PORTAGE COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: PIONEER WOMEN OF REVENNA
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Betty Ralph
bralph@HiWAAY.net
March 18, 1999
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About a year ago I transcribed numerous articles on Cuyahoga and Portage
counties, OH, from "Memorial to the Pioneer Women of the Western Reserve"
published under the auspices of the Woman's Department of the Cleveland
Centennial Commission in 1896, edited by Mrs. Gertrude Van Rensselaer
Wickham.  The articles contain many details about the lives of the early
settlers. 
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         PIONEER WOMEN OF REVENNA

Before the necessities of today were known, even as 
luxuries, life’s comedies and tragedies were as real as now, 
and the woman of the first half of the nineteenth century 
filled their spheres as completely and acceptably as do 
those of the end of the century.  The seeming monotony may 
have been caused by the difficult distances separating the 
few settlers, for, when we learn of individual lives, we 
find them anything but dull.

In January, 1800, Benjamin TAPPAN, Jr., whose father had 
purchased that portion of New Connecticut which comprises 
our township, came to Ravenna as agent for his father.  At 
the same time Benjamin BIGSBY came with his wife and family, 
and assisted Mr. TAPPAN in the work of clearing his place 
and building his cabin.  In that bleak first month of the 
new century, the history of Ravenna commenced.

To Mrs. BIGSBY belongs the distinction of being the first 
white woman to live in this township, and she was also the 
first mother in Ravenna to go with a loved one down to the 
“valley of the shadow.”  Not long after the BIGSBYs came 
to Ravenna a son about fourteen years old died from the 
effects of the bite of a rattlesnake.  Kind hands made a 
rude coffin by sawing through the center of a section of the 
trunk of a tree and hollowing each half.  In this the 
sorrowing mother laid her son to rest, and in its rough 
secureness she left the loved form, the family soon after 
leaving this portion of the wilderness.

In August of 1800 Mrs. Conrad BOOSINGER, with her husband 
and family, moved into the township and settled on the 
Mahoning about a mile and a half southeast of Ravenna 
center.  Miss Polly BOOSINGER soon became Mrs. BOSZOR, and 
her little daughter Elizabeth was the first white girl born 
in the township.

Little Elizabeth’s cradle was a hollow log, but the 
hardships of pioneer life only seemed to strengthen and 
sweeten her naturally lovable disposition.  The BOSZORs 
lived in Ravenna only a short time, when they moved to 
Brimfield.  There Elizabeth married Joseph CHAPMAN and 
except two years which were spent in Perry, Lake county, 
Brimfield has been their home.

In 1796 Miss Matilda BOOSINGER, a sister of Miss Polly, was 
married at Hagerstown, Md., to Henry SAPP, and in the spring 
of 1803 they emigrated to Ravenna with their three children.  
They made the journey by wagon until they reached the Ohio 
River.

From that point the only roads were Indian paths, and the 
travelers completed their journey on horseback.  Mrs. SAPP 
saw George WASHINGTON at the time of the whisky 
insurrection, and heard him speak the much-quoted words, 
“Only a man, my son,” in reply to the disappointment 
expressed by a boy in the crowd at finding Washington to be 
only a man.

At the dinner party given Mrs. SAPP March 10, 1875, to 
celebrate her one hundredth birthday, this honored 
centenarian said grace in the German tongue, using the form 
and words used by her father from her earliest remembrance.

In her ninetieth year she spun, with wheel and distaff, flax 
for over thirty yards of linen cloth.  Soon after the loss 
of her sight put an end to her industry.  At the age of one 
hundred years she retained great vigor and was a happy, 
contented, interesting old lady.

In the year 1803 Miss Sarah WRIGHT, with the children of 
three families for pupils, opened the first school, the 
school house a log cabin.  About this time the CARTER, 
PRICE, SMITH, JUDD, JENNINGS, and FULLER families came to 
the township.

Mrs. William PRICE, Barbara BOOSINGER, was a shrewd German 
woman.  Her name was originally VAN BUESSINGER, and so it is 
given on her quaint baptismal record.  This record is dated 
at Wirtemburg, Germany and is a valued relic in the family.

