CUYAHOGA COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Middleburg
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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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Middleburg

“Going West” was a great undertaking in 1809 when Jared 
HICKOX and family made their way from Waterbury, Conn., to 
Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and located in “number six range 
fourteen” - since 1820 Middleburg township.  Mrs. Rachel 
(MERRILL) HICKOX “kept house” in their wagon while her 
husband and sons felled trees and built their log cabin, 
which, though small, was large enough for its furnishings, 
the most important being the children, four sons and as many 
daughters.  The HICKOXES were the first permanent settlers 
in the township.  They chose a location which included Lake 
Abram, because of its fish and excellent variety of frost 
grapes in the locality.  A little north of Lake Abram was 
Podunk Swamp, in the center of which was a piece of firm 
ground that later became the hiding place of a band of 
counterfeiters, who for years, carried on their business 
undiscovered.

Untold hardships and dangers fell to the lot of the brave 
woman, already past middle life, who so willingly did her 
full share of work, and did it well, whether in baking 
Johnnycakes, hetcheting flax, running bullets, or burning 
brush.  Indeed, Mrs. HICKOX never gave it a thought to the 
“sphere” question, but like other women who soon followed 
her to the unbroken wilderness, wrought out to its grand 
solution the problem of woman’s fitness for heroic endeavor 
in the interest of home, church, and state.

The year following their arrival Mr. HICKOX went to Newburg, 
then larger than Cleveland, to purchase a yoke of steers.  
His path was marked by blazed trees.  As he did not return 
at the expected time members of the family went in search of 
him, for the dense forest was full of danger, and were 
horrified at finding his lifeless body not many miles from 
his home.  He had unyoked his oxen, and was found in a 
sitting posture, leaning against a tree, where he had 
breathed his life away, evidently without a struggle.

There were neither undertakers nor sawmills in that lonely 
region, but from the boards of their wagon box they made his 
coffin, and, with simple rites, laid him to rest on his own 
farm, later known as the Hepburn place.

The next year his married son, Nathaniel, fell a victim to 
typhus fever, the deadly scourge of the new settlement.  His 
grave, with those of numerous descendants, may still be seen 
in the old-time burial place.  Two years after the arrival 
of the HICKOX family, Abram FOWLS and a younger brother 
walked from Connecticut to Middleburg.  Abram, with but 
$2.50 in his pocket, selected his farm on what has long been 
known as the Fowls road.  He soon formed the acquaintance of 
Rachel Ann HICKOX who became his bride in 1812.  This was 
the first couple married in Middleburg, which at this time 
contained five or six families, scattered and defenseless, 
whom the declaration of war had filled with apprehension.  A 
blockhouse had been erected in Columbia, where the people 
fled for safety when threatened with assaults by Indians.  
At such times all the able bodied men for miles around were 
called out for its defense.  When the last call was made 
Rachel Ann FOWLS refused to go to the little fortress 
whither her husband had been summoned, and remained in her 
home alone, with the exception of the young brother of Mr. 
FOWLS, they being for a time the only white persons in 
Middleburg.  Not long after, in the shadow of isolation and 
alarm, a baby came to the young mother in the FOWLS cabin, 
the first white child born in the township.

This daughter, Lucy, became Mrs. Nathan GARDNER, whose long 
married life was spent in the neighborhood where she was 
born.  Her only daughter, a sweet-spirited, beautiful girl, 
married Charles THORPE of Warrensville, where she died.  
Mrs. FOWLS was the mother of ten children.  Her fifty-five 
years were marked with patient, fearless devotion to duty.  
A daughter, Mrs. Roxanna FOWLS, is still living in 
Cleveland.

The other daughters of Jared HICKOX, Sr., Mrs. Lucy OSBORN, 
Mrs. Hannah DILLINGHAM, and Mrs. Esther DILLE, were 
praiseworthy women.  Eri HICKOX was eighteen years old when 
the family came to Ohio.  Five years later he married Alma 
HOADLEY, of Columbia, where, after a protracted residence in 
Middleburg, they spent the closing years of their lives.  
The family consisted of five daughters and a son, Azor, who 
died when eight years of age.

