From Christopher G. Crary
(1806-aft 1893)
Pioneer and Personal Reminiscences
(Marshalltown, IA: 1893)
"I think Warren Corning was the next settler west. He was a man of much enterprise and public spirit. He had been there some years -- kept tavern, and I suppose dispensed good liquors. He built and operated a distillery on his own premises, also one in Kirtland a few years later. He did not mean that the early settlers should suffer for the want of spirituous comforts, which were then considered a part of the necessaries of life."
"About the year 1819 Warren Corning, of Mentor, erected a log distillery at Kirtland Flats. It was thought to be of great benefit and a valuable acquisition; it would call in settlers, increase business, make a market for corn, enable us to obtain whisky easily without paying cash. Another great benefit would be the obtaining of yeast at the still-house better than could be made at home. Baking powder was at that day unknown. Our expectations from the distillery were fully realized but not appreciated. It made it very convenient to get good yeast. I was sent for it once, and, being naturally rather indiscreet, told my mother what I saw and the language I heard there; she concluded that she could get along with home-made yeast after that, and I was sent there no more. It made it convenient to get whisky, but did not increase our home comforts. It made a market for corn, but did not increase our cash receipts. It brought in some inhabitants, but did not improve the morals of the place. It made some business for the magistrates and constables, but did not promote peace, good will, charity, or any of the graces that adorn the present age. From being a blessing, as was hoped, the still-house became an unmitigated curse. It became a resort for a score or more of hard drinkers, holding high and sometimes pugilistic carnival, while some of the their families at home were suffering for the necessities of life. I will say that those who frequented the old still-house were not all from Kirtland; each adjoining township furnished its full quota of those who congregated there, and made night, and sometimes day, hideous with the revelry. I will relate their doings one night: A Methodist brother, whom it was thought had joined the church for a cloak to hide his thievish propensities, was caught one night with a sheep that did not belong to him. He was brought before the church and excommunicated. The still-house habitues, feeling sympathy for his lonely condition, concluded to take him back into the world, set the time, and invited him to attend, which he accordingly did. On so important an occasion there was a large attendance, and with much ceremony he was regularly taken back into the world, and given all the privileges and immunities of an unrepenting sinner. They procured a quantity of codfish, and together with this and whisky, partook of the sacrament and wound up with a kind of love-feast. They did not wash each other's feet, as some sects do, but they painted each other's eyes black, and put on the head of one of their number into the arch, burning his hair off and disfiguring his face for life.
The old distillery may have been a success financially, but morally and physically it was a failure. The son of the owner, a promising young man, who bid fair to make his mark in the world, from constant use of whisky became a sot, almost mindless. Of the half dozen or more men that operated the still during its existence of thirteen or fourteen years, three of them died from effects of occupation and excessive use of whisky. They were all men in the prime of life, and bid fair, with prudence, to attain a good old age. A young man left the still one cold night, loaded a little too heavy. He lay down for a nap, and, when found, his feet and legs to his knees were frozen. By taking the frost out with cold water I believe his legs were saved, although in a crippled condition. An old gentleman from a neighboring town brought his jug to the still, had it filled, and started for home. He got up in the neighborhood of where Mr. Sleemin now lives, went into the bushes, lay down and died. He was not found for several days, and was too much decayed to remove. A hole was dug beside him and he was rolled in, and his jug after him, to cheer him in his lonely grave. If the spot could be found by digging, some pure whisky nearly fifty years old, might be obtained, which would be valuable in these days of adulterated and poisoned liquor. It would be both interesting and profitable could we know how many years of life had been cut off and shortened by that still-house -- taking those who operated it and those who patronized it, numbering perhaps thousands during the fourteen years of its existence. But this can be known only by Him who numbers the hairs of our head. In 1833 the distillery and fixtures were to be sold, the owner William Carrel, having died. The concern because such a nuisance that the temperance people clubbed together -- ten or twelve of them -- Judge Allen, of Willoughby, bidding it off to them. When sold, Captain Morse told me that he lost only seven dollars, and thought it money well laid out. I should before this have stated that the old log still was burned and replaced by a frame building."
Mentor Pioneer (Center Street School) Cemetery This now extinct burying ground was at the present Center Street Elementary School. It was on the northwest corner of Center Street (SR 615) and Mentor Avenue (US 20). It was probably where the current gymnasium and auditorium are. This corner property was deeded to the Village of Mentor School District No. 2 on 10 March 1832 by Warren Corning and Moses Kerr for use of the School District and the discharge of all necessary township business.