OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 246 Today's Topics: #1 OBITUARIES OF EARLY OHIO PEOPLE [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #2 Medina Co., History Part 4 [LeaAnn Rich Subject: Medina Co., History Part 4 Historical Collections of Ohio Henry Howe LL.D. We are indebted to Captain Milton P. Peirce for several valuable articles upon early events in the history of this region which here follow. The first is upon the "Great Hinckley Hunt," which he originally published in the "American Field," of Chicago, January 4, 1890. It is reproduced, together with the engraving, which, of itself, is an oddity, inasmuch as the artist represents the Western Reserve farmers going hunting in dressing gowns and with such countenances as one might have found among the bogs of the Emerald Isle, but then there is compensation in the natural aspect of the bears, wolves, panthers, turkeys, etc. Probably the most successful well-managed hunt for wild game ever known in this country occurred December 24, 1818, in the county of Medina, Ohio. Several accounts of the matter were published many years ago, but quite imperfect, particularly in introductory matter. The first settlement of the Western Reserve was made at Cleveland, and a large portion of the tract was sold by townships, each five miles square, to numerous wealthy residents of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many of these parties gave their own names to townships owned by them. Judge Hinckley, of Northampton, Mass., owned three townships, one of which took his name. This is the northeast township of Medina County, and the centre of the township is about fifteen miles due south from the city of Cleveland. It was heavily timbered, and this forest was full of game, embracing bears, deer, wolves, panthers, turkeys and a great variety of smaller game. It was settled mainly by Massachusetts and Connecticut people, mostly agriculturists. Comparatively few of these people had a penchant for hunting, but those who did were never excelled as hunters. They had the best of arms and knew how to use them. The writer of this sketch was born in the Green Mountain range, in Western Massachusetts, and, being left an orphan at an early age, was brought by relatives to the Western Reserve while a small boy, over fifty years ago. Immense quantities of game were still left, but before I was large enough to manage a rifle the bears and wolves were gone. But I had an opportunity to shoot a few deer and many wild turkeys. I never lost an opportunity to spend an evening with some of the old hunters, many of whom still lived in the region, and I never tired hearing them relate their hunting experiences. The more notable of these is as vividly impressed upon my memory as it was the next day after hearing it. I knew several of those who participated in the celebrated Hinckley Hunt, and particularly one man who was one season a "month hand" upon our farm, and a thoroughly reliable man. This man was about twenty years of age at the time of the hunt which I heard from the lips of the participators, as well as those which I have read, there has been but little variation, and that caused by the fact that at the commencement of the "drive" these men were on different lines, five miles apart, and the incidents naturally varied somewhat. It is proper to state here that these New England settlers were thoroughly accustomed to raising sheep while in their native states, and they very naturally desired to engage in the industry at their new homes, but were seriously embarrassed by reason of the super abundance of wolves. Their pig-pens were also frequently raided by bears. I can myself remember when over one hundred sheep were killed by wolves in one night, upon a few farms in our immediate neighborhood, our own flock suffering. And I vividly remember that my thumbs and fingers subsequently suffered from "pulling the wool" from the same sheep. In the early days of sheep-raising upon the "Reserve," quite a number of hunts were organized, in which quite large tracts of forest were surrounded by the settlers and many bears, wolves and deer were killed. Quite a number of persons were also wounded by careless firing of guns, and one or more killed. Judge Hinckley made no effort to dispose of the lands in the township bearing his name for some years, and each of the adjoining townships had, by 1818, gained a good many settlers who cleared numerous tracts of land. Hinckley was still an unbroken, virgin forest of the heaviest timber, and became a harbor for large game which devastated the surrounding settlements. It was not unusual for a settler to lose his entire little flock of sheep in a single night, even though penned within the shadow of his buildings. Finally, late in the fall of 1818, quite a number of meetings were held in the townships surrounding Hinckley, to make arrangements for a war of extermination upon the bears and wolves. Committees were appointed, and the various committees met for consultation, and made arrangements for a grand hunt which should embrace the entire township Hinckley and forest lands adjacent thereto. Four captains were appointed, one of whom had supreme command of the entire battalion. Surveyors blazed a line of trees upon a circle half a mile around the centre of the township. The programme, which was advertised in various ways so that it was fully known for twenty miles in every direction around Hinckley, was as follows: The drive was to take place on December 24. Able-bodied men and large boys joining in the hunt were to assemble as follows: Those from Cleveland, Newburg and Royalton and adjacent neighborhoods, on the north line of the township of Hinckley. Those from Brecksville, Richfield and adjacent neighborhoods, on the east line. Those from Bath, Granger and adjacent neighborhoods, on the south line. Those from Medina, Brunswick, Liverpool and adjacent neighborhoods, on the west line. All were instructed to be on the ground at sunrise. cont'd in part 5 -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #246 *******************************************