HUDSON

     This is Town four, Range ten, and was purchased of the Con­necticut Land Company by David Hudson, Birdseye Norton, Nathaniel Norton, Stephen Baldwin, Benjamin Oviatt, and The­odore Parmele, for fifty-two cents an acre. In the original survey it was laid down as a swamp Township, and in order to make it equal to the average Townships, there was annexed to it, from the equalizing Townships, 10,000 acres, which reduced the price of the land in this Township to about thirty-four cents an acre.

     In the spring of 1799, David Hudson, more familiarly known on the Reserve, by the name of Deacon Hudson, started from Goshen, Litchfield county, Connecticut, for his new purchase.. This journey, which is now performed with ease in thirty-six hours, at than time took mouths. Near Geandeequot Bay, on Lake Ontario, he overtook Benjamin Tappan, the owner of Ravenna, with whom he subsequently kept company. In cross­ing Lake Oatario they overtook Elias Harmon, on his way to Mantua, where he had made a purchase. They then pursued their journey in company, and on arriving at the foot of the rapids below Niagara Falls, landed their goods, and drew their boats around the halls by land. They were detained above the Falls for several days, by strong winds down the I. against which they could not make headway. The wind usually lulled away at night, and by setting and cordelling during the night, they finally began to make their way toward their destined home. Among the hands employed by Hudson was one who preferred to sleep at night, and he demurred to cordelling, assigning as a reason, that he was hired to work day time:, and not nights. Dea. Hudson, with a shrewdness peculiar to himself, instead of taking issue with him, at once acknowledged the justice of his claim, and allowed him to rest at night while the others were at hard labor. When opposite Cattaraugus, the wind became so strong that they had to lie by for several days. Deacon Hudson got an axe, and told the stickler for reserved rights to go to chopping cord wood. While the rest of the crew were recruiting. ho was chopping and piling cord wood, hundreds of miles from a human habitation. Stickler sod! became convinced that a literal construction of his contract had a. hard, as well as an easy ope­ration, and he begged the privilege of cordelling nights, instead of chopping and cording wood in the Cattaraugus swamp.

     The party at length arrived opposite to the mouth of Ashta­bula creek, where they were driven on shore in a storm, and Mr. Harmon's boat stove in. Hudson purchased the wreck for $5, and repaired it, and, with Mr. Tappan, proceeded up the lake. Mr. Harmon left them and proceeded by land to Mantua. On the 8th of June they arrived. at Cleveland, then occupied by a population of one family, Lorenzo Carter, from Rutland, Vt. He had a fine crop of wheat on the present site of the city ; and the crop was worth more than the land on which it grew.

     They proceeded up the Cuyahoga, until they supposed they were in the latitude of Hudson, when they landed at the .mouth of Brandywine creek, in what is now Boston; and after a search of six days, discovered the southern line of Hudson. Mr. Hud­son immediately moved his effects to the south-west corner of his township, where he erected a bark shantee; the first house built by a white man in the township.

     Mr. Hudson now commenced putting in a field of wheat, and on the 25th of July he begun the survey of his township, which he completed on the 10th of October; and on -the 11th, with his son, Ira, then only eleven years old, lie left his new settlement to return to Goshen for his family. He took the old wreck that he bought of Harmon, and in this frail Lark started down the lake. Having arrived safely at Ontario county, N. Y., Mr.. Hudson left his little son, and proceeded alone to Goshen, where he,, found his family well, and immediately prepared to remove them —and in February, 1800, left Goshen for his wilderness home. They remained at Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y., until spring, during which time he purchased four boats, and thoroughly repaired the old one, which was now about to make its third trip across the Lakes. On the 24th day of April, 1800, they started up the Mohawk, in their open boats ; the fleets consisting of " Sloth," Capt. D. Hudson, " Lion," Capt. Joel Gaylord, " Beaver," Capt. Samuel Bishop, "Loon," Capt. Joseph Darrow, " Duck," Capt. W. McKinley. Reuben Bishop, then in his 13th year, was steersman on the "Duck." From the Mohawk, they passed down Wood Creek to Oneida Lake, through the Lake to Oswego river, down that river to Lake Ontario, up the lake to the "Falls," round which they carried their fleet on wagons. Nothing material occurred until they reached the mouth of the Cuyahoga. This river, now forming a harbor for ships of every burden, was then so shallow that in attempting to enter the mouth of it, Mr. Hudson's boat grounded, and hut for a heavy wave that bore him over, his boat must have been wrecked. The night after they entered the river, they arrived at what is now called the Pinery, in Northfield, where they landed and encamped. During the night a tremendous rain raised the river so as to overflow their camp, and completely drown them out.

