, traveling from Buffalo to Grand River in an open boat. 
Leaving his family there, he came on to take a look at the wilderness,
in which he thought of settling, and after making a selection at Euclid,
returned for his family.  He resided in Euclid eleven years, and then
removed to this township, locating on lot twelve.  He died July 4th,
1814.  His widow removed to Michigan and died there in 1832.  Of their
large family of fourteen children, only two are living: Ira BURKE on the
old homestead, aged seventy-five, and Mrs. Sophia LENDER, residing in
Illinois.  A little daughter, four years of age, while in the woods with
her brother, who was making maple sugar, wandered away and was never
found.  The generally accepted theory as to her fate is, that she was
carried away by indians seen in the vicinity a day or two previous.
     Silas BURKE settled on the south part of lot twelve, in 1809.
     Harmon BRONSON, one of the members of the Waterbury Land Company,
visited the reserve, as early as 1805.  In that year he came from
Waterbury Connecticut, to Cleveland, on foot, by way of Albany and
Buffalo, and returned by was of Baltimore, Philidelphia and New York,
walking almost the entire distance.  In 1809, he again came to Ohio,
also on foot, this time for the purpose of settlement.  He was a
carpenter and a joiner, and on his arrival at Cleveland, engaged at work
for a Mr. MURRAY, for whom he built a log house near the mouth of the
Cuyahoga, on the east side of the river, and about where the government
piers are now.  His family, then consisting of a wife and three
daughters, and his mother, (his father Seba BRONSON, Sr., having come to
Columbia three years previous), came on soon afterward on a little
vessel called the "Ranger", Captain HATHAWAY, landing at the mouth of
the river March 15th.  Other members of the company, and their families,
came at the same time.  Mr. BRONSON made a settlement in Columbia,
erecting a house on sub-lot four.
     At the breaking out of the war of 1812, when it was generally
feared that this part of the State  would be overrun by indians, Mrs.
Harmon BRONSON, with her three girls, - the oldest about thirteen - and
an infant son less than a year old, started from Cleveland in September,
1812, with a horse, saddle and bridle, and took her little family back
to Waterbury, the heroic mother walking the entire distance.  It
required four weeks to make the journey.
     She remained in Waterbury until late in the fall of 1815, and then
set out in a lumber wagon for Ohio.  At Bloomfield, in the State of New
York, her funds run out, and she hired out her two eldest daughters at
fifty cents a week each, while she worked for her board and that of her
two younger children.   About the 1st of March, 1816, the journey was
resumed, and the family reached Columbia in the latter part of that
month.
     Mr. BRONSON kept a store in Columbia from 1816 to 1820.  He removed
to East Cleveland in  December, 1821, and lived there until July, 1824,
when he moved into Boston township, then Portage, now Summit county.  He
died December 18th, 1853.  He was the seventh of the fourteen children
of Seba BRONSON, Sr., all of whom lived to a mature age and were
married.  Azor and Bela died in Columbia, in 1811, October 5th and 13th,
respectively.  Harmon was the last survivor of the family.  His birth,
marriage and death occurred in the same month and on the same day of the
month - December 18th.  He was seventy-nine years old at his death.  His
wife survived him four years and two months, and was something over
eighty.  Two of his family are now living - his second daughter, now
seventy-eight years old, and the youngest child, a son, now sixty-seven
- both residing in Peninsula, Summit county.  From the latter, Mr. H. V.
BRONSON, we have obtained the facts here given.
     David EDDY, born in New Jersey, came to Ohio while yet a single
man, in the year 1804 or 1805.  He made a location in Euclid, Cuyahoga
county, and erected a log cabin there.  The following year his father
and mother, with a son named Timothy, came on and took up their abode in
the primitive habitation already prepared by David.  Caleb EDDY, the
father, spent the remainder of his days here, but David soon pushed on
further west , and joined the infant colony in Columbia.  He "stuck his
stakes" on lot forty, and built his log house on the bank of Rocky
river.  In the early winter of 1814 he married Elizabeth SHIRDLINE, of
Washington county, Penn., and about two years subsequently began pioneer
life in the little cabin previously mentioned.  EDDY was a member of the
militia, and was an occupant of the block house.  His life was one of
many hardships and of arduous toil.  He died, on the farm on which he
first located, October 21, 1853, and his widow about a year afterward,
October 6, 1854.  There children were four in number, two boys and two
girls, viz : Jesse, Enos, Susannah and Eunice.  Jesse married Caroline
CHAMBERLAIN, of Rochester, Lorain county.  He, Jesse, is now living
there.  His wife died February 5th, 1855, leaving two children, Mary E.