At one time a neighbor, wishing to purchase a yoke of steers 
in Mr. PRICE’s possession, went to interview him on the 
subject.  Mrs. PRICE, knowing her husband’s slight 
acquaintance with the language, cam out to assist him if 
need be.  The younger steer was especially large and fine, 
larger, indeed, than the older one.

Mr. PRICE, in explaining the situation to the prospective 
purchaser, said:  "It vas dis vay, der biggest vas der 
schmallest."  Whereupon Mrs. PRICE corrected him with fine 
contempt, saying, "He not speck Englesh ver well.  He mean 
der oldest vas der yoongest."

In 1807 the court house square was cleared.  From "Ravenna 
Forty Years Ago" we copy a paragraph in reference to it.  
It may be of interest to some to learn what prompted that 
particular clearing at that time.  Mrs. TAPPAN, who was the 
better business man of the two, said to her husband, "This 
is the place for the county seat; now clear off the ground 
as fast as you can, and have something to show the 
commissioners when they come.  Franklin (Kent) is ahead of 
us in settlement, and they will try to get it."  Because of 
the energy displayed by Mrs. TAPPAN, Ravenna became the 
county seat for "Old Portage."

Once during the war of 1812, orders were sent for every man 
able to bear arms to repair to Cleveland.  The company 
marched away, and their wives, being pioneer women, were not 
even allowed the luxury of grief, but must make preparations 
for instant flight to Pittsburgh in the event of Perry’s 
victory, and soon the waiting hearts were gladdened by the 
return of their loved ones.

Many instances of children being lost in the woods can be 
recalled by the older inhabitants.  Mrs. William FRENCH 
(Amantha PRICE) tells with graphic clearness the story of an 
adventure which she and her sister Nancy experienced when 
very small.

After telling how they left home in the morning to drive the 
cows to the drinking hole, and describing the surface of the 
country around, and the first of their wanderings, she says:  
"Then we knew we were lost.  We wandered all day, calling 
out often, trying to make some one hear us."  Bears and 
wolves abounded in the neighborhood, and Indians were often 
seen skulking about.  Search parties were sent in all 
directions, but it was not until evening that the blast on 
the ram’s horn was given as a signal of their safe 
discovery.

As the village grew, there arose a demand for public 
religious services.  There was neither church nor school 
house in which to hold them, and the court house was not 
available.  Three of the women, Mrs. David GREER, Mrs. 
Salmon CARTER, and Mrs. Almon BABCOCK, whose husbands kept 
the three "taverns," met the emergency with the offer of 
their dining rooms for preaching service Sabbath mornings.

In this connection we copy from an old record:  "Charity 
CAMPBELL, wife of Richard BRUSH, Polly CAMPBELL, wife of 
Isaac THOMPSON, and Clara BOSTWICK, wife of Deacon Ashbel 
BOSTWICK, were prominent in the organization of the 
Congregational Church in 1822.  The influence of their 
combined efforts is still felt in the community."

"Clarissa WETMORE, wife of Cyrus PRENTISS, Eliza BROWN, 
wife of Samuel FOLJAMBE, and Abigail KING, wife of Dennis 
STULIFF, were prominent laborers in the early organization 
of the Methodist Church of Ravenna.  Such was the moral 
influence of this band of faithful workers that for a period 
card parties and dances were unknown in the community."

Miss Eliza THOMPSON, who on her eighteenth birthday (1818) 
became the wife of Dr. Isaac SWIFT, was one of the active, 
useful women of her time.  Her daughter says:  "I think she 
was very brave and did so much good.  I look back upon her 
married life as the happiest one I ever knew."

Of Mrs. Frederick WILLIAMS, who came to Ravenna in 1828, her 
daughter, Miss Mary WILLIAMS, of Hiram, writes:  "She was 
not a demonstrative woman, but to us who knew and loved her, 
‘Her price was far above rubies,’ and with Solomon we can 
say, ‘Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou 
excellest them all.’  I do not know that she did anything 
that can pass into history, but this we do know, that when 
the books are opened her name will be found written in the 
‘Lamb’s Book of Life.’"

