histofrandolph

HISTORY: RANDOLPH 1802 - 1850
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RANDOLPH 1802 - 1850

Randolph is located in the southern part of Portage
County, and is fifty miles from Cleveland. Previous to
its settlement it was owned by Col. Lemuel STORRS, of
Connecticut, and was named for his son, Henry Randolph
STORRS. It was first surveyed in 1797 by Amzi ATWATER
and Wareham SHEPHARD. The first settlers came in March,
1802, from, Connecticut. They were Bela HUBBARD, Salmon
WARD, Avad UPSON, wife and two sons, Salmon and Lorenzo,
Joseph HARRIS, and Calvin WARD.

To Mrs. Avad UPSON belongs the distinction of being the
first white woman to live in the township, and she was
also the mother of the first white child born in the
township, a daughter, Sophronia, born 1803. Sophronia
married Morris ADAMS for her first husband.

Mrs. Josiah WARD, with her husband and six children, in
company with their brother, Salmon WARD, came from
Jefferson County, New York, to Randolph in 1803. They
made the journey by lake in an open boat, and suffered
very much by exposure to cold.

One day, when Mrs. WARD was walking on a hill about one
mile west of the center, she exclaimed: "What a
beautiful spot this would be for a burying ground," and
only a short time afterwards, February, 1804, she was
buried on the spot she admired, and on this account it
was established as a burial ground. Her death was the
first of an inhabitant of the township.

Her daughter, Miss Clarissa WARD, married Bela HUBBARD in
1806. They were first married by a minister, but there
were some doubts raised to his being authorized legally
to solemnize marriage, so they were married again by a
justice of the peace in 1809. She was a very
conscientious woman, and at the time of her wedding the
only marriageable girl in the township. She was the
mother of four girls and four boys.

Her daughter, Mary, married a Mr. ROGERS, and moved to
Deerfield; Caroline married a Mr. HAYDEN and moved to
Michigan; Phoebe married a Mr. PERDY and moved to
Mogadore; Harriet married O. HENSTED and is still living.

Esther WARD, daughter of Mrs. Josiah WARD, married a Mr.
TUTTLE and moved to Michigan.

Mrs. Jehiel SAVAGE came from Middleton, Conn., in 1803,
with her husband and family. Also during this year came
Mrs. Timothy CULVER and Mrs. Daniel CULVER, with their
husbands and families. One morning, Mrs. Timothy CULVER
went to prepare breakfast for her family, and like "Old
Mother Hubbard," her cupboard was bare. She went out in
the fields and gathered nettles, boiled them, and her
family ate them without salt, or had anything else for
their breakfast.

After this queer repast Eliakim MERRIMAN, who was living
with them, took a bushel of corn on his back, went on
foot to Deerfield to get it ground into meal; waiting
until the meal was ground, he walked home with it, and
Mrs. CULVER cooked some without salt for their supper.

The next morning, with oxen and cart, he started for
Cleveland for a barrel of salt. The first night on the
road he hitched his oxen to a tree and lay down beside
them to sleep. The next day he arrived in Cleveland,
purchased his barrel of salt, and started home. The
second night he occupied the same bed as the first,
reaching home the third day. Mrs. CULVER then had plenty
of salt to season her nettle greens and corn mush. When
going to Cleveland he took an ax to chop a road for his
oxen and cart to pass.

Miss Hannah RUSSELL married Eliakim MERRIMAN June 16,
1806, the day of the great eclipse.

Mrs. Rufus BELDING (Miss Charlotte SABIN) came from
Cattaraugus, N.Y., in 1807. Her husband was the first
physician in Randolph.

Mrs. Ebenezer GOSS, with her husband and children, were
from Plymouth, Conn., arriving in this town in 1804. Her
daughter, Polly, married Abisha CHAPMAN and soon after
they moved away. Her son, David, married Hannah RYDER
and their home was a place of refuge for the widows and
orphans. Aunt Hannah was a good cook and always had
plenty on the table to eat.

During this year came Mrs. Oliver DICKINSON, with her
husband and children. She had four sons and two
daughters. Mr. and Mrs. DICKINSON were charter members
of the Congregational Church, in which they always took
an active part. Her son, Oliver Cromwell, married
Lovissa ROSE in 1812. She was born in Granville, Mass.,
1791, at which place a colony was formed in 1804, and
emigrated to Granville, Ohio. She came with her parents
in this company.

