pioneerwomenravenna

HISTORY: PIONEER WOMEN OF RAVENNA

PIONEER WOMEN OF RAVENNA

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