To learn the whole history of the settlement of Clarksfield we must go back to the history of the Western Reserve and the Firelands, and the narrative properly begins more than two centuries ago. Bosworth says, in "Gleanings From the Western Reserve:" "The Western Reserve is the mother of us all. Go where we will over the interior, if we do not find Western Reserve men among the molding agencies, we are almost sure to find an institution, a church, a school, or a pervading sentiment or principle, that can be traced back to the intensely active moral forces that have swayed society in northeastern Ohio from the first. Her influence more or less direct, even upon the whole nation and the world, has been incalculable, and in the aggregate it has always told for righteousness. Blot out Hudson and Oberlin, the seminaries and academies of all this region, eliminate from history her noted names, sweep away the host of unnumbered workers in the home land and the foreign field, in private life and public, in all departments of religion, science and reform, who have been born or trained or have labored here. Think for a moment, if you can, what that would mean, and it will not seem an unfitting thing for us to come and sit down by our mother and ask her to tell us again the stories of her youth. **** When New Connecticut was thrown open for settlement, it was most naturally from old Connecticut and the other New England states that the pioneers came--people who brought with them their church and school, many of them also personal piety, steadfast adherence to a high standard of morals, and faces set toward whatever light might yet "break forth from God’s word" or His providence. This it is which has made the Western Reserve such a potent factor in the world’s progress. It has been the narrow strait into and through which has poured the rich tide of all that was best in good old New England, gathering volume and momentum and power in its pent up channel, then spreading out over the whole western land, as far north as the British line, as far west as the Golden Gate and the Columbia Bar, and now pushing south through the Mississippi valley it bids fair to sweep around by the Gulf and up the Atlantic coast until it reaches again the fountain head, and the whole world has felt its beneficent influence."

Something over two hundred and fifty years ago, John Winthrop of England was elected governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He was held in high esteem by Charles I, King of England, who gave him a magnificent diamond ring.

Eleven years later, after the death of both these men, Charles II ascended the throne and John Winthrop the second was governor of the colony of Connecticut. The colonists desired larger possessions and more liberty, and in 1662 they delegated their governor to go to England and endeavor to obtain from the king a new charter. When Governor Winthrop reached England he obtained an interview with the king, and by way of introduction showed him the ring which the elder Charles had given to the elder Winthrop. The king was so much affected by the sight of it that he was moved to tears. At this opportune moment Winthrop presented before the king the prepared charter which he had brought with him. This document provided for the right of self government and extended the territory of the colony westward to the "South Sea" as the Pacific Ocean was called. When the king asked how far it was to the "South Sea," Winthrop said he thought it could be seen from the western hills of the colony. The requests seemed to the king to be very modest, so he signed the charter. That charter gave to Connecticut the territory from which the Western Reserve was created, and much more came of that diamond ring than the king or John Winthrop dared even dream of. Connecticut enjoyed the possession of her unbroken wilderness, with its vague western boundary for more than a hundred years.

Owing to the ignorance of the English people and of the colonists themselves, of the true extent of the western portion of our land, charters were given to other colonies which included the same western territory. Fierce disputes grew out of this as the lands were settled more. Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut all claimed wide strips from sea to sea. After the war of the Revolution the United States government claimed these disputed tracts and some bloodshed followed. To settle the matter Connecticut, in 1786, ceded to the United States all claim to her western lands but reserved a portion extending 120 miles west from the west line of Pennsylvania, and, of course, the same width as the state of Connecticut, with the 41^st parallel of latitude for its southern boundary. This tract of land was called New Connecticut, or the Western Reserve. The conflicting claims of the other states were not finally adjusted until 1800. The United States claimed jurisdiction over the Western Reserve, although recognizing the right of Connecticut to the ownership of the lands.

This tract of land became a portion of the Northwest Territory and was included in the state of Ohio when that state was organized. During the war of the Revolution the British sent different expeditions which burned the towns along the coast of Connecticut. Among these were the towns of New London, Norwalk and Danbury.

To compensate the sufferers the state of Connecticut, in 1792, set apart a portion of the Western Reserve, containing a half million acres of land, and granted it to them. This was called the "Sufferers" land, or "Firelands," and was set off from the western extremity of the Reserve, and comprises the present counties of Huron and Erie, as well as the townships of Danbury, in Ottawa County, and Ruggles, in Ashland County.