After her marriage to Mr. DICKINSON she took her bridal
tour on horseback, carrying her "trousseau" in saddle
bags; as there were no bridges in those days they had to
ford streams. Came to Randolph, 120 miles, where her
husband had provided a home. She was the mother of five
sons and four daughters. Three of the sons, at the call
of Father Abraham, went into his service. She was kind,
genial, charitable ever ready to do for others. "None
knew her but to love her." She died December 1869, in
Randolph, where she always lived after her marriage.
Thus lived and died the little blue-eyed woman, many
years known as "Aunt Lovissa."

Her oldest child died suddenly, and Dr. LEE of Randolph
and Dr. COOK of Atwater, held the postmortem examination,
and, it being the first one in this part of the country,
it created much excitement.

Percy ROBERTS of Middleton, Conn. Married Alpheus
DICKINSON, in 1824. She left one child, a good singer,
who is still living.

Mr. DICKINSON afterward married Mary JOHNSON, in 1826.
She is, as far as is known, the first woman to buy land
with her own money. She bought fifty acres for about two
dollars an acre with money she brought from the east with
her.

The fourth wife of Alpheus DICKINSON, Martha CURTISS, was
a singer, and always at church was able to be there. Her
apple pies were inquired for at "donation parties" and
picnics, long after they had been sampled out of sight,
though she always provided her quota.

Miss Lydia SABIN, the youngest child of Jeremiah and
Phoebe BURDSELL SABIN, was born in New York state. Her
mother died when she was a child. She came to Randolph
with her father and brothers in the fall of 1805. She
made her home with her brother-in-law, Dr. Rufus BELDING,
and married Calvin WARD December, 1814. They had eleven
children. Four daughters grew to womanhood. Miss Mary
WARD married Dr. J.C. FERGUSON, and moved to Mogadore,
Summit County, where she died. Miss Phoebe WARD married
Wesley STANFORD and died in Indiana. Miss Annie WARD
married Lorenzo Don JEROME and is yet living, also is
Miss Eunice WARD who married Geo. BROCKETT.

When Miss Lydia was a girl she was helping her Aunt Nancy
SEARS SABIN during harvest. One morning after the men
had gone to the field they went to the barn, caught a
pig, killed and dressed it, and roasted it before the
fire for dinner. At another time she and her daughter,
Mary, took one hundred pounds of wool, cut from the sheep
to make cloth; then carded, spun and wove it into cloth.
Mary was teaching school at one dollar per week, and she
would do her day's work (two and one-half round a day)
besides her school work. She was a good spinner, weaver
and knitter, and would often take her children's clothes
while they were in bed at night and wash them and have
them ready for them to put on in the morning. She died
at the age of 76 years.

Mrs. Isaac MERRIMAN (Esther MERRIMAN), with her husband
and one child, were from Wallingford, Conn., in 1805.
She was a great home body, and had seven children. Her
daughter, Jerusha, married Jonah HINE. They were great
lovers of flowers and had the first greenhouse in town.
Delight married Austin COLLINS. She was a fine cook, and
very neat housekeeper. Alvira married Wm MEANS; Nancy,
Robert ALEXANDER; and Lovinia, J.C. BRAINARD.

Mrs. Elathan JENNINGS (Miss Hanna GOSS) arrived with her
husband and children from Pennsylvania in 1807. Her
husband was a carpenter and he soon left his family to
provide for themselves. On the small stream west of the
center one-half mile, she shot many wild turkeys, and at
one time two at one shot of the rifle.

Her daughter, Elizabeth, taught school. She first
married Carver GOSS, and after his death, Joel PEGG. She
went to Canton, a distance of about twenty miles, on
horseback; bought and brought home her dishes and wedding
dress, which was calico, and cost a dollar a yard. She
spun and wove both wool and linen; she was a tailor by
trade and made their own clothes. She was a Thompsonian
doctor and sent for far and near. At one time a fire
broke out near her home, and being no men near, she
harnessed the horses and plowed a furrow around the
field.

Minerva, the daughter of Philo and Rosanna BEACH, was
born in Granby, Conn., in 1809. When she was six years
old her parents put their household goods in an ox-cart
and started for New Connecticut, in company with her
Uncle Andrew BEACH. They traveled "over the mountains"
to Pittsburg, through Beaver, Pa., to Deerfield, Portage
County, where she and her mother remained with relatives
until her father and uncle came to Randolph. When they
reached the corners, a mile and a half east of the
center, they had to cut their way half a mile north to
their claim, where they soon erected a house, splitting
logs for floors, hanging blankets for doors, and building
fires around the house to keep the wolves at bay.

