NORTHAMPTON

      This township, originally called Town 3, Range 11, being in. the third line of townships North of 41°, North, and in the eleventh range of townships West of the Pennsylvania line, was originally an equalizing township. To understand this fully, it will be necessary to refer to the origin and circumstances attending the early history of the Western Reserve.

     The State of Connecticut claimed, under an old grant of Charles of England, a large part of the territory now embraced within the limits of Ohio. In September, 1783, she relinquished to the United States all of her claim, except to that portion included between the Western boundary of Pennsylvania and a line one hundred and twenty miles west of said boundary, and the 41st degree of North latitude on the South to the parallel of 42° 2' on the North. This tract was divided into townships of five miles square, and designated by numbers and ranges. The townships were to be numbered from South to North, commencing on the latitude of 41° North as a base ; and the ranges were to be dis­tinguished by progressive numbers Westward, the first range rest­ing upon the Western boundary of Pennsylvania as a base line. In counting ranges, then, we begin on the Western line of Penn­sylvania and count 120 miles w. In counting townships begin on the line of 41° North, being the South line of the Reserve, and count North to latitude 42° 2'. There being then, ten townships of five miles, or fifty miles between the Western boundary of Penn­sylvania and Northampton, that is called range 11; and there being two townships (Coventry and Portage) between the latitude of 41° North and Northampton, that is called range three.

     By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, all of said territory East of the Cuyahoga, was ceded by the Indians to the United States. By the treaty of Fort Industry, in 1805, the balance of the territory which lay West of the Cuyahoga. was also ceded to the United States. In May 1801, the State of Connecticut ceded to the United States her claim of jurisdiction over said territory, and the President of the United States, by patent, conveyed the fee of said land to the Governor for the use of the grantees of that State.

     This tract the State of Connecticut, as I have before stated, sold to the Connecticut Land Company. It fell a trifle short of 4,000,000 of acres, for which said company agreed to pay $1,200,000. The amount was divided into 400 shares of $3,000 each. Any one paying in an amount received a certificate entit­ling him to the same proportion of the whole Reserve that his payment bore to $1,200,000.

     On receiving the title from the State of Connecticut, the stock­holders in the Connecticut Land Company conveyed it to Jonathan Brace, John Caldwell and John Morgan, to hold in trust for the proprietors; and singular as it may appear, the three lived until they had sold or disposed of all the land and closed their trust. John Morgan is still living in the city of New York.

     The certificates were all numbered, and then the numbers drawn in the same manner as a lottery, each holder of a certificate drawing an amount of land proportioned to the 4,000,000 acres as his payment was to $1,200,000.

     Each proprietor thus drew a township or a fraction of a town­ship, according to the amount of his interest. Thus some town­ships became the exclusive property of an individual, others be­came the property of various owners. In this manner each indi­vidual got his proportion of land in severalty, and located; the book in which an account of these drawings was kept called "the Book of Drafts," being the foundation of all our titles on the Reserve. But singular as it may appear, this “Book of Drafts," which is the basis of all our land titles, is not recognized as legal evidence; and of so little importance was it deemed, that on en­quiry a few years ago, at the office of Secretary of State in Hart­ford, it could not be found; and when it was, after along search, discovered, it was found among old waste paper in the upper loft of an old ware house on the Connecticut river.

     Although these drafts located the land and gave to each his quantity of acres, a great diversity, of course, existed in the value on account of quality and location. To equalize 'them all of an average value, certain towns were set apart called "Equal­izing Townships," which were cut into strips of various sizes, and portion; attached to different townships. Thus Jacob Welch drew township six in range seven, now known as Troy, in Geauga county. The Cuyahoga river running through it, and causing much swampy ground, the tract in lot six in Portage township, known as the 'Welch Tract,' was added to town six in range seven, to make it equal to the average townships on the Reserve.

     Northampton was one of these equalizing townships and being the child of many fathers, seldom felt a father's care. Tallmadge, and other townships that were owned by a single individual, felt the influence of their regard, but as no one owned more than a strip of Northampton, and that of little value, it had but little fostering care, and thus came to maturity by its own unaided efforts.