In connection with Mrs. WILLIAMS should be mentioned Mrs. 
John BRIGHAM (Francis BARKER) who was a neighbor and life 
long friend of Mrs. WILLIAMS.  Almost from the time Mrs. 
BRIGHAM could toddle around she had a penchant for doing 
little kindnesses to people who were sick or in trouble.  
Not long before Mrs. WILLIAMS’ death she gold with great 
pleasure how, years before, little five-year-old Francis 
BARKER had come when she was sick, bringing to her a dish of 
chicken pie to tempt her appetite.

Mrs. BRIGHAM has lived in Ravenna since 1830, and being 
observing and possessed of a wonderful memory, has a most 
interesting fund of reminiscences.

In 1836, Mrs. Daniel MERRITT came to Ravenna from Hunter, 
N.Y.  Upon her arrival, she immediately set out to visit her 
sister, Mrs. Elijah SKILTON, of Beech Woods.  When nearly 
there she stopped to inquire the way to her sister’s home, 
and was met with the sad news that Mrs. SKILTON had been 
dead two months.  Such was the slowness with which news from 
the remote districts traveled as late as 1836.

Mrs. R.G. BEATTY, of this place, has in her possession a 
letter from her grandmother, Mrs. Israel FORKER, from which 
she has kindly allowed extracts to be taken.  "II was about 
twelve years old," writes Mrs. FORKER, "when we moved to 
the village of Harrisville, Pa.  There were no schools near 
the farm, and father was anxious to live where we could go 
to school regularly."

"Some few years later we moved to Centerville, where we 
lived when I married Israel FORKER, July 11, 1833, and we 
moved west to Ravenna a few days later.  It seemed a great 
way to me at that time.  Our household goods were moved in a 
two-horse wagon, and we were two days and a half on the 
road."

"There was never any place looked so lovely to me as 
Ravenna did when we arrived in sight.  Mr. FORKER had 
already gone there two years previous to our marriage, and 
was started in business.  There all my children were born."

One of the few of the very early settlers whom we have been 
privileged to know personally was dear old "Aunt Judd."
Her father, Moses SMITH, moved from Shalersville to Ravenna 
in 1804, when Lucina was four years old, and the remainder 
of her life was spent in this town.  Mrs. JUDD was an ardent 
Christian, and when one came from her presence he felt the 
thrill of noble aspirations, even if only the most ordinary 
matters had been mentioned.

Mrs. JUDD and her husband were in perfect accord, and 
through their generosity many an aspiring youth with more 
brains than money has been helped to a thorough education, 
and because of it has been able to fill distinguished 
positions.

Mrs. JUDD was one of the first women to be baptized into the 
Disciple Church of Ravenna, and she never wavered in her 
allegiance to it.  After the passage of the fugitive slave 
law their farm northwest of Ravenna village was one of the 
stations of the underground railway.  This quiet little 
woman, with the resolute black eyes, was ever ready with 
food or clothing, with medicines or words of kindly cheer, 
to help the fugitives on their way to freedom.  But life was 
not all work, nor all sacrifice, however sweet the toil may 
have been or how blessed the sacrifice.

"We didn’t live then as we do now," said one plump little 
woman with silver hair, "but we had just as good times."

Mrs. BEAZELL's father, Julius SKIFF, came in 1825 with his 
wife and eight children from Kent, Conn.  They came from 
Buffalo to Cleveland in a boat, and were fourteen days on 
the lake.  Mr. SKIFF cleared a little place just north of 
town, and built a house with two rooms and a loft.  In the 
living room was the fireplace with its great brick oven that 
occupied the entire side of the room.  There the great dye-
pot stood in the corner; the bench where the shoemaker 
worked when he made his semi-annual visit, had its place; 
the mother's woolen and flax wheels were in that room and 
the father's materials for making brooms.

During the day the work kept them occupied, but at night, 
after the "chores" were done and the work put back, some of 
the neighbors would come in, as neighbors will where a 
cordial welcome awaits them.  A chair was put up on the 
kitchen table; there the "fiddler" took his place, and the 
gayest of dances followed.

The treasures of the garrets - the real old-fashioned 
garrets, not the hot little coops of modern houses - show 
forth the industry of our pioneer women.  A quaint gown, in 
the possession of Miss Lucy FRENCH, was made by her mother 
from flax raised on their own farm.  The gown has a tiny 
short waist reaching just below the bust, leg-o’-mutton 
sleeves, and the skirt has just two medium width breadths in 
its fullness.

