TRUMBULL COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Trumbull County (published 1925) *************************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com February 15, 1999 *************************************************************************** HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 Volume I, page 434, 436, 437 TRUMBULL COUNTY Trumbull County was formed in 1800. On July 10 of that year Governor St. Clair proclaimed that "all that territory included in Jefferson County, lying north of the forty-first degree of north latitude and all that part of Wayne county included in the Connecticut Western Reserve should constitute a new county to be known by the name of Trumbull and that the seat of justice should be Warren. This made the new county co-extensive with the Western Reserve. The county was named for Governor Johnathan Trumbull, Jr., then governor of Connecticut. His family was a prominent one. His father, Johnathan Trumbull, Sr., also governor of Connecticut, was the only royal governor at the outbreak of the Revolution who supported the colonists and continued in office. He is said to have been the original "Brother Johnathan," a title which was conferred by George Washington, who relied on his counsel often and called him "Brother Johnathan." Through most of the years since the creation of the county its leading occupation was agriculture. The importance of that industry still is indicated by the following statistics for the year 1923: Acres of corn, 20,000, bushels, 700,000; wheat, 15,000 acres, 315,000 bushels; oats, 24,000 acres, 912,000 bushels; barley, 90 acres, 2,340 bushels; rye, 910 acres, 14,560 bushels; buckwheat, 3,155 acres, 63,100 bushels; tons of hay, 72,000; potatoes, 2,820 acres, 259,440 bushels; number of head of horses in 1924, 9,790; cattle, 32,780; dairy cows, 26,180; swine, 12,160; sheep, 10,210; land in farms in 1920, 330,510 acres; average size of farms, 53.2 acres. The county for many years has stood high in dairy products. While agriculture is still and will continue to be an important occupation, the great manufacturing industries of the Mahoning Valley are steadily advancing northward from Youngstown, and giving distinctive character to the county. Already its three cities include more than half of its population. Although Trumbull, since its creation by proclamation, has given of its territory to form Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lorain, Erie, Huron, Medina and Portage, nearly all of Summit, a small portion of Ashland and almost one-half of Mahoning counties, its population, in spite of its diminishing area through the different decades, has almost uniformly increased as indicated by the census reports. it had in 1800 a population of 1,302; 1820, 8,671; 1820, 15,542; 1830, 26,153; 1840, 38,107; 1850, 30,490; 1860, 30,656; 1870, 38,659; 1880, 44,880; 1890, 42,373; 1900, 46,591; 1910, 52,766; 1920, 83,920; area, 633 square miles; population per square mile, 132.6. Following are the townships of the county; Bazetta, Bloomfield, Braceville, Bristol, Brookfield, Champion, Farmington, Fowler, Greene, Gustavus, Hartford, Howland, Hubbard, Johnston, Kinsman, Liberty, Lordstown, Mecca, Mesopotamia, Newton, Southington, Vernon, Vienna, Warren, and Weathersfield. Trumbull County has three municipalities of city grade: Warren, Niles and Girard. Warren, the county seat and the original "capital of the Western Reserve," is on the Mahoning River and the Erie, Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio railroads, fourteen miles northeast of Youngstown and fifty-two miles southeast of Cleveland. We are told that it was first platted in 1801 by Ephraim Quinby and named for Moses Warren of Lyme, Connecticut. If this statement, made on the authority of Howe, is correct, the town must have been in existence earlier, for St. Clair designates it as the seat of justice of the newly created county in his proclamation of July 10, 1800. it was incorporated March 3, 1835, and the first municipal officers were elected on April 5 of that year. The manufacturing industries of Warren were at first of slow growth. In 1888 the capital invested in these amounted to $368,500 and the annual product was valued at $613,000-a good return for the money invested. In 1919 the city had ninety-six manufacturing establishments employing 3,036 persons and a capital of $11,229,221. The value of the annual product was $19,747.396. The manufactured articles include a wide variety: Stoves, boilers, automatic sprinklers, furniture, machinery, electric lamps, earthen ware, marble goods, cereals, paints, plumbers' supplies, sweepers, drinking fountains, shovels and iron goods. Since the government census survey, important steel works have been erected here. The city has real estate and personal property valued for purposes of taxation in 1923 at $64,221,310. Population (1920), 27,050. The preceding census (1910) it was 11,081. Niles was laid out by James Heaton and his son, Warren, in 1834. It was called "Niles" from the Niles Register, published in Baltimore, Maryland. The Register was Mr. Heaton's favorite paper. The village was incorporated in 1865. Almost from its beginning this was a manufacturing place. As early as 1846 it had a blast furnace, a rolling mill and a nail factory. Among the men early engaged in the iron business was William McKinley, Sr., the father of President William McKinley. In 1888 the manufacturing industries of Niles employed 1,031 persons and a capital of $380,000. The value of the annual product was estimated at $1,551,400. In 1919 the city had forty industrial establishments, employing 3,257 persons and a capital of $14,834,187. The value of the annual output was $18,358,773. It has large airplane, iron, steel and chemical works, rolling mills, blast furnaces, boiler and metal roof factories, machine shops and fire-brick works. The value of personal and real property for purposes of taxation in 1923 was $24,025,440. Population (1920), 13,080. Niles has excellent transportation facilities. Electrical lines connect it with the larger cities in Northeastern Ohio, while it has the Erie, Baltimore & Ohio, and Pennsylvania railroads. It is located eight miles northwest of Youngstown. Niles is known in every land as the birthplace of William McKinley, president of the United States. His memory is cherished here, not only on the spot where his eyes first opened to the light, but in a substantial and beautiful memorial building, the home of the local library and the treasure-house of the mementoes of the man Whose life in low estate began And on a simple village green; and whose interests in the industrial world into which he was born carried him ultimately to the highest place in the gift of his countrymen. Girard is so near Youngstown, Mahoning County, as to be almost a suburb of that city, which it closely resembles in it manufacturing industries. In 1887 it employed in five establishments 550 men and the annual product was valued at $1,695,000. It has kept pace with the times, is increasing rapidly in population and the annual output of its manufactured products. The value of personal and real property, in 1923, listed for taxation, was $10,271,010. Population (1920), 6,556. The incorporated villages of the county and the (1920) population of each are: Cortland, 750; Hubbard, 3,320; Newton Falls, 1,100; McDonald, 621; West Farmington, 317; Orangeville, 222. First in eminence among the sons of this county is William McKinley. Others known to fame have been identified with it. Among those born outside of the state are: General Simon Perkins, pioneer land agent of the Erie Land Company, who first came to the Reserve in 1798 and permanently settled there in 1804. He was an officer in the War of 1812, a member of the Board of Canal Fund Commissioners, a successful banker and identified until his death with the business interests of the county. Of his six sons, Simon Perkins, Jr., became prominent in the business affairs of Akron. Jacob Dolson Cox, state senator, major-general in the Civil war, governor of Ohio and secretary of the interior in the cabinet of Grant, was for a time superintendent of schools at Warren and subsequently practiced law there. Among those born in the state, but in another county, are: Ezra B. Taylor, judge and congressman, and his daughter, Harriet Taylor Upton, author, lecturer and nationally known leader in the movement for woman's suffrage. Among those born in the county are: Milton Satliff, anti-slavery advocate and judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Elizabeth Hauser, associated with Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton in the woman's suffrage movement and secretary of the National League of Women Voters. In the unincorporated Village of Bristolville, about one mile from Bristolville Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad north of Warren, on March 15, 1835, was born John Henri Kagi, the youth whose mane was once in almost every newspaper of the United States. He was with John Brown at Harper's Ferry and was killed there October 17, 1859. Singularly his name does not seem to appear in any county or other local history. A sketch will be found on another page of this work. Following is the list of county officers for 1925: Probate judge, Joseph Smith; clerk of courts, Joseph S. Hughes; sheriff, J.H. Smith; auditor, Mary Van Houter; county commissioners, Isaac B. Jacobs, Thomas H. Madden, Joseph Rummell; treasurer, Frank Musser; recorder, George W. Moser; surveyor, Ralph G. Taylor; prosecuting attorney, W.W. Pierson; coroner, John C. Henshaw; superintendent of schools, John C. Berg; agricultural agent, G.S. Woods. ==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====