The training of young ideas was begun in season in pioneer 
times.  Little Jemima HICKOX, when four and one-half years 
of age, was sent to live with her grandparents at Columbia, 
that she might go to school.  Her teacher was Betsey 
NESBITT.  It was not unusual for children even younger to be 
made to study and to work.  But they grew and thrived, were 
strong-limbed, clear-brained, and self-reliant to a degree 
not yet excelled by our modern kindergartners.

One day Miriam and Jemima HICKOX were permitted to go to a 
neighbor’s half a mile distant to spend the day while their 
parents went to Columbia.  The children, aged eight and six 
respectively, started off in high glee.  They were familiar 
with the path through the woods, and were not at all afraid 
until about half through, when Miriam saw a huge bear.  They 
did not scream nor cry, but turned and ran home.  Their 
parents had gone, and the fire was carefully covered with 
ashes.  Being sensible little maidens, they did not rake it 
open, but cuddled under the covers of their trundle-bed, 
scarcely daring to breathe, lest the bear would find them.  
After a while a neighbor, who also was on his way to 
Columbia, chance to call, and soon as possible informed Mr. 
and Mrs. HICKOX of the uncomfortable situation of their 
children, whom, on their return, they found in bed, where 
they had lain nearly all day.

Another time Mr. and Mrs. HICKOX went to a meeting held in 
Ephraim WAUGHN’s log house, which stood on the site occupied 
later by John BALDWIN’s old red house leaving the children 
at home alone.  The time seemed long, and while watching for 
their parents’ homecoming, they saw two Indians crossing the 
little clearing - coming toward the house.  Terribly 
frightened the children ran and hid behind a log, but the 
Indians found them, and said they were after a lost saddle, 
which Mr. HICKOX had found; then went away.  The little 
girls feared their parents had been killed, but were soon 
overjoyed by their safe return.

Mr. Eri HICKOX built the first frame house in Middleburg.  
Mrs. HICKOX came to Columbia with her father’s family from 
Connecticut in 1807.  She was twelve years old.  Several 
others were in the company.  They were two months in 
reaching Buffalo, west of which there were no roads.  Here 
the party separated; some decided to continue the journey by 
land, the others, among whom were Alma’s parents, by water.  
After a long and terrific battle with winds and waves they 
reached Cleveland, where they were joyfully received by the 
rest of the company, who had arrived several days before.  
At this time there were but seven log houses in Cleveland.  
One of those who walked from Buffalo was Mrs. Bela BRONSON, 
who carried her child in her arms to the place, fifty miles 
west of Erie, where they were met by teams sent for them 
from Cleveland.  The child was Shalock BRONSON, who 
afterward became the eminent Episcopal clergyman and 
president of Kenyon College.

Mrs. Miriam BAKER, Mrs. Weltha SABIN, Mrs. Harriet VAUGHN, 
Mrs. Almira WILDER, and Mrs. Rachel Jemima HOADLEY, 
daughters of Mrs. And Mrs. Eli HICKOX, were noble women.  
The last mentioned, Mrs. HOADLEY, resides in Cleveland with 
her daughter, Mrs. Dr. VAN NORMAN.  She is a bright, 
intelligent, lovable woman, to whom the historian is largely 
indebted for data.

Mention has been made of Nathaniel HICKOX, who died two 
years after his arrival.  His five children found homes in 
Euclid.  His widow, who married Roswald SCOVILLE, was ill at 
a time when an alarm caused by the report, “The savages are 
coming!” drove the terrified settlers to the blockhouse at 
Hudson, thirty miles away.  Having no other means of 
conveyance, Mr. SCOVILLE securely tied a feather bed upon an 
unbroken pet colt, on which he placed his wife and three 
weeks old baby, they riding and the husband leading the colt 
through tangled woods the entire distance, but they reached 
the blockhouse in safety.