(Mrs. MYERS) and Hattie E. (Mrs. MANN).  Enos married Cynthia BRADFORD,
now deceased.  Susannah married Myron BRADFORD, and both are dead. 
Eunice married, first, Hiram BRADFORD, and afterwards Samuel HANLEY,
with whom she is now living in the township of Rochester.
     In 1810 Levi BRONSON moved in from Euclid and took up his residence
on sub-lot three, the first location of John WILLIAMS.  Of him Rev. Dr.
BRONSON bears the following testimony:
     "My father became interested in the lands of Columbia by purchase
of his brother, Azor, but both died before deeds were given or payment
fully made, and matters were left in an uncertain state, and after a
while became entangled with other land matters.  These have since been a
prolific source of strife, and a rich field for lawyers. ***** I deem it
my duty to bear witness to the unyielding integrity, public spirit and
self-sacrifice of Levi BRONSON.  When all the land in Columbia would not
have sold for more than enough to pay the taxes, he borrowed money,
worked on the road, turned and twisted every way to save the property of
his father and his deceased brother for their heirs."
     In regard to other arrivals this year, we mention the following:
Sahel OSBORN and Marshall CULVER, his son-in-law, the former on the
south part and the latter on the north part of lot thirty-seven.  They
came from Salem, Connecticut.  OSBORN married Mary HOADLEY, daughter of
Lemuel HOADLEY, Sr.  He was a man of good natural ability and of local
influence.  
     Timothy EDDY cleared a piece of land on lot seventeen, sowed it to
wheat, and then returned to Euclid to live; James and Walter STRONG
chopped off a piece on lot fifteen; Samuel HITCHCOCK settled on lot
forty, purchasing of Calvin HOADLEY.  
     Asa ROBERTSON made a beginning on the west part of lot one, then
removed to Liverpool, Medina county, where he made a permanent
location.  Samuel Heacock also arrived in 1810, and located on lot
thirty-six, but returned to Connecticut the following year.
     John ADAMS, father of Benoni, with his wife, five sons and a
daughter, left Waterbury, Connecticut, for Columbia, in the fall of
1811, and moved in with Benoni, on lot fifty.  ADAMS having sold his
farm for twenty-five hundred dollars, and taken his pay in clocks at
five dollars a piece, must turn his property into cattle and cattle into
money, which took up his time until October.
     He brought his wife and boys, with some of the household goods,
with a team and wagon, a young man by the name of Marshall BRONSON
accompanying the family with a team and wagon of his own, with which he
brought some of their goods.  The daughter, who was a child of a former
wife of Mr. ADAMS, and a cousin of BRONSON, rode with the young man.  In
consequence of a violent snow storm they remained several days at a
tavern a few miles west of Buffalo.  The next house on their route was
Mack's tavern, eighteen miles distant, the road the road to which was
along the beach until within four miles of the tavern, when it lead away
form the lake through dense forest.  This is the road the collector of
historical facts so frequently hears spoken of as the "four mile woods".
     It was December, too late to travel along the beach with safety, as
there were many rocky cliffs which extended out into the lake; and to
get by them, the emigrants usually drove into the water.  In attempting
to pass one of these points, ADAMS' team became frightened by the
dashing of the waves, and refused to go, and he was obliged to cut them
loose from the wagon in order to save his wife and children.  After much
difficulty, they succeeded in reaching the shore, and proceeded in the
direction of the tavern, ADAMS evidently thinking that BRONSON, who was
ahead, had got through in safety.  Not so, however; he had become
involved in a situation more perilous than that from which ADAMS and his
family had escaped.  The wheel of his wagon caught fast in the seam of a
rock, and the horses, in their struggle, became entangled in the harness
and were thrown down; and BRONSON, almost paralyzed with cold and fear,
could not release them.  His situation would have appalled the stoutest
heart.  The roar of the angry waves, the horses struggling beneath them,
and the cries of his companion, coupled with his utter powerlessness to
aid her, filled him with frantic terror.  He determined to go for help. 
Reaching the shore with great difficulty, he hurried to the tavern to
give the alarm.  Several men started for the scene of distress, meeting
Mr. ADAMS and family on the way.
