PIONEER HISTORY
OF
CAMDEN TOWNSHIP
LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO
(By Dr. F. E. Weeks, Kipton, Ohio)
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Pages 1 - 10
As Camden Township is a portion of the Western Reserve, a brief outline of the history of the Reserve and the origin of the name, will not be out of place.
In 1662 John Winthrop and a company of men from the colony of Connecticut went to England to obtain a new charter for the colony. They asked for a charter covering territory the same width, north and south as the then colony and extending westward to the "South Sea" as the Pacific Ocean was then called. They told the King that the continent extended only a few hundred miles westward, probably basing their idea on Sir Francis Drake’s statement that from the Isthmus of Panama he could see both oceans, to the east and west. This ignorance of the outline of the continent caused the King to grant a charter for a territory some three thousand miles in length, instead of a few hundred miles. Other charters were granted covering portions of the Connecticut charter, and when pioneers went westward from the coast, disputes arose as to whether Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York or Virginia had the title to the land. These disputes were not settled until after the close of the Revolutionary War, when the general government claimed all of the unsettled lands by right of victory over England, as belonging to the whole country. The different colonies ceded their western land to the general government, but Connecticut "reserved" a tract extending one hundred and twenty miles west from the west line of Pennsylvania. This reserved tract was known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve", or at present as the Western Reserve.
During the Revolutionary War many of the coast towns of Connecticut were raided and burnt by the British. To recompense the sufferers to some degree, for their losses, Connecticut donated to the "Fire Sufferers" a half million acres from the western end of the Reserve. The whole Reserve was laid out into tracts, five miles in width, each, from north to south, and numbered, number 1 being at the east line and 24 at the west line, Almon Ruggles was employed to survey the "Fire Sufferers’ " land, and measured off from the west line enough to comprise the half million acres. This covered the whole of ranges 20 to 24, and a portion of No. 19.
The remainder of the Reserve, except the "Parson’s Salt Tract" was sold to a company of men, who became organized as the Connecticut Land Company, for $1,200,000, about forty-three cents per acre. When the surveyors came to measure off the Land Company’s portion, commencing at the east, the Firelands east line and the west line of Range No. 19 did not agree, leaving a gore shaped tract, narrow at the north and much wider at the south end. This was attached to the 19th Range, and is now known in deeds as the "Surplus land", or commonly as the "Gore". In Camden the angle in the road just east of Thomas Ward’s house marks the east line of the Gore and the center of Green Street, the west line. The townships in Range No 19, Nova, Rochester, Brighton, Camden, Henrietta and Brownhelm, are less than five miles in width. All the townships in the Reserve were laid out five miles, north and south, except those bordering on the lake. The townships were not all of equal value, naturally, so the townships in the 19th Range except Brownhelm, were laid out in Tracts, running east and west, for the purpose of adding these tracts to other townships of lower value than the average, so as to equalize them. Camden is included in the north part of Tract No. 8, and the whole of Nos. 9, 10 and 11. The land was divided among the members of the Connecticut Land Company, according to the amount of money invested in the original purchase, no two having put the same amount into the purchase price, one as low as $1,683, and one as high as $168,180. An average township was valued at $12, 903. 23. To assign each owner a definite tract of land, the matter was settled by a kind of lottery, and after this drawing, the various owners could give deeds to definite portions of land. The most of tracts 8 and 9 were owned by a Mr. Champion and he deeded the land to a Mr. Schermorhorn in 1835. Tract 11 was owned by Sylvester Mather, and deeds to the actual settlers were given by his heirs.
Quoting from the History of Camden in the Lorain County History: "In the original drawing of the Western Reserve, tract number nine was drawn by Lemuel Storrs, tract ten by Nehemiah Hubbard and Joshua Storrs and tract number eleven by Henry Champion and Lemuel Storrs. When the land was put into the market, tract number eight [or that part of it lying in the present township limits] was the property of Abigail Deming, of Hartford, Connecticut. Aristarchus Champion, of Rochester, New York, became the proprietor of tract number nine, and he conveyed it to Ezra S. Allen, of Brockport, New York. Tract number eleven came into the possession of Sylvester Mather, of New York. The surplus lands on the west side of the township were owned by Heman Ely, of Elyria, and by Washington College of Hartford, Connecticut."