     On the 28th of May they reached their landing place at Bran­dywine creek, where they made some wooden sleds, on which to draw their things up to Hudson.

     Elijah Noble, Luman Bishop, David Bishop and Joseph G. Bishop, drove the cattle and hogs by land through the wilderness, and arrived about the time of the fleet. When collected for public Thanksgiving, as was done soon after they arrived, the company consisted of David Hudson, his wife and six children—Samuel, Ira, William N., Milo D., Timothy and Abigail L. ; Joel Gaylord, Heman Oviatt, Samuel Bishop, Joseph Darrow, George Darrow, Wm. McKinley, Allen Gaylord, Derick Stafford, Gordon Crandall, Dr. Moses Thompson, Reuben P. Barass, Reuben Bish­op, Mrs. Samuel Bishop, Miss Ruth Gaylord, (who received as a bounty 40 acres of land,) Mrs. Noble and an infant son, Heman Oviatt located his land a mile south of the centre, and he and Joel Gaylord raised a shantee on the bank of the creek south of the center, and put in four acres of spring wheat.

     Dea. Hudson and Bishop each put up a house that summer, and in the fall Oviatt, Gaylord, and some others, started for their families in Connecticut.

     On the 4th of July they celebrated our National Independence, Dea. Hudson delivering the oration; after which all the inhabit­ants of the town and surrounding country, sat down to a sumptuous repast placed on a table made of bark spread on poles lying in crotched sticks set up in the ground. This table was -set on the public. square, a few rods south of where Baldwin's store, occupied by John Buss, now stands, and was surrounded by 43 persons—men, women and children.

     The nearest mill, at this time, was at Newburgh, where one had been erected in the spring of 1799, to which they had to go for all their grinding, through the wilderness; there were, how­ever, but two mud-holes, and these were separated by Tinker's Creek.

     At this time the Indians were plenty in and around Hudson. Among others was a celebrated Ottawa chief, named Ogontz. He had been educated by the French missionaries, at Quebec, for a Catholic Priest, but no sooner were the restraints of civili­zation removed, than he exclaimed with another of his race‑

     " I hate these antiquated halls; I hate the Grecian poets song"; and left for the freedom of his forest home. He lived oh what is no v the site of Sandusky City, and a fort, called Fort Indus­try, was located on his territory, where the treaty of 1805 was concluded, by which the Indians ceded all their lands, in the Connecticut Reserve, west of the Cuayhoga. Ogontz was brave, talented, and well educated, but, like his race, wild and intract­able. At the time of the first settlement in Hudson, he had no power other than what his talents and education gave him. Coming along one day, near dusk, on horseback, he inquired of Capt. Heman Oviatt the path to Ponty's camp, Capt. Oviatt walked along  into the woods to show when Ogontz ordered him to go further; but the captain was the wrong man to order —the more he was ordered the more he wouldn't. Ogontz drew up his rifle to shoot him, when the Capt. sprung, and seizing his rifle, wrenched it from him, and then ordered Ogontz to "right about!" The hanghty Indian, knowing whom he had to deal with, obeyed orders like a drill sergeant, and the Captain drove him back to Hudson, where, after discharging his rifle, and taking from him his ammunition, he discharged him, in no very pleasant humor.

     Ogontz would furnish materials for a romance. In 1808, the Indians, holding a grand pow-wow, became greatly excited by whiskey. Ogontz, almost alone, remained sober. In the frenzy of intoxication, the chief of the tribe struck Ogontz, who im­mediately laid the head of the chief open with his tomahawk, and him dead at his feet.

     On the following day the Indians held a council, in which Ogontz was acquitted, and made chief instead of the one he had slain. Ogontz, having no children, adopted the only son of the deceased chief, and with all the tenderness of a father reared him to manhood—but no sooner had the lad arrived at the age prescribed for a warrior, than, with the retaliating spirit of the savage, be shot his benefactor, and avenged the blood of his father.