Among Middleburg’s pioneer women deserving honorable mention 
were the wives of the VAUGHNS, Ephraim, Richard, and 
Jonathan, Mrs. MEEKER, and Mrs. Daniel FAIRCHILD.  Ephraim 
VAUGHT was commissioned by the Governor as the first justice 
of the peace.  The first school was taught in his house 
1822-23, by Levi CASTLE, afterward a prominent Methodist 
minister of the Genessee conference.  His mother, Olive 
(BRONSON) CASTLE, was the courageous woman who rode from 
Waterbury, Conn., to Ohio on horseback alone.  Years later 
she and her widowed daughter and her two girls joined the 
Shakers at Warrensville, where they spent the remainder of 
their lives.  Mrs. CASTLE’s brother came from Connecticut on 
foot in 1805, but soon returned in the same way.  Four years 
later he walked back again to Ohio, and settled here.  When 
the war of 1812 broke out, and the settlers were in danger 
of Indian massacres, his wife, with four children, the 
eldest a girl of thirteen, the youngest an infant boy, left 
Cleveland for Connecticut with a horse, saddle, and bridle.  
The journey required four weeks - the resolute mother 
walking the entire distance.  Three years later she started 
back, better equipped for the long, wearisome journey, 
herself and children in a lumber wagon; but her money gave 
out, which left her stranded on the road.  She then hired 
out the two oldest daughters at fifty cents a week, while 
she worked for her board and that of the younger children.  
When enough money had been earned she hitched up and 
continued the journey, reaching Cleveland in March, 1816.

About this time several families were added to the little 
colony, among these Thaddeus LATHROP, wife, and five 
children, the eldest, Susan, nine years old.  Susan became 
the wife of Benjamin TUTTLE, who erected a small shop on the 
bank of Rocky river, where he tanned leather and made shoes.  
Susan is credited with having made the coat, vest, and 
trousers worn by Mr. TUTTLE at their wedding.  Soon after 
they began housekeeping, she made a coat for the miller and 
took for pay a barrel of flour.  The family moved to 
Strongsville, where the closing years of this estimable 
couple were spent.

In 1816 a Methodist camp meeting was held near Cleveland, 
and some of the Middleburg people attended it and became 
deeply impressed with the importance of religious 
advantages.  They began holding meetings in each other’s 
houses, singing, praying, and exhorting with such fervor 
that several were converted.  Soon after, Rev. Jacob WARD, 
of Brunswick came and formed a Methodist Society, the first 
religious organization in the township.

Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler WELLMAN were followed the next year by 
Mr. WELLMAN’s father-in-law, Solomon LOVEJOY, wife (nee 
Sirena BITLIS), four sons, and a daughter, Abigail, who 
married Charles BASSETT.  The LOVEJOY family is one of the 
best known in Middleburg.  Solomon LOVEJOY built the first 
tavern in the township - it is still occupied by his 
descendants.

Paul and Silas GARDNER married sisters - Jemima and Sally 
WOOLEY, of Otsego county, New York, and located on the large 
farms in the eastern part of the township.  Their log cabins 
soon gave way for comfortable homes, the somewhat portentous 
red farmhouse with its queer oval front windows, built and 
occupied by Silas GARDNER, has but recently disappeared.  
Mrs. Parley BASSETT was a sister of Paul and Silas GARDNER.

Middleburg township was organized about 1820.  There was 
little immigration during the half-dozen years that 
followed.  It is recorded that immigrants were repelled by 
the wet soil, and the more pleasantly located settlers in 
“number five” declared that “if Middleburg were not 
fastened onto Strongsville it would sink.”  But this 
“sinking” town had sure footing.  Axes were swung will a 
will.  Sunshine flooded the clearings, and rich farm lands 
were developed.  Meanwhile, from almost hopeless condition, 
Middleburg’s pioneer women of courage, faith, and purpose, 
were slowly but surely working their way to ease and wealth.