     The mother and children were conducted back to the house by one of
the party, while the father returned with the rest of the party to the
relief his daughter.  But it was too late - her lifeless body was found
in the water, carried to the tavern, and buried in Mack's garden.  Some
time after, a passing missionary, on request of the family, preached a
funeral discourse.  The team of BRONSON was drowned, and his wagon a
complete wreck.  Another was constructed out of the parts as they
floated ashore, and then turned into cash.  The other wagon, which was
without serious damage was also sold, and a sled purchased.  A few
articles were gathered up as they floated ashore, and the surviving
family resumed their journey.  Arriving in Euclid, friends induced them
to remain there until the following spring, when they moved into
Columbia.  A son of Mr. ADAMS is yet living in Olmsted, nearly eighty
years of age, and preserves a clear recollection of the painful
disaster.
     Another prominent arrival in 1811, was the family of Azor BRONSON. 
They left Waterbury, Conn., in June of that year.  They experienced a
tedious time getting through the Cattaraugus swamp.  Night overtook them
in the "four mile woods", while yet a long distance from Mack's tavern,
at Cattaraugus creek, to which they were making, and they were unable to
proceed.  Leaving the mother and children in the wagon, which was buried
to the axletree in mud, Mr. BRONSON went to the tavern for help.  The
ever-accommodating Dr. MACK, with a lantern and accompanied by a couple
of friendly indians, returned with Mr. BRONSON for his family and
assisted them to the tavern.  In Middleburg, Cuyahoga county, their
wagon broke down, and wife and children were thence carried to Columbia
on the horses.  They arrived at the center of town July 4, 1811.  Mr.
BRONSON died the next year after his arrival.  Ransom and Albert
BRONSON, residing in Olmsted, Cuyahoga county, aged seventy-three and
seventy-six respectively, are the only surviving members of the family.
     Samuel PARDEE also moved in, in 1811, settling on the south part of
lot thirty-six, and kept a tavern, the sign of which was a pair of
deer's horns.
     Jonathan VAUGHAN became an inhabitant of the township during this
same year.  The following year, he, with his brother Richard and E.
HICKOX, entered the service of the government and aided in the cutting a
road from Sandusky to Maumee.  This was in war time, and the men, some
three hundred in number, cut the road under the protection of a military
guard.  VAUGHAN was afterwards stationed for a time in Fort Stephenson. 
He subsequently married a daughter of Calvin HOADLEY and settled in
Middleburg, Cuyahoga county, residing there until 1834, when he
purchased an interest in the HOADLEY mills, and returned to Columbia.
     About this time also, Noah TERRELL and Thomas OSBORN came into
town.  TERRELL was a valuable acquisition to the settlement, being
skillful in the manufacture of every kind of wooden dishes, such as
milk-bowls, trenchers, cups and saucers, salt-cellars pepper boxes, and
little kegs which took the place of pails.  Being a TERRELL, he was of
course a hunter, and supported his family to a great extent by his gun. 
He subsequently removed to Ridgeville, where his daughter Harriet was
soon after born.  She was the first child born in that township.
     OSBORN settled on the farm first occupied by Bela BRONSON.  He was
a blacksmith, and carried on his trade in that early day under
difficulties which would be thought insurmountable in this.  This
pioneer blacksmith went on foot through unbroken wilderness to New
Lisbon, Columbiana county, a distance of about one hundred miles, to
obtain his material, which, having paid for in labor, he then lugged
home on his back.  His untiring industry was eventually rewarded by a
handsome competency.
     B. PRITCHARD came into the town in 1813.
     Reuben LEWIS moved in from New York State in 1814.  He established
in that year the first tannery worthy of the name in the county.  It
stood on lot thirty-four, on which also the first mill in the county,
the grist mill of Captain HOADLEY, was built.
     Adna WARNER bought out Benoni ADAMS, on lot fifty, and became a
settler in 1814.
     Ephraim BIGELOW became an inhabitant of Columbia in 1816, settling
on lot twenty-eight, and Amos RICHMOND, the same year on lot
twenty-nine.
     Julius and Albert BRONSON settled on lot twenty-three, on the north
and south parts, respectively, in 1817, and Thomas G. BRONSON on lot
eighteen the same year.  Gideon RICHMOND located in 1818, and Sylvanus,
the following year, on lot fifty.
     Simeon NICHOLS arrived with his family in about the tear 1820.  He
was also a Waterbury man.  He started in the winter, and, when he got
into the State of New York, the snow was so deep as to make traveling
with a wagon difficult.  He therefore bought a sled, placed his wagon on
the top of it, and thus resumed the journey.  All went well until he
arrived at what was then called the "Holland purchase", in that State. 