     The little colony that remained after Heman Oviatt and others left for Connecticut, in the fall of 1801, wintered through with­out any remarkable occurrence, until the 22d of March, 1802, when it received an accession of not only those who left, but of their families also. They left Goshen on the 17th of January, 1802, and came by the usual route of Bloomfield, Lake Ontario and Erie. On the 11th of June, 1802, it received a still further accession by the arrival- of John Oviatt, Ames Lusk, Eloida Lindley, William Boughton and Aaron Norton, with their fam­ilies, most of whom settled in the north-west quarter of the township, where they erected houses, with roofs sloping one way only. The roofs were covered with bark, and the floors were constructed of the same material, and as often as they needed cleaning were renewed instead of scrubbed.

     On the 4th of Sept. 1802, the first Church, consisting, of 13 members, was organized by the Rev. Mr. Badger, from Blandflord, Mass. He was the first missionary on the Reserve, and, the first preacher in Hudson. The meeting for the organization was held at the house of Mr. Hudson, nearly opposite where Judge Humphrey now lives, and a few rods north of David Hurn‘s house. Five of that church yet survive, eight lie in the Hudson cemetery.

     Mr. Badger came out and examined his field of labor in 1800, and so well pleased was he with the prospect, that he returned, resigned his charge in Blandford, where he had labored' fourteen years, and removed his family to the almost trackless wilder­ness. His was the first wagon that ever passed from Buffalo on to the Western Reserve by land.

     He divided his labors between the whites of the Reserve and the Indians of Sandusky and Maumee. He was not only a preacher of peace, but a man of war. He was in Harrison's army during the war of 1812, and at the siege of Fort Meigs, in 1812. In 1835, this missionary Boone, tired of increasing civilization, removed to Wood county, Ohio, where he died in 1846.

     A few anecdotes of the early settlers will not be inappropriate to illustrate the hardships they had to endure—the character of the inhabitants, and show, by contrast, the present state of the town to better advantage.

     Soon after John Oviatt arrived, his wife went to the house of Heman Oviatt, who lived where Justin Kilbourn now resides, and on her way home stopped at the house of Elijah Noble, where Rev. Mr. Pitkin now lives. On leaving there she had two miles to go without a house, and no road but blazed trees. Mrs. Heman Oviatt, on her leaving there, had given her several pieces of dried venison, which she was carrying home. Soon after leaving Mr. Noble's, a pack of wolves, attracted by the smell of the meat, set off in full chase after her. She commenced running and hallooing as loud as possible, and when the pack came up with her, she threw a piece of meat to them, and while they were fighting over that, she made good her headway. In this manner she made good her retreat, until she came so near home that her husband heard her. Seizing his gun and a brand of fire, he ran and met her, just as her meat was all dealt out, and she was so exhausted that she was falling. He gave her pursuers one shot, on which they left.

     At this time the Courts were held in Warren. At one term, Mr. Oviatt was summoned there as a juryman, and his wife, with several small children, was left alone. While he was absent, two Indians came to the house and wanted to stay-- all night. They had some whiskey with them, and were considerably intoxicated. Mrs. Oviatt refused to allow them to stay, but on their begging hard, she consented, on condition they would give up their guns, tomahawks and knives. They gave them up, and she put them behind the bed. There was with her, at the time, on a visit, Mrs. Lindley and Miss Polly Kellogg. As it drew near' night, Mrs. Lindley had to go home, but sent Lumen Bishop, then a young man, to stay with them. This enraged the oldest of the Indians, as he knew he came to watch him. Mrs. Oviatt's little son, about two years old, was crying to have his mother take him, when the old Indian seized him by the heels, and swung him over his shoulders to dash his brains out against the chimney. Mrs. Oviatt caught the child and took it away from him, and gave him to her little daughter Sophronia, (now Mrs. Daniel C. Gaylord,) then about eight years old. The Indian then went out where a son of Mrs. Oviatt was chopping wood, took the ax from him, and was going to kill him. She, mistrusting his object, had followed him, and took the ax from him and hid it.