The State of Connecticut incorporated the grantees of the Firelands, some 1900 in number, into a company which had full power to transact all business necessary to be done in surveying and dividing the lands. Nothing appears to have been done until after the State of Ohio was organized in 1802. In 1803 a new charter was granted to the owners of the Firelands by the state of Ohio. A Board of Directors was then chosen, and was authorized to extinguish the Indian titles, to survey the lands into townships and to divide them among the owners according to the amount of their individual losses and to levy a tax to defray the necessary expenses. On July 4^th, 1805, Isaac Mills, as agent of the company, and one Janett, representing the United States, met the chiefs of the Indian tribes at Fort Industry, where Toledo now stands, and made a treaty with them by which all Indian title was relinquished for a sum of money amounting to $19,000. Thus the first owners of the soil were the last to relinquish their claims, and it is gratifying to note that the claims of the red men were recognized and respected by the Connecticut people. The title to the Firelands is derived from a monarch of England, from the state of Connecticut, from the United States and from the Indians.

In 1800 the territorial government of Ohio established Trumbull county, comprising the whole of the Western Reserve. In 1805 it was divided and the counties of Geauga and Portage set off. Huron county was organized February 7, 1807, but was left attached to Geauga and Portage counties for judicial purposed. It comprised more than the Firelands at first, but a little later was reduced to the limits of the Firelands. In 1838 the northern part was cut off and organized as Erie county. In 1846 Ruggles township was detached to go towards forming Ashland county.

The first county seat of Huron county was located on the farm of David Abbott, north of the present village of Milan. This was in 1811, but in 1818 the location was changed to the new village of Norwalk.

On December 16, 1805 the Firelands Company, by their agent, Taylor Sherman, (grandfather of Hon. John Sherman) contracted with John McLean and James Clark, of Danbury, Conn., to survey the Firelands "by Almon Ruggles or some competent person," The outlines of the half million acres to be fixed and the whole to be run off into townships five miles square, the work to be done within a year, and provided the Congress of the United States ratified the treaty made at Fort Industry. The United States did not run the south line of the Western Reserve as soon as expected, so the time for completing the survey was extended to June 1^st, 1807. The establishment of the south line being still delayed, the directors of the Firelands Company empowered Isaac Mills and Isaac Bronson to ascertain the true south boundary of the Reserve, and the southwest corner of the Firelands, as well as the dividing line between the Firelands and the rest of the Reserve, (which had been sold to the Connecticut Land Co.). Seth Pease was employed to do the work. In the spring of 1806 a company of twelve men started from Danbury to commence the survey which Ruggles had been hired to make. Simeon Hoyt, who afterwards settled in Clarksfield, was one of the party and was employed as flagmen to go ahead of the compass. They had eight horses and three wagons. At Pittsburg Almon Ruggles joined them. They spent some time at Cleveland (which had but three families) while preparing tents, pack saddles and a canoe. The latter was made from the trunk of a tree which measured eight feet in diameter. Ruggles took part of men and the canoe and started out to get the outline of the lake shore, while James Clark took the rest of the party, of which Hoyt was one to run the west line. One of their horses was stolen by the Indians and another was drowned in Rocky river. When the west line, which was to be parallel with the west line of Pennsylvania, was run, the men went to Huron, where they found the other party. John Flemmond had established a trading post at that place in 1805, and there were plenty of Indians and squaws as well as Canadian Frenchmen. After surveying the islands in the lake, which Hoyt says was a difficult job on account of the great number of rattlesnakes and the tree tops, they went to Cleveland to wait while the surveyors could make their calculations and know just where to run the east line of the Firelands so as to cut off the half million acres. The most of the men went back to Connecticut but Hoyt and one other remained with Ruggles and Clark and were chainmen for them during their surveys of the winter. They suffered much from the severe cold while working at running the east line and the township lines during this winter. In the spring they started for Connecticut with only twelve dollars to pay their way. They reached New York in twenty one days with fifty cents of their money. From there they went to Danbury, after an absence of thirteen months. After a time it was found that the point from which the south line of the Reserve was measured was two miles too far west thus making the west line of the Firelands too far west and the whole work would have to be done again.

Maxfield Ludlow, a Deputy Surveyor of the United States, then ran the south and west lines of the Reserve, setting a post at each mile and and noting in his minutes the character of the country passed over. Ruggles then ran the east line of the Firelands again, commencing June 8^th, 1808. Mr. Hoyt again assisting him. The east and west lines of the Firelands were supposed to be parallel with the west line of Pennsylvania. After the east line was run off, the boundaries of the townships were marked off and Ruggles returned to Danbury, but Hoyt and Jabez Wright built a log hut on the bank of Huron river and remained during the winter. When Ruggles returned in the spring of 1809 they proceeded to survey into lots the townships of Vermillion, Florence, Wakeman and Clarksfield, and surveyed into sections the townships of New Haven, Norwalk and Berlin. Mr. Ruggles received the sum of three dollars per mile for this survey and it is interesting to note that subsequent calculations showed that the Firelands, as set off by Ruggles contained 500,027 acres. Mr. Ruggles soon afterwards settled on the lake shore in Vermillion township, on the farm which includes the well known summer resort of "Ruggles Beach" and where his son, Richard Ruggles, still lives. Jabez Wright settled at Huron and Simeon Hoyt in Clarksfield.