Before the advent of grist mills, “jointing” corn was 
common.  The ear was held in a vise, and with a plane or 
knife the corn was shaved off very thin and, after being 
boiled for hours, was eaten with milk.  It was called samp - 
a delicious dish.  The fat tried out from bear’s meat was 
used for frying doughnuts and making short-cakes, which the 
hardy pioneers ate with great relish.  Several families 
settled along the old stage coach route - later the 
Cleveland and Wooster pike.

Mr. Daniel SMITH and family, from Amherst, Mass., reached 
Middleburg in 1832 with five dollars.  The first payment on 
the farm, ten dollars, was raised by selling hickory nuts.  
Mrs. SMITH, nee Nancy WILLIAMS, battled bravely with 
privations in those early days, but lived to reap a rich 
harvest of good things.  Of her nine children, two were 
daughters, Mrs. Emeline Eliza BAILEY and Charlotte E., who 
was born in this township.  Mrs. SMITH’s husband died soon 
after the celebration of their golden wedding.  Cheerful and 
happy through a long life, and lovely in old age, she lived 
to be almost ninety-six years old.  Two years before her 
death she knit a pair of well-formed mittens, which her 
children keep as a precious souvenir of her latest work.

Mrs. William FULLER and wife (Charlotte HOWE) located and 
built the first frame house on what is still called the big 
bend on the Wooster pike.  Into this house, with the 
FULLERS, Daniel SMITH moved his family, to remain while he 
cleared a site and built his log house.  The FULLER 
residence had but one room - a seam in the floor was the 
dividing line between the two families, and thought there 
were eight active young SMITHS, it is said not one crossed 
the forbidden line during the entire year, and the most 
amicable relations existed all around.  Mrs. FULLER’s 
husband was a stage driver, and died of cholera in ’34.

Lorinda DOTY married Samuel, a brother of William FULLER, 
who died early leaving his young widow with two sons.

Another pioneer family that settled in the locality was that 
of Lebbeus POMEROY, from Otsego county, New York.  Mrs. 
Fanny (NORTON) POMEROY had one son and four daughters, Mrs. 
Sophrona ELDERS, Mrs. Sophia EGGLESTON, Mrs. Chloe HENRY, 
and Melvina.  Mrs. POMEROY was conspicuously conscientious.  
The then farmers’ wives and daughters not only spun the 
rolls, colored the yarn, and knit socks, but sold them at 
the stores for twenty-five cents a pair.  In order to make 
it a paying industry and get even with the merchants, some 
of her neighbors would knit loosely, then stretch and press 
the socks into orthodox shape and size.  But Mrs. POMEROY 
knit hers upon honor and run the heels besides; for she said 
she didn’t want those who bought them at the stores to be 
cheated.

Martha HUTCHINSON arrived from Fort Ann, N.Y., in ’32, and 
some years later married Daniel BROWN.  She had one 
daughter, Mrs. Mary Jane SIMMERS.  Mrs. BROWN was very 
industrious, a good, helpful neighbor.  She was an adept at 
spinning and fine weaving - notably the fancy counterpanes 
in vogue at that time.  Mrs. BROWN attained the age of 
ninety-one years.

The coming of John BROWN, Sr., and his wife, a few years 
before, had given the little settlement about thirty 
families, a fresh start.  The young wife, Mary D. CHAOOELL, 
was a native of New London, Conn.  Hungry for and education 
circumstances did not permit her to secure, she worked in a 
mill at one dollar per week, and at the end of five years 
had saved $200 with which she had intended to go to school, 
but changed her mind and loaned the money to an ambitious 
school teacher whom she afterward married and accompanied to 
Ohio.

Their log house had neither windows nor back to the chimney, 
but they took immediate possession with a dry goods box for 
their table, and bedstead made of poles fastened to the logs 
on one side of the room, and supported with blocks of wood 
on the other, the top covered with boards.  Grandma BALDWIN 
used to say:  “It made quite a comfortable bed.”