Mrs. Nelson WARD’s wedding dress, made in 1849 or ’50, is a 
dainty picture, every stitch from the neck to the hem being 
set by hand.  Another piece of beautifully intricate 
needlework in Mrs. WARD’s possession is a canopy of a bed.  
This piece of linen came from Germany, and has been in Mrs. 
WARD’s family for about 210 years.  The fabric is beautiful, 
and the embroidery, done in very fine worsteds, has 
apparently lost little of its brightness, although it is 
used as a lambrequin in the family sitting room, and has 
been laundered many times.

Mrs. William CARNAHAN, although past her three score years 
and ten, has made all Mr. CARNAHAN’s shirts since she made 
the one with tiny frills, which was one of his wedding 
garments.  They are sewed with such marvelous stitches that 
any machine would hum with satisfaction if it could produce 
such as they are.

About 1839 there was a large number of Nantucket people who 
came to Ravenna, and some of the beautifully carved 
bedsteads, bureaus, and tables, and the quaintly ugly and 
grotesquely beautiful chairs are even more dear to the 
hearts of their present owners than to their original 
possessors.

Among these Nantucket people was Isaac BRAYTON, with his 
wife, Love MITCHELL, and their family.  Ravenna is proud of 
having been the home of Mary Ann BRAYTON (Mrs. F.W. 
WOODBRIDGE) who is known and loved in many lands.  Not only 
do we honor Mrs. WOODBRIDGE, the temperance evangel, but her 
friends love Mrs. WOODBRIDGE, the woman who, though great 
matters claimed her attention, could still remember the pet 
schemes of her humblest friends; who could place her fine 
library at the disposal of the poor girl starving for books; 
who could lavish her flowers with unsparing hand; whose 
ready sympathy and wise counsel lightened many a burden and 
lifted up many despairing ones.

Sarah ELY - belonging to a well-known Massachusetts family 
by that name - came to Deerfield, Portage county, with her 
parents in 1799, and the following year married John 
CAMPBELL.  It was perhaps the first marriage on the Western 
Reserve.  Four years later the young couple removed to 
Ravenna.

"During the war of 1812 Captain, afterward, General 
CAMPBELL, raised a company of soldiers and led it to the 
front of hostilities near Detroit.  There he either was 
wounded or fell ill, and returning as far as Sandusky, was 
unable to reach home.  His intrepid wife, upon learning of 
his condition, mounted her horse and set out alone through 
the wilderness to succor her husband.  Finding that he could 
not be cared for comfortably in Sandusky, she had him placed 
upon her horse and then led the animal all the way back to 
Ravenna.  Eleven children called her "mother," the older of 
whom, Anna A. FRASER, was born and died in Ravenna after a 
continuous residence of seventy-four years.

Honor RILEY ROBBINS was born in Weathersfield, Conn., and 
while yet in her teens accompanied her parents to Solon, 
Cuyahoga county.  Their objective point at first had been 
Cleveland, but upon his arrival at that place, Mr. ROBBINS 
was disappointed in the size of the town, and the serious 
prevalence of malaria.  He continued on to Solon and 
purchased a farm, upon which his grandchildren yet reside.

Anna was a girl of education and culture, and soon after her 
arrival in the Western Reserve found herself in demand at 
Ravenna as a teacher.  Here Robert Ely CAMPBELL, son of 
General CAMPBELL, met and won her and they were married in 
1829.

Mrs. CAMPBELL survived her husband many years, and today, at 
the age of ninety-three, resides with her daughter, Mrs. 
Orville SKINNER, at No. 91 Dorchester avenue, Cleveland.

Mrs. Horace SKINNER (Olive LANGDON) was one of the early 
settlers of Ravenna.  She was born in Salisbury, Conn., and 
about the year 1820, with her husband and eight children, 
began pioneer life on a small farm adjoining that of Richard 
THOMPSON, midway between Ravenna and Campbellsport.  Her 
eldest daughter, Olive, married Harris CURTISS, of 
Charlestown, O., and Fanny, the youngest daughter, married 
Gustavus LANE, of Ravenna.