     To this circumstance may be attributed the fact that land titles are more complex in that township, perhaps, than in any other in the county. The original owners seldom took the trouble to look up their land, or pay the taxes. Tax sales followed upon tax, sales, until, in the investigation of them, darkness be­came sensible to the touch.

     Another circumstance that retarded its growth was the fact that it was very broken and apparently a thin clay soil, unpromising in appearance and almost repulsive in the cultivation. "The Northampton hills" were proverbial for sterility and number; but a hardy set of farmers, if they have not converted the hills-into vallies, have changed the barren wilderness into productive fields.

     Another cause that retards the growth of Northampton was that some of the most warlike tribes of Indians on the Reserve lived within the bounds of what is now Northampton. Between them and the whites a spirit of hostility existed, that wanted only an opportunity to show itself in actions. This continued down to the war of I812, when this township may be said to be free, for the first time, from Indian alarms.

     The stationing of Gen. Wadsworth at the Old Portage, with an army, first gave the inhabitants entire repose.

     The Revolutionary and Indian wars had propagated a spirit of hostility between the whites and Indians that seemed to know no bounds, it had in fact produced among the whiter, a race that seemed to be distinct from all others, known as "Indian hunters." The rifle was their constant companion, the wilderness their plea­sure ground, the murder of the Indians their occupation. Toil was endured, hunger suffered, privations courted to gratify their one insatiable desire for the destruction of the Indians. High on the line of this race was Captain Samuel Brady, of Chartier creek, Pennsylvania. He raised a company of those daring spirits, who were known as Brady's rangers," whose sole occu­pation was to traverse the Northern part of Ohio, and destroy what they called the "red skins."

     As I remarked on a former occasion, the Cuyahoga river, Por­tage Path and Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, were orig­inally the boundary between the Six Nations and the Western Indians. The Onondagas, Oneidas, Mohawks and others of the Six Nations resided in the territory East of the Cuyahoga until the difficulty with Diver in 1806. There was, on the first settle­ment of the country, an Indian trail, commencing at Fort McIn­tosh, at the mouth of Big Beaver, and running from thence West through Portage county, crossing the Cuyahoga in Franklin, at what is called the Standing Rock, thence West to Northampton in Summit county, where there was a settlement of Indians, thence to Sandusky and Detroit. This trail was the great Indian thoroughfare from Detroit to the Ohio river. On it were also con­tinually passing large parties of Indians, and it became, of course, the favorite hunting ground of these Western Nimrods. The Indians were as ready as they, for the encounter, and a war of extermination commenced. In 1780 a large party of warriors from the villages on the Cuyahoga had crossed the Ohio and made an incursion into the white settlements, murdering several fami­lies and taking away a large amount of plunder.

     Brady called together his band and started in pursuit. He led on his men, guided more by courage than discretion, until he entered the Indian village on the Cuyahoga river, in what is now Northampton. The Indians expecting pursuit, were prepared for him, and with numbers four times his own, attacked him on all sides, and, with his followers, he was put to a perfect route. The retreat became a flight, and every man was for himself. The In­dians singled out Brady, and leaving all the rest, a chase com­menced for him, which continued without interruption till he arrived at the Cuyahoga river in Franklin, just North of the present location of the bridge on the road leading to Ravenna. The In­dians had extended their lines so as to hem him in, and with loud shouts of triumph, thought their prisoner safe. The river was here bounded on each side by perpendicular rocks, the chasm being 22 feet wide Brady, on reaching the river, gave a bound that despair on one side and hope on the other alone could have effected, and clearing the abyss, he gained the opposite bank. –

     Although Northampton thus early became a celebrated resort for war parties of both whites and Indians, yet little was known of it by the whites, until 1802. Although it was within the acknowledged limits of the United States, by the treaty of Fort Mc­Intosh in 1785, yet the Indians were in the actual possession until they fled the country in 1806, after the tragic affair of Deerfield.