     She had a large kettle over the fire with boiling water. She took it off, and carried it out doors; saying to the Indians, "see how stout I am! I can handle half a dozen just such Indians us you are, and I will tie you if you don't behave yourself!" Mrs. Oviatt soon after went up into the loft to put her children to bed; leaving Mr. Bishop and Miss Kellogg sitting on a chest. While she was gone, the Indian got the gun, and snapped it at them. Mrs.Oviatt hearing the noise, called out, "who has 'got that gun? Put it up quick, or I'll be down among your The In­dian, before this, having learned her turn of mind, to govern her own house, put it back, and was just coming from it as she came down.

     Mrs. Daniel C. Gaylord, to whom I am happy, to acknowledge my indebtedness for most of my information in regard to the settlement in 1802, who was then a child of eight years—says: "I covered up the little ones, as my mother had left me to do, and then—being possessed of the curiosity of my sex—I crawled down on the floor to peep through the crack, as there was one about two inches wide. The old Indian would run up to the fire, and sticking his hands under the forestick, would take up live coals and rub and roll them in his hands, and then give the war whoop.

     "He would then show her how he would scalp her, and hang her scalp on a pole. She told him to behave himself or she would tie him. She would not have such works any longer. She told my oldest sister to go to the loft and get a rope. Mr. Bishop was afraid she would get into worse trouble, and did not want her to tie him; but she did. The rope being rather stiff, he twisted his hands round till he got them loose. She then sent my sister for a head of flax, from which she twisted a string, and tied him with that. He then began to dance around the room, and whoop, when she tied his feet and made him sit down. He still continued yelling, when she took a large potato, and crammed it into his mouth. The little Indian, who had been very quiet, scolded the old Indian for being so ugly. At length he gave up, and agreed to be quiet if she would untie him. She did so, and he lay down. After a while the others lay down, and in a little time the Indian went to the bed where my mother and Miss Kellogg were, and says to my mother, "haw weechee," which means "here, friend." My mother asked what he wanted. He pointed to Miss Kellogg, saying, "cawen nishishen squaw"—meaning, no good squaw—send her to her wigwam? Mother told him to go back and lie down, which he did. Soon after he told her if she would give him his gun and tomahawk he would go away. She consented to do so; but instead of leaving he sat down and primed his gun, when mother took him by the shoulder, and pushed him to the door, and made him fire off his gun. She then took it from him, but he would not give up his tomahawk.

     She made him again lie down by the fire, but he soon after came to the bed, and says, two or three times, "haw wechee,"— but mother made him no answer. Thinking she was asleep, he raised his tomahawk and reached over to strike Miss Kellogg, but being top heavy with whiskey he lost his balance, and fell his whole length across the bed. They all sprung up, and he again promised, if mother would let him have his gun he would go away. As it was then near day she gave it to him, and he took it with a brand of fire, and left. They built a fire a few rods from the house, and lay down by it until day-light. In the morning mother went to the yard to feed the cattle, and while there, they fired into the yard and killed two chickens, which they cooked and eat, and then left."

     In the fall of 1802, Gov. Huntington started for Washington, on public business, and being in great haste, rode with all the expe­dition he could. The only mode of travel was on horseback, and the only roads were Indian trails. He left Tinker's Creek, in Cuyahoga county, about dusk, and had then to make ten miles before he came to a house, which was Col. Oviatt's in Hudson. Soon after he left the Creek a. pack of wolves got after him and came so close to him as to snap at his feet. He beat them off with the but of his whip till that was worn out, and then took an umbrella, he had mailed on behind, and beat them with that, till that was literally in Shreds. About nine or ten o'clock at night he arrived at Hudson, himself and. horse exhausted, and the chase ended.

     Elijah Noble, who came on in 1830, had in the mean time mo­ved near the west line of township. Being at Colonel John Ovi­att's one day, he left for home. He had not been absent but a few moments when Colonel Oviatt heard him scream. The set­tlers were all minute men, and always ready for action. Oviatt seized his gun and ax, and started in pursuit.. He soon came up with Noble, whom he found in the fraternal embrace of an old bear who had shown her attachment in so pressing a manner that Noble could not speak. Oviatt fired, which partially stunned the bear; he plied his ax about her head till she released her hold on Noble. Noble got his liberty, and Oviatt got the bear, and 'a cub, for whose special use Noble was intended.