In due time Mr. BEACH returned to Deerfield for his wife
and child. They were glad to get to their own home, even
though it was surrounded by thick woods and howling
wolves. Minerva had to go to school through the woods
for about two miles from home. When she was seventeen
years old she was married to Ben Ami ALLEN by Rev. Joseph
MERIAM, the first couple he married after being ordained
a minister. They united with the Disciple Church in
their youth. She lived within a quarter of a mile of her
father's home all her life. When she was married her
father bought a bedstead, for which he paid seventy-five
cents, on which she slept all her life, until her last
sickness of two weeks, when she was kindly cared for at
her son Munroe's.

After her husband's death in 1880 she lived entirely
alone (but only a few steps from her son's). She
suffered many privations of pioneer life. She was a
great worker and her home was a pattern of neatness. She
was a kind mother and every ready to lend a helping hand
to the needy. Peaceful, patient and gentle, she closed
her eyes in that last long sleep, June 10, 1896.

Mrs. Marcus SPELLMAN writes as follows:

"Among the early settlers came Deacon Festus SPELLMAN
and his wife, Hannah DICKINSON, and seven children, four
daughters and three sons. They emigrated from Granville,
Mass., and arrived in Randolph October, 1816, and settled
on the southwest center lot. The eldest daughter married
Almon B. COE and raised a family of four sons and one
daughter, who resides in Waupun, Wis. She is a woman of
remarkable executive ability and as willing as she is
able."

The second daughter, Aurilla, married a Mr. COOLEY and
died in Randolph.

The third daughter married Justin BELDING, merchant.
They had three daughters, the youngest, Mrs. GILLMAN, is
yet a resident of our village. Mrs. BELDING died in
1890, aged 84 years. She was an earnest Christian
worker.

The fourth daughter, Deborah, married Charles SANFORD of
Rootstown. They had four sons, only one living, O.M.
SANFORD.

The year 1818 was remarkable for sickness in Randolph,
occasioned by the overflowing of a large territory by a
mill pond, and among the many deaths was that of Deacon
SPELLMAN. Some months after his death his widow married
Dr. Rufus BELDING, who had nine living children. This
constituted a family of eighteen, and she performed well
the duties of housewife for so numerous a family, and yet
found time to bestow on her Savior ardent love, and to
perform good works. Two sons are yet living, M.F., who
resides in Rootstown in his 88th year, and the other Rev.
R.D., resides in Ft. Wayne, Ind.

During the removal an incident occurred which remains in
the memory eighty years after. The family being large,
the opportunities for lodging were various, but more
generally the floor was the bedstead for the children,
and on one occasion, the lad being unusually sleepy when
the mother wished to pack for a start, refused to
surrender his bed and she, motherlike told him she would
switch him.

He told her he would break her stick, and, true to her
word, she switched him, which only raised his ire, and,
to get even with her, called her a vile name and made
off, but kept his eye on father and mother as they were
counciling. Ere long the lad came into the hands of the
mother and then happened what remains in the memory.
Moral: If good words and gentle means will not reclaim
the wicked, they must be delt with more severely.

Miss Minerva GOSS married William ROGERS in 1817. She is
noted for her great memory. Very benevolent and ready to
go in sickness.

Miss Maria BEACH was only twelve years old when she came
from Connecticut in 1816 with her father's family. She
married Stephen CHURCHILL at the age of seventeen. She
was a great lover of flowers, always called on in
sickness, and a skilled weaver. Her sister-in-law, Mary
CHURCHILL was a noted school teacher.

Mrs. Norman HUMPHREYS (Miss Sarah KENNEDY) came from
Augustus, New York, in 1819, with her husband and two
children. Her daughter, Jane, married Levi MERRIMAN, and
is still living in Randolph, known to old and young as
Aunt Jane.

Almira CASE (Mrs. Timothy TERRY) was born in Simsbury,
Conn. Soon after her marriage in April, 1824, she
removed to Randolph and settled on the farm where she and
her husband lived and died. She was the mother of four
sons and four daughters and lived to see them all have
homes of their own. She was a member of the
Congregational Church.