This was a newly cleared piece of land, and he could not pass among the
thick stumps with his wagon; he therefore cut off the axles.  He
traveled without further impediment until he arrived in the eastern part
of Ohio, when the snow left and he was obliged to provide himself with
new axles.  He arrived in Columbia in early spring and settled on lot
forty-seven.
     NICHOLS was an industrious and respected citizen.  He held the
office of justice of the peace for a number of years, and was a leading
member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
     Merritt WARNER came in the same year, and located on the same lot.
     We can but briefly mention subsequent settlers.  Heman TERRELL on
lot twenty-eight; Miles SEYMOUR rented the farm of Timothy DOAN, in
1821; William ADAMS on lot four hundred and ninety-one; Abner MARTIN
(and his distillery) on lot forty-seven.  Solomon HANCOCK on lot
twenty-seven, in 1822; Manly HITCHCOCK on lot forty-four; Hiram RICHMOND
on lot twenty-six; Asa JEWETT on lot sixty-four, in 1823; Sterling
GODDARD on lot seventy-six; James MATTISON on the same lot; William
BROWN on lot seventy-four, in 1829; Amos CURTIS on lot seventy-seven;
Samuel HOADLEY on lot twenty-one; Elihu MORGAN on lot forty-seven;
Ransom BRONSON on lot thirty-nine, in 1825; Anson A. GODDARD on lot
sixty-three, in 1826; John COLE on lot eighty-eight; Simon and John
CROCKERS on lot ninety, in 1828; S. H. FRINK on lot twenty-two, in 1831;
David CHAMBERLAIN on lot seventy-nine; John MCCREERY on lot forty;
Wakeman BEERS on lot sixty; John CHAMBERLAIN on lot sixty; Seth and Bina
WOOD on lot sixty-one; Stephen SABIN on lot forty; Ezekiel OLCOTT on lot
fifty-nine, in 1832; Samuel GAYLORD in 1835.
     Among the later settlers are: Abel GOODWIN, from New London county,
Connecticut, who arrived in 1828, and located on lot eighty-eight.  He
died in June, 1841.  Elisha and Richard HARRINGTON, originally from
Vermont, came to Ohio in 1815, settling in Cuyahoga Falls.  They came to
Columbia, Elisha in 1834, and located on lot eighty-six, and the latter
in 1837, on lot fifty-seven.  Elisha now lives on lot seventy-five, and
Richard on his original purchase.  Norman T. BEERS, from the State of
New York, located in 1832, where the widow of Marcus NICHOLS now
resides.  He died April 1878, and his widow now lives on lot
fifty-nine.  Joseph OSBORN became a settler in 1837, on lot
fifty-seven.  He now resides with his son Andrew, on the old homestead,
and is eighty-four years of age - the oldest man in the township. 
William BROWN located on Plum creek, in 1827.

Churches

     In regard to pioneer christianity in Columbia, Rev. Dr. BRONSON
says:
     "The BRONSONS were Episcopalians, and when they came to Ohio they
brought their prayer books with them.  When they reached here they used
those books, though they had no minister.  My father gathered around
him, as soon as he had neighbors, as many as he could and read the
service and a sermon.  When the grave closed over him, my grandfather
took it up.  When he passed away, Levi BRONSON continued it; and after
his death, for a while, it devolved on me."
     The first organized church society was of the Episcopal faith, some
time in the year 1809, Bishop CHASE officiating in its organization. 
The following named were the constituent members: Seba BRONSON and wife,
Bela BRONSON, Levi BRONSON and wife, and John WILLIAMS and wife.  A
meeting house was built on the east side of the river, on sub-lot three,
as late as 1835 or 36.

Methodism

     The first Methodist services held in town were at the house of the
widow of Joseph BURKE, in about the year 1818.  They were conducted by
Rev's Messrs. GODDARD and BOOTH.  The following year a society was
formed, by Rev. Mr. GODDARD, of the following members: Calvin HOADLEY,
Julius BRONSON and wife, Mrs. Joseph BURKE and her two sons, Allen and
Orrin, and Mrs. MCCONKEY.  Julius BRONSON was appointed leader of the
class.  The church building at the Center was erected in 1830, and was
the first house of worship in Columbia.  The society is at present under
the charge of Rev. J. W. THOMPSON..  It has a membership of sixty.  The
Sabbath School has a membership of some seventy scholars.  Frank SNELL
is superintendent.
     There is also a Methodist Episcopal society at West View, the
church having been erected in 1844.  Services are held every alternate
Sabbath by Rev. J. W. Thompson.

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