Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1852-01-19
For the Portage Sentinel.
Historical "reminiscences Of Portage Co.
By j. H.

sg5=s.gs
FIfty.ihree years have now elapsed since
The FIRST settlements were commenced in
Portage County. and nearly all of the frs,
settlers have passed away. Very few in.
deed are lef, 10 record The incidents of those
: sdays, and those few will not remain long
5 with us Theirs was hard loi. The
pioneers of ell new countries have bare
TASK. hut these so distant from all other SET
dement's, that provisions had to be trans.
ported hundreds Of miles, and the country,
every part OF it so heavily timbered. and
the pioneer settlers, isolated in townships
SO distant from each other, made their task
uncommoniy labor!ous and dIfilcults
The writer of this, though not among the
f,rst. was an early settler in Portage coun
ty.. The Grst settlements were commenced
in 1899; and it was not until 1906, that he
arrived in what is now Portage County,
and settled in Man,ua; and il is of thai sec
ton Of the county principally and its early
settlers, he would give some sketches
.Abram Honey and family settled in
Maniua in the spring Of 1893, and Mrs.
Honey was the ,irst white woman in that
township; Elias Harmon and wife settled
there in the, fallo The snme year. Moses
Pond, PaschalP. Mcintosh, Rufus Edwards,
"a brother of Mrs. Honey single men,
all commenced Improvements about the
same time, in the east part Of Mantua. In
1900. AMI Atwaier, and Jotham At.
water also, commenced improvements. and
snon after came Bazel Windsor and family,
Wm. Russell and family; and several OF
those single men married, so that in Au-
gust 1906, when | first became acquainted
there. there we're seventeen families, besides
several bachelors The men having FAM
lilies then were, Amzi and Jo.ham Atwatsr,
Moses and David Pond, w. Russell. Ger
sham, Samuel, aud Enoch Judson, W.
Looms, R. Edwards, S. Moore. E. Har-
mon, w. Skinner, B. Windsor, " m. John.
son. o. Snow, and P. P. Mcintosh. Bach.
elors. q Harmon, P. Pond, J. w. Petit
bone. j. Twaddle, and L. J. Johnson. vi
these W. Skinner, and 5. Moore, had just
arrived, a few weeks previous to our arri>
vai. Which was Angus, 6, 1906.
In Aurora there were then but 4 or ID
families; and ia Nelson about the same as
Aarora. Hiram hnd then but two families,
10 wit, Chrisionhsr Radden's, asd Abram
Dyson's. la Shalersville, was then but
enc family, Joel Baker. WHO settled there
in the spring of 1866 Windham, Freedom,
Ghar!estown, Stree,shornugh, Edinburgh,
b imfiald, md think Paris, were then nli
dense wilderness, except tina: in Charles
,awn was a squntser, Abti Forshy who
lived on the farm now occupied by Mr..
Farnam. The hex family IN Charles.owD,
was Gen. John Campbell, who moved in
10 his house on the South west corner Of the
township, 10 1903. Gen Bierce is in error
IN stating that Gen, Campbell moved into
taa, iownshis in 1904.
Edinburgh was no, settled until some
Years la,er. Gen. Berce is also in error
in stating that Lemuel Chapnsan settled IN
Edinburgh in 1909. MIR. Chapman, NOV
cd into this county ~ 1912, and frs, settled
in Roo,sinwn, near tho west line If f'din-
bureh A. M Abbott, Is believed TO have been
t..ezfir., settler in Edinburgh. in 1914, on
the farm .opposi,e (nnrih) of the present
residence of Mr.. l.. Chapman.
Roo,stown, in 1906, had some 10 or IL
families; Ravnnna, about ID or 10; Deer,
fisid aud Randolph each propably ubnut The
ssme number, and one or two fanil es il,
Franklin, aud some four or five in each Of
the ,oweships Of Palmyra, Alwater, and
Suiheid.
The frs, white child born in Mantua,
and the first ia this county was Eunice tlar-
mon, daughter of Elias, and Subrina Hnr-
mon who was born in July 1900. She
afterwards, married Simeon Sheldon, md
lived in Mah,un, to rnise respectable fam
lily. and died in August ls4e. Horace
Pond, son Of Moses Fond, was The frs,
male child born in Man,aa. Born about
1909
(More anon,