These surveying parties encountered many dangers and suffered many hardships. They lived principally on flour and salt pork, although a woman at Huron baked bread for them during the last survey. The party was so large as to frighten the game away and they could not take time to hunt it. We should honor these pioneer surveyors for their labors in providing a way for the future settlement of the country.

After the lands were surveyed it was necessary to divide them among the various proprietors. In 1808 a committee was appointed to devise some plan, and the following one was adopted. There were thirty townships, each with four sections, making 120 sections. The total amount of losses sustained by the original grantees was divided by 120 and the quotient, 1324 pounds (the English divisions of money being still in use) represented the value of each section. One Hundred and twenty tickets were prepared, with the names of claimants whose claims amounted to the total value of one section, written upon each. An equal number of other tickets were prepared, with the name of a township and number of a section written upon each. The tickets were put into two boxes and one of each kind drawn by a disinterested person, and the section thus drawn was the property of the persons whose names were found upon the other ticket. We do not learn how the different proprietors managed to divide the sections. The most of the claims had probably been sold to speculators or land companies who obtained possession of large tracts and the actual settlers often selected the land they desired after they had arrived here. This drawing was made on the 9^th day of November, 1808. Very few, if any, of the owners of these lands ever lived upon them. Among the names of the proprietors or original fire sufferers we find many names which sound familiar to Clarksfield people, such as Barnes, Cunningham, Huested, Knapp, Barnum, Starr, Mead, Gregory, Finch, Wildman, Hoyt, Wood, etc.

Forty six different persons by the name of Mead were "sufferers" at the town of Greenwich, Conn. On account of the method of making the division of the lands many of the purchasers of small tracts could not tell where their land lay until they reached the borders of the Firelands and they could learn where their township lay, and when the township was reached they had to find the lot by means of the trees which the surveyor had marked. The location might be good or it might be poor and there was something of a lottery about it. Some of the pioneers who came from the rocky hillsides of New England or New York (like the grandfather of the writer) were not able to judge of the best soil and passed by the sandy land of Berlin township and chose a tract of dense timber with its heavy clay soil, further from the lake shore. By reason of the Firelands being owned by so many different persons, all anxious to sell, the new settlements did not proceed steadily westward from an older settlement, but were isolated from each other. This date of settlement of the different townships shows this:

Prior to and during the war of 1812 emigration to Ohio was slight. After the war and especially during the years of 1817-18, when there was a revival of trade and those owning property in New England could sell it if they wished to, there was a great tide of emigration. One other cause operated powerfully to hasten emigration at this time, viz., the cold summer of 1816. In New England there were severe frosts every month in the year, and crops were nearly destroyed. Mr. Jabez Hanford, of Wakeman, (father of Mrs. Marquis D. Randall, of Clarksfield) who lived in Connecticut at this time, made the following entry in his family Bible: "The year of our Lord 1816 being a remarkable year is worthy of record. The spring was very cold and backward with considerable thunder. From the 6^th to the 10^th day of June, very cold with severe frost. The ground froze to some thickness; the wind generally from the north and dry. Snow fell in Canada on the 10^th of this month twelve inches deep. Corn all cut to the ground. The first of August the summer continues to be dry and cold. The corn is now very small with but little hope of a crop. Frosts July 24^th, August 27^th and 29^th, so that clothes spread out were frozen stiff."

Communication by railroads, canals and steamboats did not exist as now and it was difficult to get food from other sections of the country. The following winter was severe and the spring backward. There was much distress and many people nearly perished from starvation. At this time highly colored stories of the rich soil and mild climate of Ohio were circulated. A sort of stampede took place from the cold and desolate hills of New England to the land which promised so much. One writer says that he well remembered the tide of emigration through and from Connecticut on its way west during the summer of 1817. Some persons went in covered wagons -- frequently a family consisting of father, mother and eight or nine small children, with perhaps one a babe at the breast -- some on foot and some crowded together under the cover with kettles, gridirons, feather beds, crockery and the family Bible, Watts’ Psalms and Hymn Book and Webster’s spelling book. Others started in ox carts and trudged on foot at the rate of ten miles a day. Many of these persons were in a state of poverty and begged their way as they went. Some of them died before they reached their destination.

"The roads over the Alleghenies between Philadelphia and Pittsburg were then rude, steep and dangerous and some of the more precipitous slopes were consequently strewn with the carcasses of wagons, carts and oxen which had been "ship-wrecked" in their perilous descents. The scenes on the road -- of families gathered at night in miserable sheds called taverns, mothers frying, children crying, fathers swearing -- were a mingled comedy of errors. Even when they arrived at their new homes * * * frequently the whole family -- father, mother, children -- speedily exchanged the fresh complexion and elastic step of their first abodes for the sunken cheek and languid movement which marks the victim of intermittent fever."

The above sketch will show that our ancestors did not always find the path to a new home in the wilderness one of roses.

Henry Howe, the Ohio historian, in "The Family Magazine" of 1837 says: "The frontispiece of the present number represents a halt for the night of an emigrant with his family; one, perhaps, who has left his natal soil and the inheritance of his fathers, and seeks in the far west for the independence in his worldly circumstances which he has tried in vain to gain from the stony and barren patrimonial homestead; or perhaps one who has looked on his rapidly increasing family, and, ambitious of doing something for his children while he is in the prime of life, or anxious to see them settled comfortably around him, that his old age may be cheered by their presence, has resolved to go to the far west, the land which is represented as flowing with milk and honey, the land which repays with an hundred fold the labour expended upon it, and the riches of whose bosom far exceed those in the mines of Peru. Resolved to emigrate, the emigrant collects together his little property, and provides himself with a wagon and two or three horses, as his means permit; a rifle, a shot gun and an axe slung over his shoulder form part of his equipments, and his trusty dog becomes the companion of his journey. In the wagon are placed his bedding, his provisions, and such cooking utensils as are indispensably necessary. Everything being ready, the wife and children take their seats, the father of the family mounts the box, and now they are on the move. As they pass through the village which has been to them the scene of many happy hours, they take a last look at the spots which are hallowed by association; the church with its lowly spire, an emblem of that humility which befits a christian, and the burial ground where the weeping willow bends mournfully over the headstone which marks the parents’ grave; nor do the children forget their play ground nor the white school house where the rudiments of education have been instilled into their minds.

The road is at first comparatively smooth and their journey pleasant; their way is chequered with divers little incidents, while the continual changes in the appearance of the country around them, and anticipation of what is to come prevent those feelings of despondency which might otherwise arise on leaving a much-loved home. When the roads are bad or hilly the family quit the wagon and plod their way on foot, and at night they may be seen assembled round the fire made by the roadside, partaking of their frugal supper. The horses are unharnessed, watered and secured with their heads to the trough, and the emigrants arrange themselves for the night, while their faithful dog keeps watch; or if the close of the day finds them near a tavern or farm house, a bargain is struck for the use of the fireplace and part of the kitchen, and the family passes the night on the floor. Amid all the privations and vicissitudes in their journey they are cheered by the consciousness that each day lessens the distance between them and the land of promise, and that the fertile soil of the west will recompense them for all their trials. The roads become more and more rough, the swamps and little forest streams are rendered passable by logs placed side by side, and the bridges thus formed are termed "corduroy" from their ridgy and striped appearance. The axe and the rifle of the emigrant or "mover" as he is termed in the west, are now brought daily, almost hourly into use. With the former he cuts down saplings or young trees to throw across the roads which, in many places, are almost impassable; with the latter he kills squirrels, wild turkeys or such game as the forest affords him, for by this time his provisions are exhausted. If perchance a buck crosses his path and is brought down by a lucky shot, it is carefully dressed and hung up in the forks of the trees, fires are built and the meat cut into small strips and smoked and dried for future subsistence. The road through the woods now becomes intricate, the trees being merely felled and drawn aside so as to permit a wheeled carriage to pass, and the emigrant is often obliged to be guided in his route only by the "blaze" of the surveyor on the trees, and at every few rods to cut away the branches which obstruct his passage. The stroke of his axe reverberates through the woods but no answering sound meets the woodman’s ear to assure him of the presence of friend or foe. At night in these solitudes he hears and sees the wolves stealing through the gloom and snuffing the scent of the intruders, and now and then the bloodshot eye of the catamount glares through the foliage. At length the emigrant arrives at the landmarks which indicate to him the proximity of his possessions. A location for the cabin is now selected, near a small stream of running water, and, if possible, on the south side of a slight elevation. No time is lost. The trees are immediately felled, and shortly you can perceive a cleared space of ground of perhaps a few rods in circumference. Stakes, forked at the top, are driven into the ground, on which are placed logs, and the chinks between these are stopped with clay. An inclosure is thus thrown up hastily, to protect the inmates from the weather.

The trunks of the trees are rolled to the edge of the clearing and surmounted by stakes driven crosswise into the ground; the tops of the trees are piled on the trunks, thus forming a brush fence. By degrees the surrounding trees are killed by girdling.

Some that are fit to make into rails are cut down and split, while others are either left to rot or are logged up and burned. The next season a visible improvement has taken place. Several acres have been added to the clearing. The emigrant’s residence begins to assume the appearance of a farm. The brush fence is replaced by a worm fence. The temporary shanty is transformed into a comfortable log cabin, and although the chimney is built of only small sticks piled together and filled in with clay, and occupies an end of the cabin, it shows that the inward man is duly attended to, and the savory fumes of venison and other good things prove that the comforts of this life are not forgotten, and that due respect is paid to that important organ in the human economy -- the stomach. In a few years, even months, the retired cabin, once so solitary, becomes the nucleus of a little settlement; new portions of ground are cleared, cabins are erected, and in a short time the settlement can turn out a dozen efficient hands for a raising bee, logging bee, etc.

A saw mill is soon in operation on one of the neighboring stream, the log huts receive a poplar weather boarding, and as the little settlement increases, a church and school house appear; a mail is established, and before many years elapse, a fine road is made to the nearest town; a stage coach, which runs once or twice a week, connects the place to the populous country to the east of it. A generation passes over. The log buildings have all disappeared. In their places stand handsome edifices of brick or wood, painted of a pure white, and the settlement has all the conveniences and refinements of its parent settlements on the Atlantic frontier. The emigrant himself is now an aged man. His locks are silvered by time. His toils are over. Some fine summer’s evening he may be seen seated in the porch of his dwelling, his frank, open countenance beaming with delight as he relates the tale of this early adventures to his little grandchildren, who, clustering about his knees, drink in every word with intense interest."

The first roads through the forest were mere trails and could only be followed by a line of blazed trees, made by chopping off the bark from a spot on one side of the tree, and not burning it by fire as some men supposed. The next step was to chop the brush and small trees from the line of the road, leaving the large trees to be girdled. In miry places logs of wood, from twelve to fifteen inches in diameter and twelve or more feet in length, were laid side by side, crosswise of the road. Although the logs were of a uniform size when laid, some would sink into the mud more than others; one end of a log might be supported by a stump or large root and held up while the other end would sink in the mud and thus the road became very uneven in time. The roots of the large trees, around which the driver must pick his way, added to the unevenness of the road and a wagon would rock as much as a ship in a storm and the horses be almost thrown from their feet. Some of these logs are to be found in the roads to this day, though placed there fifty, sixty or seventy years ago.

When the settler had selected the location for his house, near a spring, if possible, and this fact accounts for the crookedness of some of the earlier roads which wound along the banks of streams, near which the springs were found, he first cleared away the brush and trees from a space large enough so that none of the standing trees, when they were afterward felled, would endanger the safety of the house or occupants. Word would be sent to his neighbors, (everybody within a dozen miles might be considered neighbors) to come to the "raising." An experienced man was selected for the "boss" and an expert axman for each corner to cut the notches in the logs so as to make them fit together. As soon as logs enough to make a commencement had been cut and hauled, the work of building the house began. The logs were laid butt and top alternately, to keep the walls level. When the walls were breast high, skids and handspikes were used. The laborers were divided into two parties and there was a strife to see which side would get their walls up first. Accidents sometimes happened from the slipping of the log, and the ever present black jug did not always help matters. Sometimes the floor of the house was "Mother Earth," but it was generally made of puncheons, which were planks or slabs two or three inches thick hewed on one side with a broadaxe and laid on sleepers. It was far from being tight or smooth. When the walls were as high as the eaves, a log was placed on each end wall, but long enough to project a foot or so beyond each side wall. These were called the "eave bearers" and supported the "butting poles." The logs forming the gable ends, called "trappings," were of basswood or some other soft timber, which was easily chopped off to make the slant of the roof. Poles called "ribs" were laid length-wise to support the roof. If the settler was in a hurry the roof was made of bark, but it was usually made of "shakes," which were shingles three or four feet long split from a straight grained tree by a tool call a "frow." The first course of shakes was laid on the ribs against the butting pole. A "weight pole" was laid lengthwise of the roof near the upper end of the first course of shakes and kept from rolling down by short pieces of wood called "knees," resting against the butting pole. This weight pole made the butting pole for the next course, and thus the roof was carried to the peak. No nails were used and the roof would shed water first rate and last many years.

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Transcribed by Lowell Dunlap