     David Hudson the founder of this interesting settlement, was born in Brandford, Connecticut, February 17, 1770, and was a descendant of Hendric Hudson the navigator of "merrie memo­rie." He was the youngest son of the youngest son, for six gen­erations—each bearing the name of David. In Deacon Hudson the chain was broken—his youngest son-dying without a male heir.

     Of the company that came in 1800, ten only survive. His son Wm. N., lives in Meigs County, Ohio ; Timothy, in Wisconsin, and his daughter Abigail, L., in Hudson ; George Darrow, in Hudson ; Dr. Moses Thompson, in Hudson ; Jos. S. Bishop, in Hudson ; Haman Oviatt, in Richfield; Joseph Darrow, in Stow ; David Bishop, in Charlestown, and Allen Gaylord, in Newburgh.

     The first house erected in the town, was in the South-West corner, near Francis Flanigan's. It was fourteen feat square, and Thadeus Lacey and wife lived in it in the winter of 1799,1800.

     In the fall of 1799 another was put up on Lot 56—nearly op­posite Judge Humphrey's. In this house a Mr. Kellogg and wife spent the winter, and till Mr. Hudson and family arriv­ed in June, 1800. In this house the first church was organized in September, 1802, and continued to be the place of holding meetings till November 3, 1802, when it was burnt down, with its contents of clothing and other necessaries, which could not be procured in the new settlement.

     The first frame building in the town was a barn, built by Dea. Hudson, on Lot 55, opposite to the house that was burnt. It is now standing, a few rods north of Judge Humphrey's. It is now owned by Harvey Baldwin, and has on it the same black walnut siding that was put on it in 1802, and bids fair to stand as a me­mento of the past till the next semi-centenial anniversary. In 1806, Deacon Hudson built his frame house on the North-East corner of Lot 55, where Harvey Baldwin now lives. It is the oldest house, probably, in the county and is still one of the best.

     The first school was taught by George Pease, in the fall and winter of 1801. The school house stood on the South-West cor­ner of Lot 56, near the centre of what was then the public square. Mr. Pease was a prominent man, combining in himself the office of Teacher and Town Clerk, being the second person who held the office in the township. He was born in Enfield, Connecticut in 1776, came to Hudson in the spring of 1801—was commissary in Gen. Harrison's army—Postmaster at Sandusky, and in 1818 went south where he died. The next school taught was in the same house by Miss Patty Filer, a sister of Mrs. Judge Norton. She, too, is dead. The next school was in the North-West corner of the town, near John Oviatt's, and was taught by Miss Amy Cannon, now the widow of Deacon Spencer, in Aurora.

     The first marriage was George Darrow to Olive Gaylord.— This was solemnized by Deacon Hudson on the 11th of October, 1801. It was intended to be a private wedding, as it was Deacon Hudson's first effort, but he communicated the secret to his wife, and she, unbeknown to him, had spread the news.—The Deacon, to prevent suspicion, took a by-way to the bride's, father's, but on arriving there found assembled every person in the township.

     The first birth in the bounds of what is now Hudson, was Anner May Hudson, a daughter of Deacon Hudson, who was born in "The North-Western Territory," October 28, 1800. She is now the wife of Harvey Baldwin. The first male born was Harry Leach, in November, 1801. This, too, was in the " North-West­ern Territory"—Hudson not being organized as a Township until April 5, 1802, when it embraced Stow, Mantua, Streetsborough, Boston and Northampton.

     The first death was Ira Noble, a son of Elijah Noble, about eight years old, who died with the croup, in August, 1800. April 5, 1802, the township was organized by the election of officers. There were fifteen votes cast. Of the voters Heman Oviat, George Darrow, Joseph Darrow and Moses Thompson, alone survive. At the election David Hudson was chosen Chair­man; Thadeus Lacy, Town Clerk; Heman Oviatt, first Trustee and Manager; Ebenezer Sheldon, second Trustee; Elias Har­mon Poor-Master ; Aaron Norton Fence-Viewer; Rufus Ed­wards, Constable. Of these Heman Oviatt alone remains.

     In the town record is the following entry: " Town of Hudson, New Connecticut purchase, June 4, 1800; then laid out to ye proprietors for ye Town aforesaid, for ye use of said Town as a public green 10 acres of land," &c.