On May 1, 1835 Aristarchus Champion, of Rochester, N.Y. deeded to Abraham Schermorhorn, of Rochester, about five thousand acres of land in Camden for $21,800. This included all of tract nine, the north line being the east and west center road, and the south line being the line along the south line of Hilliker, Ober farms, etc., and also a portion of tract eight, the six east lots, Mrs. Bricker’s, Hill farm, Cannan farm, etc.
On October 11, 1836, Schermorhorn deeded 2326 acres of this land to Ezra S. Allen. On March 8, 1836, he had deeded 2024 acres to Daniel Collins of Brockport, N.Y., the compensation for each piece being $10,000. On Nov. 8, 1835, he deeded four of the lots in tract eight to Philemon Allen, as well as some of the Brighton lots.
FIRST SETTLERS
For some reason, Camden was not settled as early as the adjoining townships. Brighton was settled in 1820, Henrietta in 1817, Pittsfield in 1819, but the first permanent settlers came to Camden in 1833. Some transient settlers came earlier but made no permanent settlement. Leonard Clark came in 1829 and remained only two years. He built a log cabin not far south of Kipton and cleared a few acres. His father-in-law, Moses Pike, came with him. Where Clark went we do not know. The second cabin was built by one Johnson, not long after Clark’s arrival. He built his cabin upon the present site of Kipton village, where he housed his family. He cleared some land east of the present village, sowed some timothy seed, and left the country. Another pioneer was John White, who located on the Sigsworth lot, east of Kipton, and chopped some timber in 1831. He too, disappeared from our knowledge.
Herod Pike, son of Moses Pike, moved into a cabin, with his family, on the lot east of Kipton, and his father lived with him after the departure of Clark. They cleared three or four acres which they sowed to wheat in the fall of 1832. Herod and his wife, Eliza, removed, the father remained and harvested the wheat, but then removed to Henrietta. He later returned to Camden, and his history will appear later. In March, 1833, appeared the first permanent settlers, when William Scott and John Johnston, natives of Scotland, settled on the farm now occupied by the May family. The settlers came in quite rapidly after this time. In 1833 there came Gideon Waugh, Thomas Lee, Robert Douglass, Thomas Sigsworth, William Hawkins, Burtis Bayless, Platt Squires, the Gagers, David Wells, Reuben Eddy, whose history will be given in detail later. 1834 brought many settlers in Camden and adjoining towns. William W. Cook, in the last half of 1834, attended thirty raisings.
PIONEER HOUSES
Our readers should remember that the pioneers erected log cabins for their first residences, both on account of the short time required for the erection, and the labor required for hauling logs through the unbroken forest to some distant sawmill, to obtain the necessary lumber for an improved type of dwelling. When a man had cut and hauled to the site of his house the required number of logs, the neighbors gathered and proceeded to place the logs. These logs were notched at the proper place for the corners, and there were some men who were more or less expert at this work, and four of these men, each at his corner, "carried up a corner". In rolling up the logs on skids, accidents sometimes occurred, by a log slipping and a man was sometimes killed. For the roof, poles were laid and perhaps covered with bark temporarily, until split shingles, "shakes" could be prepared. The window and doorways were sawed out. The windows were generally made of oiled paper, instead of glass. The doors were made of boards split out by hand. The floor was made of punchions, that is, logs split in the middle and laid with the split surface on top. They were smoothed by hewing with an ax or broadax. The barns were made of logs also. It was not long before the settlers began to build better houses. Roswell Babcock started the first frame house on the Victoria Cook farm, but did not complete it but William Hawkins moved to the farm across the road. This was in 1837. Edwin Gager and Ezekiel Arnold soon erected frame dwellings. The first frame barns were erected by David Wells and Reuben Eddy. This was in 1836. The Wells barn is yet standing on the Henry Hand farm.
FIRST EVENTS
First tree cut in the township for the purpose of improvements was by Moses Pike.
First white child born in the township was Betsy, daughter of Herod and Eliza Pike. First male child was James, son of Gideon Waugh.
First death, was that of the wife of Gideon Waugh, in 1837.
First marriage was that of Reuben Eddy and Hannah Sigsworth, ‘35.
First tavern was a log one at Samtown, in 1845, by Levi Forbes.
First store was in the woodhouse of Samuel Morgan, [Jay Whitney home] in
1841].
First religious service was preached by Elder Call, in the first schoolhouse, in
1833.