     In June, 1802, Simeon Prior, of Norwich, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, exchanged his firm there for 400 acres of land in what was then a wilderness, known only as the " Connecticut Western Reserve," or "New Connecticut," but in that part of it known now as Northampton, in Summit county. He was born in Norwich, New London county, Connecticut, in 1753, and while yet a young man, moved to Norwich, in Massachusetts, where he married Katherine Wright. They lived in that town until their children numbered eleven, when, thinking they would require More room than that place afforded, they concluded to emigrate to the far west. He left Massachusetts in June, went to Schenectady, New York, where he purchased a boat of three tons burden and started up the Mohawk, then down Wood creek to Oneida lake, through the lake to Oswego river, down that to Oswego, up lake Ontario and Niagara river, and finally reached Hudson, in this county, where Deacon Hudson, two years before, began a settlement. Here he remained until he hunted up his land, built a log house on it, and in August, 1829, moved the first white family into Northampton. The first house erected was one mile from the East line of the town, and central North and South. The spot is now covered with fruit trees brought in 1802 from Massachusetts. It is on Lot 25 East half., Gordon Prior now lives on the lot, about 20 rods North of the old location. Their nearest neighbor was five tulles distant.

     This pioneer, Simeon Prior, was a Revolutionary soldier, of the Old Bay State Line, and died in 1837, aged 81—his wife died in 1838, aged 74. They are buried in the Northwest corner of the Northampton grave yard, where an unpretending stone marks their resting place.

     In 1806, Aaron Norton, afterwards one of the Judges of the county and Wiley Hamilton erected a gristmill near the place where French & Prior's mills now are, and as soon as it started, as the next most necessary article, according to the ideas of ne­cessity in those days, they erected a distillery, which like Aaron's rod, buckled, blossomed, and brought forth fruit in a day. Seth Webster, from Mulford, in Massachusetts, the millwright, having finished his job, started for home in company with a negro, taking with them a gallon of whisky. They traveled thirty miles, and having drank up the whisky, Webster gave out, when the negro robbed him of all he had, and left him to perish in the snow. He was found and brought back to Northampton and buried—being the first white man buried in that town.

     Of the eleven children that came into the town in 1802, all are yet alive but two, and these died as late as 1846 and '47.

     Few towns can boast of as much health, and few families of as great longevity.

     In 1809 the town had become so populous as to require a school, and Justus Remington, now living in Newburgh, Cuya­hoga county, opened one "to teach the young ideas how to shoot," for most of the boys, having had no opportunity of schooling, knew far better how to shoot a bear than an idea.—Justice, too required some attention, and our venerable townsman, Joshua King, one of the pioneers of Akron, was elected and installed the first Justice of the Peace in Northampton.

     In the fall of 1801, William Prior, one or the eleven children of Simeon, who is now living in Northampton, in a green and vigorous old age, and to whom I am greatly indebted for many facts, cut out the road front the North line of the township, to Old Portage, which was then looked upon, in this country, like Wilmot's Grocery- -" the center of creation." Prior carried the provisions and baggage for the surveyors as they run out Tallmadge, and used as a baggage wagon, a mule that came to his father's from the woods, but was afterwards found to belong to a Mr. Phelps of Warren, who had ridden it to Sandusky from whence it had strayed.

     The Indians, at the commencement of the settlement were very plenty, the boundary between them and the whites being the West line of the township. When sober, they were generally friendly, if chemokerman skano quashigun wes—that is, if white men would give them bread and meat. There were some, however, who were ugly, and as proud of boasting of the number of pale faces they had killed, as were the "Indian hunters" of the number of "red skins" they had slain. Of this number was one called Indian Willson. He was notorious for drunkenness, boasting and threatening—constantly hanging round the distillery, and was a curse to the settlement.

     There was an old Indian hunter living in Northampton at the time, by the name of Jonathan Williams, who was brought up at what was called Indian Wheeling. He could neither read nor write. He used to say he could have had an education, but the school house was too dry for him. The only lesson he had learn­ed till he had it by heart, was to love his rifle and hate an Indian.