The circuit preachers, Revs. SHELDON and McINTYRE, in 
homespun clothes, always found the latchstring out at the 
BALDWIN cabin, and its “prophet’s chamber” to which they 
climbed on a ladder.  In course of time Mr. BALDWIN built a 
commodious two-story frame house, ever since known as the 
“old red house,” a revered landmark but recently quarried 
away.

The upper room of this house was devoted to divine service.  
There Mrs. BALDWIN taught a Bible class in the first Sabbath 
school organized in the township, and there preaching, 
prayer, class, and most impressive watch night meetings were 
held.  The cause of Christian education in Berea had from 
the first her hearty support.

The founding of Baldwin Institute and its development to 
Baldwin University represents not only the wisdom and 
benefaction of her noble husband, but her counsels, prayers, 
and self-denying gifts.  Mother BALDWIN passed away, aged 
ninety-four years.  Her surviving children are Mrs. Rosanna 
WALKER, Mrs. Martha McCULLUM, and John BALDWIN, Jr., all in 
Southern homes.

There was a difference of opinion as to the name of the 
first post office at Lyceum village, as the few cabins were 
called.  One party wanted the name Burea, the other Tabor.  
By throwing up a half-dollar the question was decided in 
favor of Burea - the name by which the gritty little city 
which is the business and educational center of Middleburg 
has since been known.

About this time, through the agency of Messrs. SHELDON and 
GILRUTH, the “community” was established on Rocky River, 
near the site of the depot.  The members were to hold their 
property in common and all their business was to be 
transacted by a board of trade known as the Twelve Apostles.  
But the system of Christian cooperation did not work well in 
farming under the direction of  “Twelve Apostles” and the 
community was abandoned.

With the twenty new families that came in 1836 were Rev. 
H.O. SHELDON and his wife, Ruth BRADLEY, a woman of 
refinement and lovely in person and character.  Her daughter 
Ruth, a fine scholar, married Milton BALDWIN and died at her 
Western home.  Mrs. Julia LEE and Mrs. Rhoda PATTERSON are 
also daughters of Mrs. SHELDON.  The latter still resides in 
Berea.

Mr. and Mrs. PEASE (Lydia REMELS), from Lee, Mass., joined 
the community.  “At that time,” her daughter writes, 
“religion was plenty and rations scarce.”  Of the four 
daughters two are living - Emma and Lucy - who were born in 
the “old red rouse.”  Lucy became Mrs. C.M. STEARNS, for 
years Berea’s sweet singer, now a resident of Cleveland.  
George R. WHITNEY and wife, Harriet BRONSON, came in 1837.  
They, too, joined the “community.”  Mrs. WHITNEY reared to 
noble manhood and womanhood two sons and two daughters.  
Harriet married Frank MOE and died in a Western State.  Mary 
is the wife of Rev. B.J. HOADLEY.  She is one of those 
rarely accomplished women itinerant Methodist ministers 
sometimes win for wives.  That gentle, patient woman, Mrs. 
Dr. McBRIDE nee Emma HENRY, spent many years in the quaint 
brick cottage on River street.  Her daughters, Agnes and 
Lucy, left Berea after the death of their parents.  Both are 
highly esteemed.  Mrs. William ENGLE was an ideal pioneer 
woman, who did her best under all circumstances and looked 
hopefully forward to the “good times coming,” which both 
she and her husband have lived to realize.  Their sunset 
skies are golden.

Fannie TINKER and Clark GOSS were married in Montague, 
Franklin county, Mass., in 1824, and ten years later came to 
Berea, occupying a log house south of the bridge, nearly 
opposite the MURPHY place.  The Cleveland & Columbus 
Railroad cuts through the then GOSS farm.  Mrs. GOSS was a 
faithful member of the Berea Methodist Church fifty years.  
But five of the twelve children are living.  At the home of 
her daughter, Mr. J.C. WLTON, Bedford, O., the dear mother 
fell asleep ninety-three years.