First school was probably taught by Mrs. Johnston in a log cabin.
The first school building was erected soon after the settlement of the township,
somewhere in the north half of the township. Miss Laura Allen was the teacher,
in the summer months, at wages of seventy-five cents per week.
The first church organization was that of the Baptists, formed September 6, 1835, with seven members, viz: Harrison Hurd and wife, John F. Hovey and wife, Margaret, wife of David Morgan, Huldah, wife of Chauncey Spencer, and William W. Cook. Elder Brown was the first pastor. In 1848 a church edifice was erected at the Center, but was destroyed by fire the following year. The new church, the present one, was built in 1860. In the winter of 1836-37 a Methodist class was formed in the northern part of the township, and about two years later, another in the southwest part. The organization was kept up for a number of years, but no building was erected.
The Free Will Baptists had an organization for a few years, but never gained strength.
The Disciple Church society was organized in 1842, the organizers being John Cyrenius and wife, Norton Bates and wife and Henry Crandall. They gained strength until they were enabled to erect a building in 1851, at the Center, which building is yet standing, being the east barn of Floyd Sharp. The building of the railroad brought the settlement of the town of Kipton, and many members of this church lived here. To accommodate the majority of the members the brick church was erected in Kipton in 1871. Again, Henry Crandall was one of the leading spirits.
About 1845 or ‘46, a Congregational Church society was organized by Rev. Alfred Betts, of Brownhelm. In 1849, a small church building was erected at Samtown, a short distance wouth of the corners, but the society was dissolved in 1864.
The first Sunday School was organized in the first schoolhouse, with John Cyrenius, superintendent, William W. Cook, assistant and Daniel Waugh librarian. There were but three scholars the first Sunday, but a large and prosperous school grew up.
POST OFFICE. One of the problems which confronted the pioneers was the matter of sending and receiving mail. In 1829 some of the inhabitants of Wakeman, LaGrange and Grafton united in clearing a road from Wakeman to Grafton, so that a mail route might be established. There were no houses on the center road, where this was cleared, from Mr. Strong’s, a little east of Wakeman center, to LaGrange. The carrier had for his first load of mail, one letter, and for some time he had only a kind of pocket book to contain the mail.
As Camden came to have some settlers, a post office was established in the house of James Arnold [the Lewis Searles home]. This office received the strange name of Ponoulise, with James Arnold as postmaster, commissioned March 4, 1837. In September of the same year the name was changed to North Camden [there being a Camden P. 0., in Preble County]. After the railroad was built and the mail could be brought by train, the office was moved to the village and the name was changed to Camden Station, with John Scott appointed postmaster on Sept. 6, 1853. In 1861 the railroad station name was changed to Kipton, in honor of a Mr. Kip, of Buffalo, a prominent member of the express company, and on Nov. 4, 1862, the name was changed to Kipton, with Gilbert McFarland, postmaster. John Scott was succeeded by James H. Weeks [not the "Uncle Jimmie", known to many of us] who lived in the Earl Morgan house. The list of incumbents in the office is as follows: Harvey McFarland, 1862; France H. Johnston, 1865; Elanson Rose and Albert Howe, 1866; Thomas H. Linnell, 1868; Alonzo Breckenridge, 1872; Phillip Ritzenthaler, 1882; Henry Scott, 1885; Fred A. Twining, 1887; Mrs. Ella Peck, 1888; Willard Granger, 1892; John Weber, 1896; Charles H. Bayless, 1899; Delmer M. Byam, 1904; Lucian E. Hesser, 1908; Charles Coven, 1908; John H. Sigsworth, 1914; Mrs. Cora Wildman, 1917; Mrs. Nellie Obitts, 1924.
RAILROAD. In 1852 the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad was built, and the first passenger train went from Norwalk to Cleveland early in 1853. This road went to Grafton and from there the trains ran over the Big Four tracks, at first. This road is now the N.Y. Central. Before this time the villages of Camden Center and Samtown were the only trading points, but the advent of the railroad made a vital change in business. William W. Whitney, who owned the land where Kipton village lies, and he proceeded to lay out a village on the west side of the road, from the railroad ground to the south line of the lots by the community church, naming it Binghamton, in honor of his native place, and to this day deeds to any of this property mention the location as Binghamton.