Amanda GRISWOLD, born in New Hartford, Conn., in 1789,
married D.P. ELMORE in 1814. One child was born to them;
Elizabeth. About the first of June, 1819, they started
for Ohio. The mother and only one child, with household
goods were packed in an ox wagon; accompanied by D.K.
WHEELER and Jonah HINE. The journey to Randolph was made
on foot, occupying forty-seven days. They first lived
two miles south of the center, a few years after they
moved to the center, to the north-east corner of the
square, where they opened the first tavern kept in
Randolph. She died in 1872.

Miss Elizabeth Amanda ELMORE, the only child of Mr. and
Mrs. ELMORE, married Wm. STEDMAN; she was the mother of
three sons and two daughters, Helen and Ellen. A kind
neighbor, and true friend. Her devotion to her family
was one of the great characteristics of her life. She
was one of the pioneer band who early exposed the anti-
slavery cause, in a day when it cost to give utterance to
conviction. She lived to see the triumph of freedom, a
national jubilee.

Three sons with their father went to the front in the
Army of the Potomac, while she watched with bated breath
the reports of that army for three eventful years, and
hailed their return as a wife and mother only can.

She was one of the few who was presented with a volume
"Own Acre and its Harvest," a book published by the
Cleveland branch of the United States Sanitary
Commission. Within the space of five years she buried
her parents, husband, and three children. She died in
Randolph, where she had always lived, March 2, 1880.

Mrs. Clarissa S. AUSTIN, commenced Feb. 21, 1821, pioneer
life in Ohio, moving with her husband and four small
children on the wild, uncultivated land once owned by a
Mr. BACON. A double log house, a fire place and chimney
made of stone, bake oven to chimney. On starting a fire,
a large possum came out from the oven, down into the room
with the family.

They had a trap door leading to the cellar, a hole dug
out to put some things for family use; Mrs. AUSTIN went
to her cellar one day bare footed, soon she called for
help, for there were snakes in the cellar; her husband,
with her help, brought out a black snake and stretched it
out eleven feet in length, and large around in
proportion; the next day they caught the mate, the same
size. This was the beginning of pioneer life in Ohio.
At another time they had a small flock of sheep, twelve
in all; the wolves attacked them in the night and killed
three of them. Mrs. AUSTIN got up, took the coarse
furniture out of one room of the log house, and helped
drive the sheep into it to save their lives.

Mrs. AUSTIN was a very devoted religious woman. She
would walk two and a half miles to church on the Sabbath.
She would carry her stockings and shoes in her hand, and
when near the meeting house she would put them on, and on
her return do the same. They had no horses or wagons;
having no money, could have no luxuries.

Her son, Hiram, married Miss Elizabeth SEARS, and she is
today the oldest living person born in the township.
Mrs. AUSTIN is a good housekeeper, and an earnest
Christian worker.

Miss Betsey SLEATH was born in England in 1798; when four
years old, she came with her father to Wallinford, Conn.
January, 1817, she married Albert BROCKETT, and about May
1st, 1825, they started for Ohio, with three children and
their few household goods packed in a one-horse covered
wagon. They bought themselves a home one mile and a
quarter east of the center, where she died August, 1843.
She was the mother of six daughters and three sons.
Three of the daughters are living in Randolph today.
Mrs. Lodema B. BELTES, Mrs. Mary B. FENTON, and Mrs.
Alvina B. SHOOK. Mrs. BROCKETT owned the first tin baker
in Randolph. She was always kind to the poor.

Miss Fidelia MORSE was from Wallingford, Conn., in 1827.
She was a fine singer and good nurse, also a weaver and
spinner.

Mrs. Josiah BROCKETT (Miss Rebecca RAYMOND) came from
Connecticut in 1829, with her husband. She was a noted
housekeeper, and the mother of four daughters and four
sons; all the daughters are living. Mrs. Susan REDFIELD
and Mrs. Ellen JARIAN live at Randolph; Mrs. Belinda
BELTES, in Talmadge, and Mrs. Lucinda ELLIOTT at Ravenna.
Her mother who was blind for several years, lived with
her, and is always spoken of as a very patient old lady.

In January 1826, she who the day before was Miss Emiline
BIDWELL, now the wife of Rev. Joseph MERIAM, started from
Madison, Lake County. A one-horse wagon contained a
feather bed and her little all for housekeeping. The
roads were bad, but her experience in coming from
Middleton, Conn., had taught her patience in traveling.
Between Buffalo and Erie, with the upsetting of wagon and
the miring of teams, their little company worked hard for
eight house to get through the four-mile woods.

Wise to plan and strong to do she assisted her husband in
his parish duties. Three-fourths of his small salary was
by agreement to be paid in produce, wheat being reckoned
at one dollar a bushel and other things in proportion.