It would be difficult now to find the spot where the little 
house stood into which Nathaniel MORSE, wife, and child 
moved with their few belongings in 1845.  The locality - 
valuable quarry land - has been worked for stone until today 
it is a dreary waste.  Mrs. MORSE (Mary Ann FITCH) died a 
year after her arrival.

Two years later Mr. MORSE married Emma ROBBARDS, of English 
parentage, and without delay started for the Western home 
from Onondagua, N.Y., coming by canal-boat to Cleveland, 
thence to Berea in a wagon owned by “Paddy” JOHNSON.  
Another young married couple, Mr. and Mrs. (WALLACE) 
McCLUTCHY, had secured transportation in the same wagon, and 
had with them a new cook stove.  The road was rough and in 
part hilly, so that it required the combined efforts of all 
the passengers at times to hold it right side up.  However, 
grooms, brides, and cook stove reached Berea without 
accident.  Mrs. MORSE’s daughters, Laura (Mrs. ANDREWS) of 
Cleveland, and Lois (Mrs. FRASER), of Denver, are both 
graduates of Baldwin University.  Mrs. MORSE resides in 
Cleveland and is held in grateful memory by the members of 
the Alethean Literary Society of Baldwin University, of 
which she is an honorary member.

Lucretia M. NELSON, later Mrs. Charles PEEBLES, with her 
husband, sought a home in Ohio in 1832 making the journey 
from South Amherst, Mass., to Parma with an ox team, at 
which place one of the oxen died, which necessitated a halt.  
The family found shelter in an abandoned log house, but soon 
learned that an acquaintance, Mr. Daniel SMITH, was located 
in Middleburg and decided to settle near by.  Their 
wilderness farm was transformed by forty years of hard work 
to an attractive rural home with pleasant surroundings and 
fruitful acres.  Harriet PEEBLES married Godfrey BROWN.  Her 
death occurred in Berea several years ago.  Mary is the wife 
of Warner ALDRACH, at whose home her mother entered into 
rest aged ninety years, having nearly spanned the century.

The CRANES were a large and important family, Methodists of 
the early, pronounced type, who settled in the northeastern 
part of the township, the locality being still known as the 
“CRANE neighborhood.”  The sons, James Reason, and John, 
were preachers.  Ellias became a physician of note.  The 
four daughters were excellent women.  Nancy (Mrs. David 
DORLAND) until recently lived in Berea.  Mrs. CRANE was 
indeed “a mother in Israel.”  In old age, through years of 
severe suffering, she was cheerful, submissive, and 
gracious, with the light of heaven reflected in her face. 

Mrs. Austin FULLER, nee Elizabeth TAFT, is a native of 
Mendon, N.Y.  She was one of the girls who worked in the 
glove factory in 1844.  Mrs. FULLER and Mrs. PATTERSON are 
the only persons in Berea now who were here at that time.

Mrs. Matthew REUBLIN also came in 1844.  She was the mother 
of eight children.  Martha, the only surviving daughter, 
resides in Cleveland.  Mrs. REUBLIN hated shams - was a 
woman of stanch integrity, warmhearted, and generous to the 
poor.  She died in Berea.

A most lovable woman is Mrs. Nancy (REED) WATSON, a longtime 
resident of Berea, now of Oberlin, O. Mrs. WATSON has been 
an almost lifelong member of the Congregational church - her 
sweet, Christian character a blessing to all with the 
charmed circle of her influence.  Her only daughter, Mrs. 
Sarah PIERCE, died in Oberlin.

Mrs. WALLACE, with a family of grown up sons and daughters, 
came from Ireland.  Mary married James McCLUTCY and Ann 
Daniel HANCOCK.  John married Jane HENDRICK, and Robert, 
Maria BRIAN, of Brunswick, whose home since her marriage has 
been here.  James married Ellen MOE, of Strongsville, and 
moved in 1863 to Detroit, where he died.  James WALLACE gave 
largely to the German educational work in Berea.  German 
Wallace College will perpetuate his memory.

