Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1872-01-17
No. II.
Fragments Of History OF Newton.
Touuehin-

u OF the Srd1nst., your eader founC
q hasty retrospect Of the earlier day
Of Newton. The writer did not. anC
could not expect to give all the facts
with minute accuracy of date and cir
constance, but hoped to elicit correc
tions and additional facts andinciuent.
from any one who might be able t.
speak on the subject. This hope I.
still entertained, and such items vii.
be eheerfully published when reeeiv-
ed:
Although last in the order of time
the present article will treat mainly
of matters regarding the settlement OF
what was then called the Falls" In
this vicinity, the earliest proprietor
Of land, seems to have been Judson
Garfield, of New Haven. who took
title from the State of Connecticut,
and early contemplated the building
of what he appeared to have Regarded
as a rural city, in order to utilize the
immense water power, which the two
branches of the Mahoning here afford,
ed. For this purpose, his lands were
surveyed into large lots" of from
four to ten acres each. and immigra,
ton invited. In the autumn of 1907,
John Lane moved in-built his domi'
ell on the bank Of the West River,
on what is now Z. Martins lot.
June 10th, 1903, Bildad Hine and
family arrived, and were received
with true western hospitality into
the mansion of Mr.. Lane. Fol
this the facilities were ample, as the
house was planned for emergencies,
being on the ground l6byilS feet, and
one story Highland only thirteen
of a family. Their milk house contin-
ues to the present in good condition,
except the door. 1t is q natural cave
in the rock, projecting over the river
at the real of Baster's Machine Shop.
Skunks fancied the milk, regardless
ofthe wishes of their new neighbors,
and to debar them, a board was tied
with a buck skin string to a bush in
such a way as to endsnger their necks,
if they should attempt to go around
it.
In the summer of 1903. Mr.. Garfield
with a MI. Ruggles, built a saw mill
where Mr.. Hoyle's factory now stands,
and, according to the memory of Mr..
B. C. Allen, in February, 1911, started
the first grist mill, and ground the
first batch of wheat for his father,
Joseph Allen, and he bolted the flour
through u hair sieve, at home. The
mill stones were 9usrried in what was
called Redding Hill, in Hiram town.
ship. The mill was burned Dec. 1917,
by a drunken man who had taken
lodgings in it for the night, and was
obliged to wade the frozen river to es-
cape the fire /; the mill was not re-
built, but its place was filled in 1929,
by Horace and Augustus Stevens,
who erected the present Eagle Mills,
on the west side of the stream.
Mr.. Edmund Yale, Of Windham,
kindly furnished me with the ledger
of his father, Benjamin B. Yale.
From this 1 learn that he moved in
1sOS when Edmund was two years
old from Garfield to Samuel Oviatt's,
in Braeeville, and was millwright, at
one dollar per day, at the erection of
the Falls mills, and was afterward
miller for Garfield & Ruggles, -then
Garfield & ellison, in 1872, and in
1878 and rs he charges John Lane, as
vender, for work done on grist mill
and saw mill. In 1914 ne worked for
Jessie Holiday, in his mill NOW
owned by Calender & SOM, and
from Dec, 1916, to July ,Is17, again ran
the Falls mills, on shares for one
and in Dec. moved to Wind
ham.
On the subject of these mills, it is
said that at one time one Fluellen
bought the property, and soon after
got involved for goods bought of Cor
Dubois, Of New York, and so
the title passed to Dubois, and in 1916
was sold by him to the aforesaid Hop
kins, who knew much less Of country
than of city life, and of his eccentrici-
ties many anecdotes are told.
Around the neighborhood many
had been fallen 10 browse the
He could not quietly e the
wasted, and, in order to ave
it, had it cut and carried home on
the backs of his sons. He bought Of
Mr.. Hine a valuable gray horse. By
handling and driving with
a hoop pole, the horse oon got
baulky, and the boys had to carry the
load whenever the horse refused to
haul it up the bank. In the course
Of ayear, Mr.. b. concluded he had
mistaken his sphere, and returned to
the city a poorer man.
In 1913, the first bridge was built
over the west branch, by subscription;
about ten years afterward, a second
was built in the same way, at the
.arrows, a little above the ''Indian
Grave" and in 1882, C. Dubois sent
rom n. York drawing Of a lattice
VIM. North and Scion Tres
,ott made a model o flaths. B. c. Allen
soOk the contract of stone and timber,
work and finished the bridge, l25 feet
.ong, for $40, and says he made mon
~ at it. 1t stood where the present
stands; $500 of this was raised
by subscription-the balance paid by
The county. This is said to have been
The first bridge of this kind built in
Ohio.
Wages, as we'll as prices generally,
were low. Salt was expensive. Mr..
Yale charged customers $3.50 per
bushel, and SIG a barrel. As late as
1923 the trustees resolve to allow for
team work on the roads. fifty cents a
lay fora team of horses or oxen, the
same for a wagon.
But trouble is brewing-Braceville
already disputes our claim to half
hose rattle snakes. Her people al