Hence, industry and economy were necessary on her part to
make ends meet and keep her five children comfortable.
It was her tact and social nature that made successful
and attractive forty successive New Year donation parties
at the parsonage. Of nearly two hundred weddings
solemnized by the pastor, the greater number took place
in her "front room" By her kind words and genial
manners the most timid were made to feel at perfect ease.
The wedding cake was never lacking.

Her sympathetic nature was shown in the following
incident. A neighbor, Mrs. DICKINSON, died leaving a
babe six weeks old. Mrs. MERIAM immediately took it into
her care and keeping. Her own babe was nearly the same
age. When both babes cried at once, Walter, "the poor
motherless one," was always the first to receive
attention.

At the organization of a Sunday school she refused to
take a class already collected, but gathered one from the
highways and hedges. This was not new work for her.
When only nineteen years of age while teaching at
Waterford, Penn., she organized a Sabbath school with
seventy scholars, though at that time she had never seen
a Sabbath school. Evening meetings at the parsonage were
frequent. Those coming from a distance through the woods
would, on their return, light their way with a torch of
hickory shagbark, for an all evening meeting of those
days commenced at early candle lighting.

At one time she and other ladies were visiting at a
neighbor's. As they returned to the parlor from the tea
table a large rattlesnake came out from its place of
concealment on the bureau. It probably came in the
morning through an open window. On another day she was
called out of doors by her husband, when she saw lying in
the path a rattlesnake which he had just killed. Her
grandfather was on General Washington's staff.

She was personally acquainted with her great grandfather
and great grandson, making seven generations.

On a stone in Sand Hill cemetery in inscribed, "Rev.
Joseph MERIAN, for 64 years pastor of the Congregation
Church in Randolph, the longest pastorate in the United
States." On another side of the monument: "Emeline
BIDWELL, wife of Rev. Joseph MERIAM, died March 1st,
1803. A helpmeet, indeed. Her children also rise up and
call her blessed."

Miss Fanny RYDER was born in Vermont, 1796. Came to
Hiram with her father in 1814. Married Silas BELTES, of
Talmadge, in 1819; lived in Akron at the time of the
building of the Ohio canal. She cooked for twenty men
and cared for a family of four small children. All the
assistance she had was a young girl of fourteen years of
age; and, to make her burden heavier, her little boy of
four years old, was brought home to her one day with a
broken leg.

She moved from Akron to Randolph and then back to
Talmadge. When the cholera reached Akron in 1830 she
used to walk from her home to Akron to help take care of
the sick, coming home every third day to look after her
family of four small boys. She took care of a husband
and wife, sick with the cholera, both dying, and no one
but herself to do anything for them until they were ready
for burial. The neighbors would come to the fence to
inquire if she needed anything, but dare not enter for
fear of catching the dreaded disease.

In 1832, after the death of her husband, she moved back
to Randolph, where she was married to Fredrick DYE, who
died in 1856. She afterwards married Samuel Buel
SPELLMAN, of Rootstown.

Her life was a busy one. She learned to weave in her
girlhood and afterwards learned the tailor's trade. Her
webs of cloth always held out full measure after they
came from the loom, and her seams never ripped, no
buttons came off. She found time during her busy life to
read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelations over
thirty times. She was familiar with its teachings and
tried to make them practical in her life. She was a
member of the Disciple Church of Randolph for almost
sixty years. She was familiarly known by old and young
as simply "Aunt Fanny." She died in 1885, aged 89
years.

Mrs. Hiram WINCHELL (Miss Olive GOODWIN), born in
Harwinton, Conn., 1799; came to Randolph in 1827. Her
parents were wealthy, but marrying against their wishes,
they disowned her. Mr. WINCHELL was naturally a very
smart man, but whiskey ruined him. He died in 1854,
after which she lived entirely alone in her little two-
room house, save her numerous cats and house plants.
That terribly cold morning, December 9, 1882, which is
well remembered, her house caught fire and burned to the
ground with all its contents and she in it. A sad ending
of two unhappy lives.

Mrs. LADD (Miss Mary CHAPMAN) arrived in 1827, a widow
with three sons and two daughters. She was a very useful
woman; always called on in sickness and ready to do any
kind act. She was very poor, but bravely struggled with
poverty. She wove and spun.

