[Vermilion Twp., Erie County, Ohio] PIONEER WOMEN OF VERMILION TWP., 1809-1845. from PIONEER WOMEN OF THE WESTERN RESERVE, 1896. Pages 783-788 The first woman settler was Mrs. Austin, wife of Capt. William Austin. Her maiden name cannot now be ascertained. They prospered in the new country, evidently, for they lived in the first stone house erected in town. The daughters were Betsey, