CUYAHOGA COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY: Orange
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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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Orange


Orange township lies fifteen miles nearly east of Cleveland.  
The land is high and rolling, rising in places into steep 
and rugged hills.  Though possessing small claims to wealth, 
its people are intelligent and enterprising.  Perhaps no 
township on the Western Reserve, of equal population, has 
sent out a greater number of young men, to fill the places 
of usefulness and trust.  Many who grew up among the fields 
and glens of this quiet town, are now filling places in the 
ministry, or have won honorable place in the profession of 
law and medicine.  A representative, a senator and a 
president spent his boyhood and learned lessons which 
developed a character which made him famous, among the hills 
and rocks, the woods and streams of Orange.  No saloon has 
ever cast its baleful influence upon the youth of this quiet 
neighborhood.  “Far from the madding crowd” its law-
abiding citizens pursue the even tenor of their way.

In the southern part of the township is “Burgess’ Grove,” 
known throughout Northeastern Ohio as the place when, for 
nearly twenty-five years, the Western Reserve Pioneer 
Association has held its annual gatherings.  Here the people 
not only from nearly every county on the Reserve, but those 
who have emigrated to distant states, have come by 
thousands, to do honor to the remnant of that noble band, 
who subdued the wilderness and laid the foundation of this 
prosperous portion of our state.

The history of the pioneer women of Orange is that of all 
other intrepid spirits who helped to make the Western 
Reserve the very keystone in the arch of our republic - the 
fairest spot in the Eden of God’s heritage to his chosen 
people; a tale of lives made up of lights and shadows; of 
hardships and privations; of trials and bereavements; of 
years of toil uncomplainingly borne, then a folding of weary 
hands in quiet sleep; an entrance into the “rest that 
reamineth.”

Well may their daughters rise up and call them “blessed,” 
and esteem it an honor to collect the frayed remnants of 
memories, and weave them into a memorial more enduring than 
sculptured marble.  In gathering the leaves scattered along 
the highway of those unobtrusive lives, which, unknown to 
themselves, were making histories that shall live when the 
famous deeds of heroes and conquerors have been forgotten, 
one thought is impressed upon our minds with the force of 
conviction.

In those pioneer days, every married couple were one, and 
that one was the man.  Ask for information of this, or that 
woman, who braved the perils of pioneer life and you are met 
with the reply.  “Why!  I don’t know.  Don’t seem as if she 
did much of anything.  If it was the man, now, I could tell 
you a lot.”  But from among the dust and rubbish of the 
well-neigh forgotten past we have succeeded in gleaning some 
bright jewel of remembrance, which we hope may save from 
utter oblivion the names of a few of our country’s uncrowned 
queens.

In the midst of the cares and labors incident to a life on 
the frontier these heroines, coming from homes of culture in 
the East, retained their innate refinement amid the most 
unpromising surroundings.  Their love for the beautiful 
found expression in efforts to adorn and brighten their rude 
forest homes.  Hop vines, Virginia creepers and wild 
cucumbers were trained over the doors and windows of their 
cabins, and the sweet blue myrtle flowers and spray of 
despised “robin-run-away” mark the site of homes long 
since deserted, and the names of their former owners almost 
forgotten.

Down in a sunny corner of many a grandmother’s garden, a 
single damask rose, brought, it may be, from the distant 
girlhood home, bloomed in fragrant beauty.  A bed of spicy 
“grass pinks” held a place of honor, while great double 
“marigools” did their best to stare the sun out of 
countenance.  Hollyhocks and four o’clock, and many other 
homey darlings found place in this cherished spot.

The houses in many instances were built without nails or 
glass, and the furniture was of the most primitive fashion.  
Bedsteads were made by driving poles into the log walls and 
lacing them across with strips of elm bark.  Chairs had 
splint seats, and tables were clumsy homemade affairs.  The 
musical instruments were the “great wheel” on which wool 
and tow were spun; the “little wheel,” for spinning flax, 
and the loom where the cloth for the entire family use was 
woven.

The cooking was done before an open fireplace, the cooking 
utensils were a large iron dinner pot, a tea kettle, a long 
legged “spider” and a bake kettle.  Some favored families 
were the fortunate possessors of a tin baker or reflector.  
But you should hear the sons and daughters of those pioneer 
mothers tell of the matchless bread which came from the 
shining tin baker, or the toothsome biscuit, brown and 
sweet, taken from the bake kettle.  No pies were ever made 
like those which came to perfection with fervid embers 
heaped below, and fiery coals upon their heads, with a lower 
crust made of rye flour, and the upper of wheat flour, and 
the space between filled with huckleberries or sorrel, thus 
economizing the use of sugar.

Later when young apple orchards came into bearing, the 
prudent housekeeper mixed sweet apples with sour, thus 
economizing the use of sugar.

There, too, was cheese, full cream made by heating the milk 
in a kettle, over the open fire, pressing the curd in a hoop 
placed beneath a fence rail, one end of which was secured 
under the corner logs of the house, the other weighted with 
stones.  Potatoes roasted in ashes, made a dish fit for the 
gods, and spare rib suspended before the fire attained a 
degree of perfection undreamed of in these days of modern 
improvements.

Foremost in the list of women who cam to Orange to make 
homes in the undeveloped wilderness stands the name of Mrs. 
Serenus BURNETT (Jane BURNSIDE) who, in the month of May, 
1815, came from Trumbull County, with her husband and infant 
son, to the fertile lands along the Chagrin river.  An old 
record says, “The township lines had been run, but in an 
area fifteen miles square, no white man had as yet made a 
home, and the district was without a name.”

Into this wild country came this adventurous young couple, 
bringing all their worldly belongings on an ox sled.

The question with them was, how to obtain a farm without 
money or its equivalent.  They had learned that by going 
seven miles into a country covered with heavy timber, the 
best river bottom land could be purchased for two dollars 
and fifty cents an acre, and the purchaser could take as 
long as he pleased to pay for it, by paying six per cent 
interest annually.

Here the young couple decided to make their home.  This 
section of county was a favorite hunting ground of the 
Indians, and elk and deer were often seen from the door of 
their house.  Bears roamed through the dense forest, and 
wild turkeys perched in the trees within calling distance.  
It was not safe for a person to go from the house unarmed, 
as hungry wolves prowled near and their howls mingling with 
the dismal cry of owls in the tree tops, struck terror to 
the hearts of the dwellers in that lonely home.  Mrs. 
BURNETT spent an entire year without seeing the face of a 
white woman.  Her only visitors were Indians of whom she had 
a mortal dread, but she made a point of giving them food 
when they came, thus winning their good will.

One day she was suffering from toothache.  An Indian came in 
and, seeing the state of the case, he went into the woods, 
returning with the root of some plant, which he bade her put 
in the cavity of the tooth.  This she did, receiving 
immediate and permanent relief; indeed, it is said, so 
thorough was the cure that she never afterwards suffered 
from that troublesome ailment.

Mrs. BURNETT lived to see the wilderness give place to 
cultivated fields, the Indian trail to well-traveled roads, 
mill houses and comfortable homes in place of Indian wigwams 
and log cabins, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive 
rang out where once re-echoed the cries of wild beasts and 
the Indian war-whoop.

Her husband built the first frame barn in Orange, in 1824, 
and the first frame house in 1830.

Of Mrs. BURNETT’s family of seven sons and three daughters, 
one son alone survived her.  She died in 1864.

Mrs. David GRISWOLD (Polly BAKER) married in 1787 and 
emigrated from the state of Vermont, settling in Orange in 
1816, on what is now the James BELL farm near Chagrin river.  
She is believed to have been Mrs. BURNETT’s first white 
neighbor.

Having built their log house, she, with her husband, 
proceeded to prepare a place for the planting of their first 
crop.  Having felled the trees and cleared up the brush 
they, with an ax, made holes in the ground, into which they 
dropped kernels of corn, pressing it in place with the foot.  
Tradition says that this primitive method of preparing a 
seed bed proved eminently successful, and the virgin soil 
returned an abundant harvest.

Time never hung heavily on the hands of this pioneer wife 
and mother.  The responsibility of clothing the family 
rested upon her.  She carded, spun, wove and colored the 
wool and flax grown upon their own farm, using the bark, 
berries and leaves of certain trees and shrubs for dye-
stuffs, supplemented by the indispensable blue dye-tub.  
Butternut and walnut barks made a durable if not handsome 
color for men and boys wear; white oak, chestnut and the 
berries of the sumac made lighter shades for dresses and 
aprons for mother and the girls.

After spinning and weaving came the cutting and making, and 
each house mother was her own dressmaker and tailoress.  
Mrs. GRISWOLD often sewed late into the night by the light 
of a hickory bark fire, while the wolves kept noisy vigil 
just outside.  Three sons and three daughters grew up under 
her loving care and guidance, and went out from that lowly 
house to do their appointed work in the world’s great 
battlefield.

Mrs. Jesse KIMBALL, nee Rhoda CONVEY, made the journey from 
Cattaraugus County, New York, by ox teams in 1817.  They 
decided to settle in Orange and, having selected a site for 
the future home, a log house was erected having a “shake” 
roof and stick chimney.  The door was made from slabs split 
from a white-wood log, hung with wooden hinges and fastened 
with a wooden latch.

There were no neighbors nearer than the two or three 
families who had commenced clearing on Chagrin river, two or 
three miles away, or it might be a solitary man living in a 
shanty somewhere in the woods.

Soon after the family were settled in their new home, Mr. 
KIMBALL had occasion to go to Willoughby.  As the trip could 
not be made in a day, Mrs. KIMBALL was necessarily left to 
spend the night alone with her children.  As the darkness 
descended she put her little ones to sleep, pulled the latch 
string, and, taking her knitting work, prepared to spend the 
night as comfortably as circumstances would permit.

Sitting there alone, listening to the every sighing of the 
autumnal wind, she was startled by a sound of a different 
character.  Turning quickly, she was horrified to see the 
face of an Indian peering in at the space between the logs 
to serve as a window.  He had seen her light and came to 
investigate.  Making some remark in his native language, he 
withdrew as suddenly as he had appeared.  But she was too 
thoroughly frightened to sleep and sat until day dawned, not 
daring to make a light, while the wolves howled ominously.

Her only daughter married Elias TOWNE, and mother and 
daughter rest in the cemetery at Orange Center.

Mrs. Caleb LEACH (Mercy DEANE) was born and married in 
Vermont, coming to Ohio in 1820.  The journey, made with 
teams, occupied several weeks, the last part of it having 
been made from Buffalo on the ice.  Coming in sight of the 
new home on Chagrin river, one of the little girls asked:  
“Where is the house?”

The rude log hut having been pointed out, she exclaimed in 
dismay:  “Oh, that can never be the house, it must be the 
pig pen.”

Yet under the skillful hands of this ideal pioneer mother, 
the log hut became a home, to which, in later years, her 
children came, as to a shrine, hallowed and made beautiful 
with the memory of that mother’s self-denying love.

Mrs. LEACH helped her husband clear and improve three farms, 
one in Orange, one in Warrensville, and the third in 
Russell, besides rearing a family of eleven children, ten of 
whom were daughters.  Now, having finished her earthly work, 
she has heard the Master’s word:  “It is enough,” and has 
“gone up higher.”

Mrs. Henry ABELL (Julia A. LUCE) is the oldest living 
resident of Orange, she having made it her home for seventy-
two years.  She came with her parents from Hubbard, Ohio, 
when but three years old.  She tells her grandchildren of 
the days when, going to school in warm weather, she carried 
a stick with which to clear the logs of snakes and lizards 
before she could cross the creeks and swamps.  She remembers 
the fashion of going to church horseback, of home-spun 
clothing, and of hand-braided straw hats; of the old ladies 
who came to church carrying reticules, in which were their 
neatly folded handkerchiefs, and some heads of dill of 
fennel with which to beguile the weary, restless little ones 
into keeping quiet through the “seventhly, finally, lastly, 
and in conclusion,” of a two hours’ long sermon on a hot 
Sunday afternoon.

Many other memories keep her company as now, in the eventide 
of her busy life, she recalls scenes of the past and 
contrasts them with the present.

Julia SMITH (Mrs. Seth MAPES) came from New York in 1815.  
She, with her husband, spent ten years in Mayfield, Ohio, 
before removing to Orange in 1825, settling on the farm now 
occupied by her grandsons, Perry E. and John P. MAPES.

When Mrs. MAPES came to Orange the ROBBINS and BULL families 
in Solon were the nearest neighbors to the south.  There 
were a few families on Orange Hill, in the north part of the 
town, where Mr. John KING had taken up a farm in 1818; and 
there were the BURNETT and GRISWOLD families on Chagrin 
river.  There was not a church in town, nor a schoolhouse 
within five miles.

Mrs. MAPES is remembered as a very busy woman, doing with 
her might what her hands found to do, not only for her own 
large household, for the sparsely settled neighborhood.  She 
was essentially public spirited, and was active in advancing 
the cause of education in this newly settled portion of our 
state.  The first school in this part of town was held in 
her weaving room and was taught by Samuel HARDY.

The first schoolhouse was built on the north part of the 
MAPE’s farm.  It soon became too small to accommodate the 
rapidly increasing population.  A more commodious building 
was erected near the place where Thomas HURST’s house now 
stands.

Henrietta PATCHEN was born in Scripto, Cayuga County, N.Y., 
in 1811, removing to Ohio with her parents in 1831.  In  
1832 she became the wife of John D. MAPES and commenced 
housekeeping in the house with his father and mother.  The 
house was much more commodious than the majority of those 
occupied by the early settlers.  It was built of hewed logs, 
had glass windows that would “shove up,” the doors were 
hung on iron hinges and were fastened with boughten latches.  
It also had a brick fireplace and chimney, and was 
altogether a very aristocratic residence of the times.  The 
mother and daughter-in-law must have been ideal women, for 
their lives passed most harmoniously, each doing her part in 
the household and each sharing the burdens of the other.

All her happy married life has Mrs. John D. MAPES spent in 
the old homestead.  Here her children, three sons and four 
daughters, grew up, and one by one have gone out from it 
into homes of their own.  Here the aged father and mother 
were lovingly cared for until, weary of the cares and 
burdens of life, they laid them down.  And here, in the 
house built about 1840, this venerable lady still lives, 
serene in her beautiful old age, beloved by children, 
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, who listen 
delightedly to her reminiscences of early days in Ohio.

Mrs. Electus ARNOLD (Electra LANGWORTHY) left her home in 
Great Barrington, Mass., in 1826 with her husband and young 
family, to brave the perils of pioneer life in the new state 
of Ohio.  The journey was made by way of the Erie canal to 
Buffalo, thence to Cleveland in a sailing vessel.  Their 
first home was in Euclid, where they spent three years, 
settling in Orange in 1829.  Mr. ARNOLD’s mother, Mrs. 
Elijah ARNOLD (Annis GRAHAM) made the journey with them, and 
remained an honored member of her son’s family until her 
death, in 1860.

The younger Mrs. ARNOLD was, in many respects, a remarkable 
woman.  She possessed all the industry, thrift, and 
frugality of her New England ancestry, combined with much 
executive ability.  She was an accomplished spinner and 
needle woman, and had by her own labor, prior to her 
marriage, accumulated a sum, which was of material service 
in the purchase and furnishing of the new home.

Hospitality was a marked feature of her character.  The 
circuit riders were welcome guests, and slaves, fleeing from 
bondage over the underground railroad found shelter and 
rest, and were carried on to a station yet nearer the 
longed-for goal, under the free light of the North Star.

Her only daughter, Eliza, married Charles THOMAS, and spent 
her entire life within a mile of her girlhood home.  Her 
sons, five in number, are citizens of Solon, Orange and 
Warrensville.

Mrs. Zadoe BOWELL (Anna HILL) was one of those women who 
leave their impress on the time and state in which they 
live.  She came from Virginia to Pennsylvania with her 
parents about 1800; was married in 1810, and removed to 
Warren, Ohio, the journey being made on horseback.

In 1811 news of HULL’s surrender was received, and every man 
in the settlement, excepting one who was sick and another 
who was lame, marched to the defense of the frontier, 
against an expected attack by the British.  Mrs. BOWELL was 
left alone with her two-month old babe.  Happily, the alarm 
proved to be groundless, and the sturdy backwoodsmen, after 
an absence of a few days, returned to their homes.

It is related of her that not a yard of cloth of any kind 
was purchased for the use of her family until she had been 
married fifteen years.  All the flax and wool were grown on 
their own farm and spun and woven and made into clothing by 
herself.

In addition to the care of her family, she assisted her 
husband in protecting their sheep from the wolves, and in 
preventing the foxes from carrying off her geese, as well as 
planning improvements upon the farm.

Having heard of the cheapness of land in the new townships 
near Cleveland, it was decided to dispose of the home in 
Warren, and again try their fortune in the wilderness.  This 
decision was carried into effect early in 1830.

Mrs. BOWELL had a taste for horticulture, and it was her 
custom, as soon as settled on a farm, to plant apple seeds, 
from which to form the nucleus of an orchard, perhaps having 
faith in the adage:  “Eat apples and live forever.”  She 
was fond of relating her first experience in the art of 
improving fruit by grafting.

A man from New Jersey called at her house, and seeing her 
nursery of thrifty young trees, began to expatiate upon the 
advantages to be gained by the, to her, new process of 
grafting, until she, with fear and trembling, consented to 
permit him to try the experiment upon some of her cherished 
nurslings.  The result proved to be in the highest degree 
satisfactory, and the third year from grafting, she gathered 
four and one-half bushels of apples of fine quality from one 
tree.

Mrs. William STONEMAN, nee Nancy BOWELL, has been a resident 
of Orange since 1830.  Her early life was passed upon her 
father’s farm where, under the teaching of a wise mother, 
she became skilled in all that pertains to the art of home 
making.  She was also learned in the now nearly lost arts of 
spinning and weaving, of knitting and hand sewing, doing 
with her might what her hands found to do, of which there 
was no lack in her mother’s large family.  Of eight 
children, six were daughters; so often the girls were called 
upon to assist in pulling flax, husking corn, or, perhaps, 
to load and mow hay, or to take care of the vegetable as 
well as the flower garden.

It was no small task to prepare the flax and wool for the 
family wardrobe, and this, too, fell to the lot of the 
“girls.”  Mrs. STONEMAN relates that upon one occasion 
there was an unusually large amount of that work to be done, 
and the need of dispatch was great; so she and her sister 
decided that they could help matters by increasing their 
working hours.  The morning sun, as it looked above the 
hilltops, found them at their self-appointed task.  All day 
the tireless spindles hummed, and the midnight hours heard 
the click of the reel as it told the knots of finished 
thread, still on, stopping only for meals, all through the 
hours of a second day, and till a second midnight toiled, 
when their father discovered their little plot, and without 
further ado, sent them to bed.

Mrs. S. often spun “four runs,” eighty knots, of woolen 
yarn, and fifty knots was an ordinary day’s work.

In her middle life she was active in church work and all the 
plans for the aid of suffering humanity found in her 
efficient support.  Her interest in public affairs has not 
lessened, now that her life is nearing its sunset.  No one 
has manifested more interest in the preparation of the 
History of the Pioneer Women of the Reserve than has Mrs. 
STONEMAN, and to her, more than to any other person, are the 
members of our committee indebted for material for this 
sketch of the pioneer women of Orange.  Out from the 
wonderful storehouse of her memory she has brought incidents 
and anecdotes of those who had part on the world’s stage 
more than a half century ago.  It is like listening to a 
beautiful old chronicle, these reminiscences of what, to us 
of a later generation, seem to be the scenes almost of a 
different world from that of the hurrying, bustling present.  
So now, as the shadows are growing long toward the eastward, 
this pioneer woman sits in the home her hands help to rear, 
serenely awaiting until the Father shall say:  “It is 
enough.  Come up higher.”

Mrs. John STONEMAN, Sr., nee Ann NEWCOMB, came with her 
family from Devonshire, England, about 1843.  Her husband 
was a member of the Queen’s Guard.  Her father was a 
prominent physician, and she studied medicine with him prior 
to her marriage.  Her knowledge of the healing art proved a 
boon to her neighbors, who did not hesitate to call on her 
in every emergency, and, as she was possessed of what at 
that time was considered a good degree of worldly wealth, no 
one deemed it incumbent upon him to tempt her to let her 
left hand know what her right hand did, by offering to pay 
her for her services, and to furnish her medicines as well.

She kept open house for all who claimed her hospitality, and 
especially those from England, whether previously know to 
her or not.  It was an established rule of her house that 
the tea kettle should be kept filled and boiling, so that a 
cup of tea might be offered at any time of day or night.  
The minister’s room was seldom unoccupied.  One of Mrs. 
STONEMAN’s sons says he cannot recall a time when there was 
not a preacher in the house.  So her life passed, filled 
with good deeds to those about her, yet never suffering her 
own household duties to be neglected, and her memory is kept 
bright in the hearts of many to whom she ministered.

In 1803 Elizabeth HOPP was married to Ira HANDERSON, at 
Claverack, N.Y., where they resided until the summer of 
1833, when they were caught in the tide of emigration which 
set in that year and which landed them among the hills of 
Orange, where they purchased the farm settled by Caleb 
LEACH, upon which considerable improvement had already been 
made, but to eyes fresh from the east it appeared very like 
a wilderness.  After the purchase of the farm they returned 
to New York for the winter, returning the following spring 
with their family and settling at once on their farm.  

Here Mrs. HANDERSON spent the remainder of her life, 
ministering to the comfort of her family and friends, and 
doing good as she had opportunity.

On a sunny hillside on the farm, which is now the home of 
the fourth generation of her descendants, she and her 
husband are buried.  “After life’s fitful fever they sleep 
well.”

Mrs. Thomas HANDERSON’s (Catherine POTTS) former home was in 
Livingston County, New York.  She relates that at the first 
sight of the Chagrin river in 1833 and irrepressible shudder 
seized her, and a premonition of evil crept over her.  When, 
in less than a year later, her little son, William, was 
drowned, and in 1839 her husband met his death from an 
accident while bathing in the same river, she felt that her 
aversion was prophetic.

Mrs. H. was of a singularly hopeful, sunny nature, always 
inclined to look upon the bright side, and during all the 
year of trial, in which she “walked life’s weary way 
alone,” her happy cheerful spirit never forsook her.

Her elder daughter, Caroline, became the wife of Washington 
GATES, a prominent citizen of Chagrin Falls.  Her son, Henry 
E., after graduating from Hobart College, Geneva, N.Y., went 
to Louisiana, where he entered upon the duties of a private 
tutor.  He enlisted in the Confederate army, was taken 
prisoner at the battle of the wilderness, and at the close 
of the war he settled in New York city, but later removed to 
Cleveland.  Ira HANDERSON, a nephew, enlisted in the 103d 
O.V.I. and served during the war.

Mrs. Almon SMITH (Susan Henrietta SQUIRES) came from New 
York and settled in Orange in 1832.  Her early life was 
filled with trials and bereavements, which seemed to bring 
out the strength and beauty of her character.  She seemed to 
us, who knew and loved her, to have been one of the chosen 
ones who have “come through great tribulation,” and that 
refining fire had purged her from earthly dross and made her 
fit to walk with the saints in white.

Mr. and Mrs. SMITH were charter members of the Orange M.E. 
Church, organized in 1839.  Religion made a part of the 
daily life of this saintly woman, and all the trials through 
which she passed but served to deepen her trust in the never 
failing love of God, her Savior.

Early left a widow with six children to be nurtured and 
cared for, she, like many another pioneer mother, bravely 
took up the burden of life and went forward.

Soon after the death of her husband, her eldest son, a lad 
of fourteen, was killed by lightning.  A younger child 
choked to death from swallowing a chestnut.  At the breaking 
out of the Rebellion one of her two remaining sons enlisted, 
and served from ’61 to ’65, coming home to die from 
consumption; and as this loved one went down into the 
shadowy valley, his mother’s love and prayers sustained him.  
“Sing, mother, sing,” was his request when weariness and 
pain robbed him of rest, and she sang on the “Land of 
Beulah,” and the “Rest for the Weary” till the tired 
eyelids fell o’er tired eyes, and he slept the last long 
sleep.

About 1860 Mrs. SMITH married Mr. James HENRY, of Solon, and 
in that quiet village the later years of her life were 
spent.  Two daughters and one son survive.  One daughter, 
Susan, married Charles WHITLAM and resides at Cleveland; 
Sarah (Mrs. Elam BENNETT), of Twinsburgh.  

Mrs. Amos BOYNTON (Alpha BALLOW) was a native of New 
Hampshire.  In early life she removed to New York, where she 
married, coming soon after to Ohio, settling in Orange in 
1829.

The particular corner of the woods out of which she and her 
husband proposed to carve a home had not a tree felled upon 
it, and the road to it was marked by blazed trees.

There was no house upon it, not even a lodge in a garden of 
cucumbers, but people were hospitable in those days, and the 
weary travelers found shelter in Granny MAPES weave room, 
where they remained until the trees could be cut down and a 
habitation constructed.  Here her children grew to useful 
manhood and womanhood, she teaching her sons and daughters 
lessons of truth and self-reliance.  Out from the home made 
lovely by her presence, she passed to the life that shall 
never end, and her memory is held in reverence by the 
granddaughter who rules her family wisely and well in the 
quaint old homestead.

The history of the GARFIELD family is too well known to need 
repetition, yet we feel that this sketch of the pioneer 
women of Orange would be incomplete without mention of the 
one woman who in her life had a greater experience of the 
vicissitudes of fortune than any other whose feet have 
pressed the soil of this Western Reserve.

It has been our good fortune to gather a few incidents in 
the life of this remarkable woman, which have not, to our 
knowledge, appeared in any Life of GARFIELD.  They are 
contributed by her daughter, Hetty, Mrs. Stephen TROWBRIDGE, 
of Solon.

Every native Ohioan knows the story of the settlement in 
Orange in 1831 of Abram GARFIELD and his wife, Eliza BALLOU; 
of the sudden death of the husband in 1833.  Hetty (Mrs. 
TROWBRIDGE) was at that time twelve years old, and the 
eldest of the family of four children left thus early with 
only the mother’s frail arm between them and the cold 
charity of the world.  One can readily understand how this 
woman-child became her mother’s confidant and comforter, as 
well as an efficient helper in rearing the little flock left 
fatherless.

At the time of her husband’s death, the farm was unpaid for, 
and only thirteen acres cleared, and Mrs. GARFIELD was 
advised to give her children away, rather than to attempt 
the seemingly hopeless task of paying the indebtedness and 
keeping her children together.  It is not recorded that 
these well-meaning persons offered anything more tangible 
than advice.

But the mother-love was too strong, to willingly give up the 
beauty and winning sweetness of the young lives given to her 
care, or to trust to others their education and development 
of character.  So the battle commenced; the land, excepting 
thirty acres, was sold, and the debt canceled.  Mrs. 
GARFIELD and her small helpers planted corn and potatoes, 
and laid the first fence built on the place.  Hetty and ten-
year-old Thomas carrying the rails between them, while 
mother laid them in place.  After the day’s work on the farm 
was finished, and the little ones sent to their well-earned 
rest, the mother sat by her lonely fire, plying her needle 
by the light of a tallow candle, till long after midnight 
hour, to finish a garment for a neighbor, then in the early 
morning, calling her trusted little daughter to carry it to 
its owner, and receive the meager pittance which was so 
necessary to the comfort of the family.

For making a man’s pants and vest from heavy fulled cloth, 
Mrs. GARFIELD received 75 cents, and other work was paid 
for, proportionately.  She also did spinning and weaving for 
her neighbors.  Said Mrs. TROWBRIDGE, “We all had to work, 
every one who could lift a pound.”

The incidents in the life of this pioneer woman would more 
than fill the space allotted to our entire sketch.  We will 
only give one, as related by her granddaughter.

One of the neighbors owned an old horse, blind and lame; one 
who should long ago have been gathered to his fathers, but 
which the master was in the habit of working until the poor 
old creature fell from exhaustion, when the fiend in human 
shape, with kicks and blows and curses would force it to 
rise to its feet.  This scene Mrs. GARFIELD had seen 
repeated, day after day, until on a certain occasion, the 
brutal master had abused his defenseless victim, until her 
righteous indignation could endure no more, and finding that 
her male friend considered the matter as none of her 
business, as a man was supposed to have the right to do what 
he pleased with his own property, she took the case in her 
own hand, and borrowing a shot gun, herself put the abused 
old horse beyond the reach of his inhuman master.