     Indian Willson had been, one day, to Heman Oviatt's, in Hud­son and got squatty, or cockazy, as the Indians called it, and on his way back to Northampton went into a house where he found the woman and two little children alone. He seized them by the hair, flourished his scalping knife as if intending to take their scalps and, after frightening them to his satisfaction, left. Soon after, Williams, with his trusty rifle, entered, and on hearing the woman's story, pursued after the Indian—who came up missing, as he was never seen or heard of more in Northampton.

     Williams said, some years after, if they wanted to know where Willson was, he could tell them where he last saw him, and they could find his bones and rifle in Mud-brook, for he put them in there and trampled them down well. The traveller can see the burial place of Indian Willson when he crosses the stream North of where Orrin Gilbert used to live, in Stow, at what is called the Green house.

     This Williams was the person who shot Nicksaw when the company of Maj. Rogers overtook John Mohawk and his party in Boston, after they shot Diver.

     Another Indian of the same character with Willson, lived down on Sugar creek, in this township, who often boasted of his explo­its in killing the pale faces. He had a large number of notches cut in the handle of his tomahawk, which he said told the num­ber he bad killed. One day this Indian, being a little squabby, came into a house where Williams was, and said he had killed so many pale faces, pointing to the marks on his tomahawk, of which there were 99—but he was not yet satisfied, and he should kill one more. The Indian soon after left, and was never again heard of Williams use, to say, significantly, he will never make the hundredth notch on his tomahawk.

     But death, at last, paid Williams in his own coin, and shot him.

     He appeared to inherit the habits and disposition of the savage, in dress, living and temper. His second wife is now living in Northampton. His first wife was a Cackler, a brother of hers now lives in Franklin, Portage county. Williams has a son living in Northampton, who is a quiet respectable man, not seeming to in­herit his father's love for border warfar, or hatred of the Indians.

     The Indians inhabiting the towns on the Cuyahoga in what is now Northampton, were Tawas or Otaways—on the opposite bank of the river was a Mingo town, inhabited by a part of the tribe of Logan, the Mingo chief.

     Among the Tawas was a celebrated chief, called Stigwanish by the Indians, and Seneca, by the whites. He was a fine specimen of a man; tall, dignified and of pleasing address. In his youth he had been addicted to intemperance, and in one of his drunken frolics he had attempted to kill his squaw, but missing her head, he sunk his tomahawk into the head of his favorite pappoose, who was lashed to her back. This had such an effect on Seneca that he would never drink any ardent spirits, and wine and cider but sparingly. He professed to be a great friend to the whites, and so far succeeded in impressing them with that idea that they built him a block house on the river to secure him from his enemies.—Mr. Barr, of Cleveland, in his unpublished manuscript, has adopt­ed the belief that he was the friend of the Americans and prob­ably fell a martyr to his fidelity, he says:

     "The last time I saw Seneca—the fine old fellow—was at Judge Walsworth's in Cleveland, a short time before hostilities com­menced with Great Britain. He expressed to me a fear that war was inevitable, and that the Indians, instigated by the British, would overwhelm our weak settlements, but gave the strongest assurances that if it should be possible he would give us season­able notice. If he was not prevented by age or infirmities from redeeming his pledge, he was probably killed by his own people, while endeavoring to leave their lines, or by some of ours through a mistake of his character.

     From a manuscript of William Prior now before me, it appears that Mr. Barr was wholly mistaken in the character of Seneca.—Mr. Prior says:

     "I have been in his wigwam. He was fat and sleek, and had two as neat squaws, for wives, as I ever saw. He appeared civil and friendly, when here, but I have been told by a person who knew him, that he saw him in Detroit, after Hull's surrender, dressed from head to foot in a British uniform, with two swords dangling by his side."

     From this it seems with all his pretensions of friendship for the Americans, he, with the other Indians on the Cuyahoga, join­ed the British on the breaking out of the war of 1812, and subsequently Altered to their cause.

     But five of them were ever known to return after the war. —Those five formed a camp at the upper rapids of the Cuyahoga, where Captain D. Mills, of Nelson, Portage county, with his Indian hunters, discovered them and firing upon them in the night, killed four out of the five. The survivor made his escape, and was "the last of the Tawas" on the Cuyahoga.