When the railroad was built, there was erected a horse pump, back of the hotel, to raise water from the river for the water tank by the railroad. There used to be large sheds for the storage of firewood for the locomotives, near the depot. Some farmers used to receive quite an income from the sale of wood for the railroad.
STORES. As mentioned, the first store was in Samuel Morgan’s woodhouse. A store was built where Henry Salzman’s house stands, and the goods were moved into it. Goodale and Goodrich were the merchants, and they built an ashery back of it, which was afterwards made over into a sawmill. Not so many years ago the remains of a great pile of ashes might be seen there. The ashery business must have been an active one, as we read that they made from seven to ten tons of potash a week and sold it from $130 to $160 per ton. They obtained their wood at prices at from twenty-five to thirty-one cents per cord, cut and piled. The Gagers also had an ashery, near Kipton.
Besides the store and ashery, Samtown had other industries, shoemaker, blacksmith, hotel, etc.
Camden Center was a flourishing little village, too, having a wagon shop, store and other shops, but it too lost its industries, and the active Baptist Church is all that remains, of its former glory.
Saw mills. The Gagers built a mill near the river on Mr. Sharp’s farm, the race being yet in existence, when whitewood lumber brought the price of five dollars per thousand feet.
In 1847 Edwin Gager, David Morgan and Hiram Allen built a steam saw mill near Samtown, but it was burnt two years later. In 1850 Preston and Blodgett built a mill north of Samtown on the Allen farm. The ownership changed several times and the mill was finally moved away.
Hotel. Obadiah Bowen built the first hotel in Kipton but sold it to Wallace Campbell in 1857. The building was destroyed by fire in 1872 or 1873, and was rebuilt.
The first store in Kipton was kept in the south end of the hotel, the stock being furnished by Charles Campbell, father of Wallace. Another store was kept where the hardware store now stands. McFarland, probably Harvey, built the brick store, which was sold by Thomas Linnell to Alonzo and Benjamin Breckenridge in 1867. They had started in a small building where the Campbell restaurant now stands two years before.
CEMETERY. In 1850 the trustees received a deed from Oliver Ely and others for one square acre of land, for ten dollars. In 1861 John and Thier Sigsworth deeded a half acre on the west side, for one hundred dollars.
ORGANIZATION. At first the north half of Camden was attached to the township of Henrietta and the south half to Brighton, for judicial purposes. When quite a number of settlers had come in, they wished to have the township properly organized. In 1835 a petition was presented to the county commissioners at Elyria, to have the township organized. The petition was granted. At this time the township was known by number only - Range No. 19, Township No. 4. The question of a name came up and the commissioners asked for suggestions. Gideon Waugh suggested the name of his native town in New York state, Camden, and this was adopted. An election of township officers was ordered for the first Monday in April, the 6th. The election was held at the school house. The assembled voters chose for officers of election, Platt Squires, Solomon S. Clark and Robert Douglass, Judges: Israel D. Gager and John Cyrenius, Clerks. Every man in the township, but one, entitled to vote, cast his ballot. The officers chosen were: Trustees Azel Washburn, Robert Douglass and Obed Holcomb: Clerk, John Cyrenius: Treasurer, David Wells: Overseers of the Poor, Thomas Lee and Joseph Wilcox: Supervisors of Highways, Gideon Waugh, James Smith and Reuben Eddy. Gideon Waugh was elected Justice of the Peace later in the year. We left out the names of another set of officers, Fence Viewer: James Smith, Joseph Wilcox and Benjamin Wilcox.
SCHOOLS.
Before the adoption of the new constitution of Ohio, each school district was independent and operated their schools to suit themselves but after the laws were enacted to conform to the new constitution, there was a township Board of Education, composed of the clerks of the sub-districts. The records of Camden Board of Education show that the first meeting was held April 18, 1853. There were then eight sub-districts, with location as follows: Northwest corner, No. 1; southwest, No. 2; middle east, No. 3; middle west, No. 4; southeast corner, No. 5; northeast corner, No. 6; middle south, No. 7; center, No. 8. In 1854 a new district, No. 9 was formed at Kipton.
The members of the board at the first meeting, in order of their districts were: David Wells, William Martin, Norman Breckenridge, Cortes Larned, John Cannan, William M. Coltrin, Arvey Whitney and S. C. Hoyle. The following members were chairmen of the township board: 1854, D. N Gillett; 1855, C.D. Wright; 1857, R.N. Hungerford; 1860, Philip Onstine; 1861, L.C. Gibbs; 1865, William Leet, etc.