As we recall her in her beautiful old age, unspoiled by 
prosperity, the same benevolent light upon her face which 
shone upon her children in the rude log cabin, we think of 
her as one whose name is worthy to be enrolled with the 
noblest in the land.

Miss Jane JACKSON came from Marrich, Yorkshire, England, 
with her parents in 1835.  Her entire life has been given to 
the service of others, forgetful of self of self’s 
interests.  To her mother, she was a tower of strength, at 
once daughter, counselor and efficient helper - her right-
hand supporter.  So long as her mother lived, we find this 
devoted daughter doing her utmost to lift the burden of 
care, and to lighten her labor.

In a family of nine boys and three girls, the eldest sister 
found ample opportunity for the exercise of self-denial.  At 
her mother’s death, she and her youngest sister removed to a 
farm given them by their father.  Here the quiet years sped 
by, the sisters turning their attention to the cultivation 
of flowers, of which both were passionately fond.  Since her 
sister’s death, Miss Jane is assisted by a favorite nephew 
in the care for her farm, and spends the evening of her life 
in recalling the scenes of her girlhood, which is renewed in 
the children growing up around her.  Could her mother speak, 
her tribute would be “Many daughters have done virtuously, 
but thou excellest them all.”

Miss Jesse LUCE (Sylphina HANCHETT)came from Jamestown, 
N.Y., stopping at Berea.  Her first married home was in 
Brooklyn township.  She became a resident of Orange in 1839, 
and still lives on the farm upon which they first settled.  
She has always been very active in Church work, and is held 
in kindly remembrance by the circuit riders, who found many 
unwilling to share with them the single roomed log house, 
but at Sister LUCE’s the latch-string was always out, and 
the “prophet’s room on the wall” always in readiness for 
the welcome of the bearers of the Gospel message.

Her life has been one of those who strive to walk in the 
footsteps of the Man of Galilee.  She has a family of seven 
sons and two daughters, Diana, Mrs. Perry MAPES of Illinois, 
and Olive, wife of Rev. H.W. Dewey.

Mrs. Henry BASTER, nee Anna ROLFE, emigrated from England in 
1842 and settled on Chagrin River, in the north east part of 
the town.  Mrs. BASTER found ample opportunity for all the 
exercise of her motto:  to do all in her power for “God and 
Humanity,” in this new country where money was scarce, 
physicians were few and far between, and trained nurses 
unknown.

She was an excellent nurse, and had considerable skill in 
the practice of medicine and minor surgery.  She often left 
her home to attend the sick for miles around.  She expected 
no compensation, consequently was not disappointed when none 
was offered.

Her son remembers one occasion when she was called to a 
family, sick from typhus fever.  She remained several weeks, 
filling the place of physician, nurse and maid-of-all work.  
After their recovery the head of the house presented her 
with twenty dollars, the only money she was ever known to 
have received.

Her daughter, Anna, was one of the first graduates from 
Willoughby College.  After teaching six years in the 
institution, Miss Anna married Prof. BROWN of the same 
school

Mrs. Jacob SAWYER, Jr., (Sabrina GOODALE) removed to Ohio 
from the State of Maine in 1838.  She was a woman of strong 
personality.  Her droll and witty speeches are well 
remembered by the older inhabitants.  Hers was a home where 
open handed hospitality reigned.  The latch-string was 
always out and every one found a hearty welcome.

She was an ideal housekeeper, and the remark is made, “One 
could never go to Aunt SAWYERS without finding her 
sweeping.”

She was a skilled cook, and her baked beans and “rye and 
Injun” bread were at once the envy and despair of her 
neighbors.  In her early life in Orange a pound of tea would 
last her a year and five pounds of store sugar would last 
six months, and with economy, even longer.

Her husband was a soldier of 1812, and in the later years of 
her life she drew a pension.  She was lovingly cared for by 
her children and grandchildren, and her pension was used to 
carry gladness into the abodes of poverty and suffering.

Mrs. SAWYER was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church 
for more than fifty years.  She lived to see her descendants 
to the fifth generation.  She died in Cleveland at the home 
of her only surviving daughter, Mrs. Phineas DOLLOFF, having 
completed her ninety-second year.

Two daughters lived to maturity; Martha, Mrs. William MERVIN 
and Armina, Mrs. Phineas DOLLOFF.

Mrs. Nancy SAWYER ODELL was also a native of Maine.  Her 
experience was peculiarly hard.  Her husband died, leaving 
her almost destitute of means, and for many years she 
supported herself by going from house to house, spinning, 
weaving, and knitting.  She was quite famous for her skill 
in knitting men’s “double mittens.”