Mrs. SKINNER’s six sons were all a credit to their mother’s 
training and counsel.  Only one remained here - John N.  The 
youngest boy became a judge in Oregon.

But many names worthy of extensive mention can only be 
noted.  During the war of 1812, Aunt Polly ROUNDY showed her 
patriotism and her goodness of heart by preparing bountiful 
meals for the soldiers as they passed through the village.

Among the scholars which Achsah EGGLESTON had in her school 
in 1809 were Ruthallia and Lois Carter, who married Howard 
and Lester JUDD, and Samantha SMITH, who married Richard 
McBRIDE."

Eunice GOODRICH (Mrs. DE WOLF) came from Rootstown in 1803.  
Her daughter, Adaline (Mrs. R.S. ELKINS), has spent the 
greater portion of her life in Ravenna, and still occupies 
the old homestead west of town.  Although very dignified and 
reserved, there could be no more perfect a friend than Mrs. 
ELKINS.

Many a person has had cause to thank "Mother KELLEY" for 
speedy restoration to health on account of her nursing and 
counsel.  Mrs. KELLEY was the life of the social circle, 
although no one ventured the second time to measure swords 
with her in repartee.  Her two daughters, Martha and 
Lucinda, who died in 1838, are remembered as young women of 
unusually lovely character.

Mrs. John SKINNER (Mary ROUSE) combined a superior 
intellectual ability with tender charity and unbounded 
hospitality.  It is said that at her home have been 
entertained more people who have gained a national 
reputation than at any other home in Ravenna.  This home is 
now occupied by Mrs. Whiting CARTER with her husband and 
family.

Mrs. John FLETCHER and her mother, Mrs. Alexander LOWREY, 
came from Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1837.  They both remembered 
seeing Walter Scott throw pennies into the crowd of children 
who followed him.

Mrs. Andrew HERRIFF has many pleasant recollections of her 
home near Paris before she came to America in 1835.

Mrs. Lyman W. HALL, who at one time kept a select school in 
Ravenna, was a most efficient church worker, and attained an 
enviable reputation as a poet.

Mrs. Sylvester PARMELEE also, who before the was principal 
of a young ladies’ seminary in the South, wrote charming 
newspaper letters of travel.

Mrs. Spaulding BEACH, of Tallmadge, writes:  "I remember 
that while on my way to Deacon FULLER’s a drove of wild deer 
came out of the woods and ran across the road directly in 
front of us, I think quite near where the Erie Depot is 
located."

Mrs. H.S. BEEMAN also distinctly remembers seeing deer in 
this vicinity as late as 1833.

Mrs. Mary SWIFT WAITE and Mrs. Emily SWIFT MORRISON still 
occupy the beautiful SWIFT home.  From their childhood they 
have both possessed that charming grace of manner which made 
a flower given by them or a kindly word from their lips a 
thing to be cherished.

Another beautifully rounded character was that of Mrs. A.B. 
GRIFFIN.  Their home was always the "preachers’ home," her 
hands were never idle, her piety never wavered, and her 
charity never waned.

Others among the church workers were Mrs. George SOMERVILLE, 
Mrs. H.P. BRADFORD, Mrs. Lois HOTCHKISS POE, Mrs. WHITTLESEY 
and her daughter, Clarice WHITTLESSEY MEHARG, who belong to 
those successful Sunday school teachers who make the world 
brighter and better.

The lively sallies and interesting stories of Mrs. Carrie 
JENNINGS made her a welcome addition to any circle of her 
friends.

Mrs. Daniel DAY was long noted for her fine greenhouse, and 
as she petted and nursed her plants, her sweet face framed 
with silver hair, she seemed like one of her own sweet 
flowers.

Mrs. Eliza FRAZER EVANS was the first and only woman who has 
occupied the position of postmistress in Ravenna.  Her 
sister, Mrs. Ezra B. TAYLOR, formerly of Ravenna, is the 
mother of the talented Harriet TAYLOR UPTON.

      Emily DOTY M’BRIDE
      Chairman and Historian
Ravenna committee - Mrs. Emily D. McBRIDE, Mrs. Carrie E. 
ESTY, Mrs. Elmira D. DOTY, Mrs. Eliza KING, Mrs. Whiting 
CARTER, Mrs. A.J. JENNINGS