     In the war of 1812, Hudson was a frontier town. General Wadsworth lay on the Cuyahoga with an army to protect the settlers. Geo. Darrow was then Major of a Battalion of militia, embracing all the west part of what are now Portage and Sum­mit. Of one of these companies Colonel Rial McArthur was Captain. Immediately after Hull's surrender, Major Darrow, with his Battalion, was ordered to Cleveland, and from there to Old Portage, to reinforce General Wadsworth. He was then ordered to open a road to Camp Huron, but before he had completed it he heard of the battle with the Indians on "the Peninsula," and he forced his way directly to Camp Huron to reinforce that gar­rison. From there he was ordered to Fort Stevenson, of which he had command until the defeat of Winchester, when he was ordered to the Maumee, where he assisted in building Fort Meigs. Campbell's company from Ravenna, and Darrow's battalion from the west part of the county took nearly all the men capable of bearing arms. So reduced were they that a draft, en masse, be­ing made a company in Mantua numbered one Captain, two Lieutenants, one Ensign, two Sergeants, and five Privates. In Sept. 1821, the Directors of the Portage Missionary Society, in their annual Report, brought to view the destitute condition of the churches in the bounds of the Society in regard to Ministers. Rev. Kiah, Bailey, of New Castle, Maine, on reading the Report was induced to write to the Secretary of the Society and urge the importance of a united effort by the ministers in this region, to establish an Institution for the purpose of educating pious young men who might become pastors of these destitute churches.

     In January 1802 this communication was laid before a meeting of ministers of Grand River, and Portage Presbyteries, who re­solved to bring the subject before their churches and Presbyte­ries which met at Warren on the 80th of April, following, and re­commended the establishment of a Theological Institution on the foundation of the Erie Literary Society at Burton—on certain conditions: which were acceded to by the Erie Literary Society. The school, in the character of an Academy, was started, but in 1823 the Managers became convinced that an institution such as they wanted, could not be built up at Burton, and requested the Trustees of the Erie Literary Society to remove the establish­ment, but they refused. The managers then applied to the Presbyteries of Portage, Grand River, and Huron, to appoint four commissioners to consult with the Managers. These Com­missioners and Managers met at Aurora, on the second of June, 1824, when it was decided that is was inexpedient longer to continue the connexion formed by the Presbyteries and the Trustees of the Erie Literary Society; that it was expedient to make trial to establish a separate Institution, and that the Presbyteries of Portage, Grand River, and Huron appoint four Commissioners, two laymen, and two Clergyman, to locate the Institution; that they should meet at Hudson on the 22d of September, 1824, to make their Report.

     The Commissioners met on that day, and located the contem­plated Institution at Hudson. The first Board of Trustees met at Hudson on the 15th of February, 1825, organized, and at the ses­sion of the Legislature of 1825-6, procured a charter, and the Western Reserve College had a local habitation and a name.

     An incident illustrating Indian character for honesty is given in a letter since the publication of Historical Reminiscences of Hudson.

     Mrs. Lindley, who was with Mrs. Oviatt at the time of the struggle with the Indians, is still alive, and relates the following:

     I know the father of the two Indians that were at Mrs. Oviatt's His name was Pontecacawaugh. George Wilson, (the man who was afterwards killed, at Muddy brook, in Stow, by Jonathan Williams,) a friend of old Pontecacawaugh, called at Mrs. Ovi­att's, and she related the circumstances to him. Wilson ex­pressed great grief, and went to Pontecacawaugh with the state­ment. Pontecacawaugh and Wilson soon returned, and the father, after hearing Mrs. Oviatt's statement of his son's conduct, expres­sed great sorrow that his boys should do so bad; and said they should pay all damages for any loss of property, and requested Mrs. Oviatt to draw an order on the boys for the damage. This she agreed to, if he would tell her what to write. He ac­cordingly dictated and she wrote as follows:

     “Pontecawaugh boys kill hen two; pay coon skin two; four days.

PONTECAWAUGH, X his mark.

GEORGE WILSON, X his mark.”

     Within four days the coon skins were paid on the order.

     How much more is this in the spirit of Christianity than the manner the whites have fulfilled their engagements to the Indians.