One of the fourteen MORGAN children, of Elizabethtown, N.J., 
was Lydia, who married H. BERWICK.  After a residence of 
several years in New York city they came to Berea.  This 
bright little woman was much embarrassed the first time she 
attended the Methodist meeting, which was held over the old 
Case store.  Her gloves, shoes, white corded skirts, and 
silk dress rendered her painfully conspicuous, and she 
determined not to go to meeting again till she could dress 
like the Methodist women.  But unconventional the cut of her 
dresses, she was always distinguished by the fine manners 
and an unexplainable style.  Her pleasant home near Berea 
was enlivened by several sons and one daughter, Mrs. Belle 
PITCH, who resides near the old home.

The HOLBROOKS, Dwight and Alfred, U.C. and F.R. VAN TINE 
about 1840 opened up the manufacture of school supplies in 
what was known as the Glove Factory.  A little later Daniel 
STEARNS moved from Brunswick to Berea and engaged in the 
stone business.  Mrs. Mary (McINTIRE-FRENCH) STEARNS had 
eight sons and one daughter, Lucy (Mrs. F.R. VAN TINE of 
Berea).

A woman good and true was Mrs. J.V. BAKER.  The family came 
in ’49.  Their house was an important station on the 
“underground railroad.”  The daughter, Mrs. Lucy 
WOODBRIDGE, whose entire life has been spent on the Reserve, 
used to aid in secreting fugitive slaves in the house where 
she still resides.

The wife of Dr. H. PARKER, whose maiden name was Elizabeth 
SHERWOOD, has for nearly fifty years resided in Berea, where 
her sterling worth is appreciated by all who know her.  Her 
only daughter died in infancy.  Mrs. PARKER is of New 
England parentage.  Her father drove the first ox team into 
Royalton.

Mrs. Jared FARRAND, nee Sarah RANDALL, was an estimable 
Christian woman who spent seventeen years of her life in 
this community.  The worth of those years is still a felt 
force.  From early life Mrs. FARRAND was a faithful member 
of the Baptist church, foremost in every good work.  Four of 
her six children survive her.

Mr. BEVANS and wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (MUMFORD) BEVANS, 
emigrated from Otsego county, New York, to Ohio in 1817, 
Mrs. BEVANS walking much of the way and carrying her baby.  
Their first location was in Ashland county, from which place 
they came to Berea soon after the institute was opened.  
Mrs. BEVANS had not been favored with the educational 
advantages she coveted for her children, and spared no 
effort to secure for them.  Blessed with such a mother, the 
two sons and six daughters attained majority.

Caroline, loved and respected by all who knew her, lived a 
long and useful life, and has but recently been called to 
her reward.  Mary became Mrs. FOURNIER, Juliette Mrs. Lyman 
BAKER, Abbie Mrs. WILSON, Mrs. PORTER, and Mrs. JOHNSON - 
the last named being the only survivor of the family.  These 
sisters inherited pure and noble qualities, which are still 
potent for good.  A daughter of Mrs. FOURNIER, Mrs. Florence 
DOERING, an intelligent leader in Christian and educational 
work, is at the head of the Berea Literary Club.

Mrs. Lucinda (WATKINS)PEIRCE, of precious memory whose 
birthplace was Lee, Mass., had good New England training and 
superior educational advantages, through which was developed 
an exceptionally fine character.  Her husband, Rev. William 
C. PEIRCE, was the first conference preacher sent to this 
charge.  Their first home in Berea was a sheep shelter, but 
however rude and uncomfortable, it could not long remain so.  
Mrs. PEIRCE had exquisite taste, and innate sense of the 
pure and beautiful, her home could but be attractive.  As a 
teacher in Baldwin University, she was tenderly loved by her 
pupils.  Her life was a benediction.