She had the true Yankee horror of becoming dependent upon 
public charity, and after her decease it was found she had 
saved from her scanty earnings a sum more than sufficient to 
defray the burial expenses.

Mrs. ODELL’s only daughter, Augusta, was the wife of George 
FIRCHWORTH of Solon.  She served five years as nurse in the 
United States Regular Army.  She was a very eccentric 
character, but the was overlooked by those who knew her 
genuine goodness of heart.  She was untiring in her devotion 
to the sick, frequently leaving her home to do what she 
could to ameliorate the suffering of a neighbor or friend.  
She rests beside her mother in beautiful Mount Hope.

Mrs. John DURANT was a native of England, and in 1843 
settled on an unimproved farm in Orange.  Mr. DURANT soon 
found employment in the Doty brick yard in Cleveland, 
leaving to his wife the task of caring for the family of 
three children, and making improvements.  She cleared land, 
and raised garden truck and poultry, which she marketed 
herself, walking the entire distance to the Public Square, 
(the then market place) and back in one day, carrying 
butter, eggs and chickens to the amount of forty pounds 
weight.

Mrs. Elias B. PIKE (Elizabeth BARNES) was born in Vermont.  
Her parents came to Munson, Ohio, in 1842.  Mrs. PIKE was 
married in 1846, since which time she has lived in Orange.  
Quiet and unobtrusive in her character, her beautiful life 
flows on, the law of kindness written in her heart, and 
words of loving sympathy upon her lips.  She has three 
children, Andrew S., a successful farmer of Solon; Evalyn, 
wife of C.C. LOWE, deputy in the probate office, and George 
W., employed in the office of the L.S. & M.S. Railway.

Mrs. Ellis HOUGH (Clarissa BAYARD) removed to Iowa, where 
she now lives.  Anna is the wife of a well-to-do farmer in 
Warrensville.

Her daughter, Mary, married and lived in the time when
  The greatest of all things was to work;
  The meanest of all things was to shirk.
And this to her seemed to have been both law and gospel.  
She took pride in having her housecleaning done earlier in 
the spring than any of her neighbors; her clothes on the 
line at the first crack o’day Monday morning.  Four o’clock, 
winter and summer found her household machinery running.  
Everything was done by rule, and she drove her work; work 
never drove her.  Every day, and every hour in the day had 
its appointed task, and it must be finished at a set time.  
Her hands, it would seem, were never idle.  It is remembered 
that when she went to a neighbors’ on an errand or for a 
social chat, she took her knitting, and knit as she went.  
After some years residence in Orange, she returned to her 
former home in New York, making the journey with an ox team, 
carrying two children with her.  The indispensable knitting 
work went too, and as the patient oxen plodded along, she 
whiled away the hours with swift-flying fingers, shaping 
stocking, mittens, and red-tasseled night caps, for future 
use.  Nor did she tarry by the way for such slight matters 
as the washing of the children’s clothes, but stopping by 
some way-side stream, the clothes were cleansed and hung 
upon the wagon to dry, while the little party continued 
their journey.

Susan PARKINSON (Mrs. John WHITLAM) brought from her home in 
bonnie England, a gay, pleasure loving nature which made her 
a leader in the social circles of Orange, in 1836.  An 
invitation to her house was always accepted with alacrity, 
for it was well known that any entertainment planned by Mrs. 
WHITLAM was sure to be a success.  All who came were made to 
feel at home.  No matter what the occasion, whether a 
quilting frolic, a husking bee, or a quiet tea drinking, the 
genial hostess was queen of the revels.  The fame of her 
hospitality became so wide-spread, that at length her home 
became a sort of half-way house for teamsters and others on 
their way to the town of Cleveland, and the benighted way-
farer was sure to find entertainment for man and beast, even 
when demanded at more untimely hours.

Mrs. WHITLAM has passed on, but her memory survives in the 
hearts of many who loved her for her abounding kindness.

Another woman who helped to build of the prosperity of the 
Western Reserve, was Mrs. Margaret GERSTMEIER, wife of Jacob 
GERSTMEIER, who came from Germany in 1836 or ’37.  She had 
no children, but almost her entire life was devoted to the 
care of her own and her husband’s parents.  After the death 
of her husband, she still cared for his aged, and nearly 
imbecile father, providing for him, and waiting upon him 
with untiring patience, until, when having passed his 
ninetieth year, death mercifully set her free from the 
burden so uncomplainingly borne.  There are other martyrdoms 
than those by fire and fagot, and surely Mrs. GERSTMEIER 
would seem to have won a martyr’s crown.

    Mrs. Mary A.B. PATRICK
               Historian
   Mrs. Ellen E.B. ARNOLD
               Chairman
 
Orange Committee - Mrs. Sara WARNER LANDER, Mrs. Evalyn PIKE 
LOWE, Mrs. Jennie GOON GIFFORD, Miss Annie McVEIGH, Miss 
Margaret L. STONEMAN