We have been fortunate in obtaining the records of district No. 5, the Cannan district. These records gave a good idea of the management of schools in the early days. The record begins September 20, 1842, when C. Parrish was elected director for one year, S. W. Lesher, two years and J. Youngles for three years. On September 15, 1843, Lewis Parrish was elected director for three years, and also district clerk and treasurer. Sept. 18, 1843, the following report was entered:
"The directors of school district No. 5 in Camden Township, Lorain County, Ohio, report that there have been taught in this district during the past year three months common schools, making in all three months by female Teacher, the average number of scholars attending the school taught by female teacher was 10 55/66. Paid female teacher fourteen dollars and fifteen cents out of the common school fund, the balance was paid by the subscribers to the school. The branches taught were reading, writing, arithmetic and geography."
At that time there was a law compelling parents of pupils to make up any deficiency in the school funds by paying according to the days’ attendance of their children.
This form of report was used generally, as we find in other entries in this record, and in records in other schools.
The report of the next year showed a three month term of school also.
"Report of John Cannan, teacher in school District No. 5 in Camden Township. Lorain County for the quarter commencing December 2, 1850, and ending the 20th day of February, 1851. The whole number of scholars enrolled was 12 males & 22 females, the average daily attendance was 5 males and 9 females. The amount due from the public fund is $20, from other sources than public fund $8.25. The branches taught were Orthography, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic & Geography."
In 1851 the directors reported three months’ school by female teacher and two by male teacher, $35 paid from public funds and $13 by subscription.
In 1846 they reported seventy-five cents per week paid for a female teacher. In the next report, it records that three months was taught by a female teacher at one dollar a week and three more at nine shillings. There were two months taught by a male teacher, at thirteen dollars a month. In 1852 a report showed enrollment of 11 males and 17 females, with an average attendance of 2 46/132 males and 6 63/ 132 females. In 1855 an agreement was made with Joseph Flickinger, for 13 1/9 cords of wood, for eight dollars. In 1856 3 months and 11 days’ school was taught by male teacher for $65, and 4months and 9 days by a female teacher for $22. The textbooks used were McGuffey’s readers and speller, Ray’s arithmetics and Kirtland’s grammar. In 1858 wood, two feet long, hard wood, delivered, was bought at 66 cents per cord. In 1862 the price of wood had risen to 74 cents a cord and a lady teacher’s wages to fourteen dollars per month. In 1865 the price of wood was $1.38, and teacher’s wages for female, three dollars a week, but Miss Lucy Bursley received $22 per month.
We now return to the records of the township Board, at their first meeting in 1853: Voted to assess a tax on No. 4 of $125 for procuring a site, repairing and furnishing schoolhouse. Voted a levy of two mills for tuition after the state funds are exhausted. At a special meeting April 27, 1853, voted to raise $385 assessed on the whole township for schoolhouse purposes, to be divided, $125 for No. 3, $150 for No. 4, $50 for No. 8, and the remainder divided equally among the eight districts.
The school funds for 1852, were, State, Western Reserve and County, $333.12. Township, $110.96, a total of $444.08, to run the schools for a year. For 1853 the total funds were $908.73. Enumeration, $454. April 17, 1854, voted to form a new district, No. 9, [Kipton village and adjoining territory, north to the Henrietta line, on both sides of the road, south to about the Sharp and Lucas farms]. Voted to raise $250 for schoolhouse, $100 to be assessed on No. 9, also to raise $250 for each of two districts, No. 5 and No. 7, for new schoolhouses. Voted one mill for tuition purposes.
June 3, 1854: Voted to accept sites for schoolhouses in Nos. 5, 7 and 9, and to let contracts for building in Nos. 5 and 7 to John F. Lee. Voted one dollar a day to members for attending meetings. In 1854 the school funds were $1039.75, and schoolhouse funds, $1062.68. April, 1855. Authorized sub-district directors to suspend pupils for disorderly conduct.
1857, distribution of funds among the districts, from $95 to $130, each. 1860, voted to abolish District No. 7, the portion north of a line between Mr. Green and Mr. Tucker set to No. 2, the rest to No. 5. 1863, motion that the Board deems it advisable that teachers furnish their own living. [Until this time the teachers boarded around among patrons of the school, for a period according to the number of pupils sent from each family. It was frequently somewhat hard to find a housewife ready to take the teacher, at a particular time, they had not butchered, or had the house cleaned, etc.] In 1864 the Board authorized the sub-districts to pay sufficient wages for the teachers to board themselves.
In 1865 there were one hundred and fifty volumes in the school libraries. [The State furnished books for a library for each sub-district and these were for the use of the pupils free of charge].
Board of Education for 1860: R.C. Eastman, H.G. Bronson, Merari Durand, Lewis Rood, John Cannan, J. N. Twining, E. L. Taylor, John Scott.
1874. Voted to build a schoolhouse on northeast corner of Lot No. 25. [Location of present centralized schoolhouse.] The bids for construction were:
|
H. C. Sheffield |
$1485. |
|
John Rose |
$1185. |
|
A. E. Andrews |
$1225. |
|
C. T. Buckley |
|
|
James Hales |
$1400. |
|
C. E. Bonser |
$1275 |
John Rose obtained the contract. The schoolhouse was accepted Nov. 10, 1874. [The number of the district was changed from No. 9 to No. 6.]
1875. Voted to build new schoolhouses in No. 1 and No. 5, John Rose getting the contract for No. 1 and Charles Buckley for No. 5. In 1876, voted to cut John Rose’s bill for No. 1 schoolhouse, $16.50.
HISTORY OF THE SETTLERS
In alphabetical order.
ADKINS. The name was written on Hartford and Waterbury records. Adkins until 1770 when it appears on Waterbury records as Atkins. The name is an English one.
1st generation: Josiah Adkins, Sr., of Middletown, Conn., married Elizabeth Wetmore Oct. 8, 1673.
2nd Gen.: Josiah Adkins married Mary Wheeler of Stratford in 1708.
3rd. Gen.: Joseph Adkins married Abigail Rich and removed to Bristol, Conn., and to Wolcott in 1759.
4th Gen.: Samuel Atkins married Esther Minor, daughter of Jedediah Miner, of Wolcott.
5th Gen.: Levi Atkins married Eunice Smith, was of Naugatuck, moved to Middlebury, Conn., later to Wolcott.
6th Gen.: Garry Atkins, born May 24, 1800, married, 1ST, Melvina Wilton, of Plymouth, Conn., removed to Medina, Ohio, in 1829. They had children Ellen W. and Harriet A. By a fifth wife he had a daughter Elizabeth. He came to Camden in 1865 and bought the Lafe Edwards farm and lived there. According to a tombstone, Marinda Atkins died March 19, 1880, aged 73 years. She was the wife of Garry Atkins, Marinda Howe. Hanna Jane Johnson was the daughter of Garry Atkins’s last wife, Marinda. Another daughter married Lafayette Edwards.
ALLEN, EZRA S., in 1836 bought from Abraham Schermerhorn twenty-five lots in tract 9, for $10,000. Between 1837 and 1840 he sold tracts of this land to Joseph Curtis, Dayton Morgan, Ira Hill, Hiram Allen, Charles B. Kingsbury, Moses S. Tennant, Eli Bush, Asa and Peter Thorp, Mary Bush, Benjamin Wilcox, Moses B. Smith, Charles Peck and Henry Crandall. Ezra Allen died in 1841 at the age of 29. It seems certain that he had a son, Charles W., born in 1834 and died in 1916. Ezra Allen’s widow, with her son, lived on the William Calkins farm until she married Rufus Washburn.
Charles Allen, probably the one above, married Frances L., daughter of James Weeks, for his first wife, and who died in 1857. He was married Nov. 3, 1858 to Ruth E. Beach.
Another Charles Allen, son of Dr. Sterling W. Allen, the first physician in Camden, but later of Michigan, married Ann Janette Holcomb.
ALLEN, HIRAM, probably a brother of Ezra, a native of Clarkson, Monroe County, N.Y., settled on the Sharp farm at the Center. He inherited from his brother considerable land and bought twelve more tracts and sold thirty-one tracts, between the years 1839 and 1860. He died Dec. 6, 1861, at the age of fifty-two. He sold the farm at the Center where he lived in 1853 and lived with Moses Holcomb for a time. His widow returned to New York State. We find no record of any children. It is noted that Hiram Allen built the house on the Earl Gibbs farm and in which Moses Holcomb lived.
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