Another woman whom to know was to love for her sweet 
Christian graces and work’s sake was Mrs. Silas CLAPP, nee 
Esther RISLEY, from East Hartford, Conn.  The family came to 
Berea in 1846, where Mr. CLAPP’s ability as an active worker 
in church and society was soon recognized.  Especially 
skillful and tender in her care of the sick, her services 
were called for and cheerfully given with a self-
forgetfulness seldom witnessed.  Who, that ever experienced 
it, can forget the soothing pressure of her hand upon a 
fevered brow?  Her daughters, Jane, Esther, and Mrs. Emma 
LESEMAN, were permitted to minister to her in life’s 
decline.  The two sons and three daughters of this saintly 
mother have a rich inheritance of blessed memories.

Among those whom Berea “delights to honor” must be classed 
Mrs. Hannah (BROWN) JANES who, with her father’s family, 
removed from Plymouth, Vt., to Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1827.  
Her parents were Daniel and Polly (JEMMISON) BROWN, the 
latter a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier.  Hannah BROWN 
and her sister, Rebecca, formed the first Methodist 
Episcopal church in Ann Arbor, with a class of seven.  “Now 
we must have a preacher,” said Miss Hannah, and to this 
effect wrote the presiding elder at Detroit.  In response to 
this call Rev John JANES was sent to Ann Arbor.  The young 
preacher did not care to look elsewhere for a wife.  The 
following year they were married and appointed to Sandusky 
circuit, where Rev. JAMES received for his first year’s 
salary $80, while his gifted young wife taught school for $1 
per week.  She decided to invest her first earnings, $18, in 
a feather bed, but the man by whom she sent for the goods 
made off with her money.  A cruel loss.  At thirty-five 
years of age Mrs. JAMES was left a widow, with five children 
to care for, but was not the woman to fold her hands and ask 
“What shall I do?”  She read law that she might 
intelligently settle her husband’s estate, moved her family 
to Berea, and placed her daughters in Baldwin Institute, 
from which Emma graduated.

Mrs. JANES was remarkably endowed, impressing her 
personality upon with whom she associated.  Her last 
residence was Cleveland, where, in the home of her daughter, 
Mary (Mrs. W.A. INGHAM), president of the woman’s 
department, centennial commission, her long and well spent 
earthly life was sweetly ended.

When Fanny GRANGER came from Great Barrington, Mass., to 
Brunswick, Medina county, in 1827, to visit her sister, Mrs. 
Dr. SOMMORS, she never dreamed of returning home the 
promised bride of Fletcher HULET.  The promise was made 
good, and the first seventeen years of her married life Mrs. 
HULET spent on the Brunswick farm, with its still wild 
surroundings; but at the opening of Baldwin Institute the 
parents came to Berea to educate their six children.  Martha 
married Charles LYON; Margaret, a beautiful girl of rare 
promise, graduated in ‘59 married William CHAPPELL, and died 
early; Clara became the wife of Dr. John WHEELER, for many 
years the beloved president of Baldwin University; and 
Harriet married T.B. WALKER, and resides in Minneapolis.  
Gilbert died in early manhood.  Marshall’s home is in the 
South.

Mrs. HULET was a superior woman, fitted by nature, 
education, and environment to grace whatever position it was 
her lot to fill, in home or society.  Her quiet dignity and 
gracious manners were charmingly blent.  There was always 
room at her table, and a spare bed for the unexpected guest.

Surely, no one ever made such delicious coffee as “Aunt 
Fanny.”  But the dear hands have long been folded in 
restfulness.  Her grave is in our village cemetery, but her 
cherished name is in our hearts.  Other names, just as 
worthy could not be obtained, hence do not appear in this 
sketch, but it matters little.

For when the books are opened,
   They shall glow on pages white
Where angels keep the records
   With their pens of living light.

               Hannah A. FOSTER, Berea
                   Chairman and Historian
Middleburg committee - Miss Mary BIGELOW, Mrs. Lucy VAN 
TYNE, Miss Mary STONE, Mrs. Mary E. ELMORE, Miss Lou 
PEEBLES, Mrs. J. P. COLE