Mrs. Otis MERRIMAN (Miss Phoebe HART) came to Randolph in
1833. She had three sons and three daughters. Martha
married Wesley PLUMMER; Mary married John RANDALL. Mrs.
MERRIMAN married James COLLAR in 1879. She practiced
midwifery and is a good nurse. She is known to old and
young as Aunt Phoebe. She is an earnest Christian worker
and a member of the Disciple Church.

Mrs. Henry BRUMBAUGH (Miss Catherine STIFFLER) came from
Pennsylvania to Randolph in 1832. She raised a large
family of children.

Miss Temperance HUTCHINSON, from Danbury, Conn., moved to
Hudson in 1806. She married Samuel CHENEY and came to
Randolph in 1836. A strong, religious character. She
was a famous spinner. She was at one time teaching
school, from which she was discharged for keeping company
with her future husband.

Betsey HINE was born in Milford, Conn., and married
Joseph CLARKE, a resident of the same town in 1813. They
moved to Randolph in 1836, and to Cuyahoga Falls in 1851.
Mary E., only child of Betsey and Joseph CLARKE, was born
in Connecticut in 1815, came to Randolph with her parents
in 1836. She was married to C.D. FARRAR from Vermont in
1838 by Rev. Joseph MERIAM.

For many years Mrs. FARRAR was an mantua-maker, in which
she excelled. A lady in town has a dress Mrs. FARRAR
made for her more than fifty years ago, that in needle-
work the young ladies of today might pattern from.

One child was born to them, Harriet. About 1850, with
her family, she moved to St. Albans, Vt. Her husband
died in 1870; the following year she went to Boston,
Mass., to live with her daughter and family. She is in
her eighty-second year and still does any amount of
knitting, embroidery and fancy work, of which she is an
artist.

We are indebted to Mr. E.P. BRAINARD of Mantua for the
following sketch of his mother:

Nancy POST BRAINARD-MITCHELL was the third daughter of
Josiah and Lydia (nee PLATTS) POST, born in Saybrook,
Conn., July 26, 1788. In the spring of 1803, when Nancy
was fifteen years old, her father, with his wife and
seven children removed to Leyden, Lewis County, New York,
which was then a primeval forest. Having made the best
of her school opportunities in her native town, soon
after settling in the new home she engaged in teaching,
with more than ordinary success. July 5, 1823, she
married Joseph BRAINARD, by whom she was the mother of
four sons and one daughter. This union was replete with
happiness to both husband and wife, until the death of
the former, which occurred March, 1831. When Mrs.
BRAINARD was left a widow with the care of five young
children, then it was that her superior executive ability
manifested itself in her good management, parental care
and devotion to the best good of her fatherless children.

At the age of sixteen she united with the Baptist Church;
to the time of her death she continued a zealous,
consistent member, and her life was adorned by all the
virtues of a Christian character, and she never missed
the opportunity of imparting to her children, as well by
precept as example, the principles of integrity and
honor, which formed the basis of her own character.
March, 1835, she married Deacon Jotham MITCHELL, of
Steuben, New York. In March, 1837, she and her husband
removed to Ohio, and in 1839 settled in Randolph, where
she died, 1865, aged 76 years. Her death resulted from
the effects of a fall.

Mrs. MITCHELL possessed a retentive memory and a sound,
logical mind; a great reader and strong reasoner. As
wife, mother and friend, she was kind, steadfast, ardent
in her nature, self-sacrificing, devoted and
affectionate. Human suffering always excited her warmest
sympathies, and she was ever ready with a helping hand to
mitigate it.

The first religious services were held in 1806 at the
home of Oliver DICKINSON.

The first church (Congregational) was organized on July
5, 1892 <sic>, by Rev. John SEWARD, and comprised twelve
members. When the schoolhouse at the center was
completed, religious services were held therein. A
Methodist society was organized in 1810, consisting of
ten members, and a Baptist society of about the same
number in 1819. In 1832 the Congregational society
erected a church, and the year following the Methodists
built their first house of worship.

The Disciple Church was organized in 1828 out of the
Methodist, Baptist, and Congregational societies, and in
1860 erected a house of worship. Their new church was
erected in 1884 and completed in the spring of 1885.

The German Reformed church was founded in the township at
an early day, and in 1857 the members of this society
erected a house of worship.

Time and space forbid mention of others worthy of notice,
and are connected with the early pioneer life of the
town. But we all can pay a tribute of respect to our
brave, loving pioneer women who toiled so patiently and
bravely to make homes in the unbroken wilderness.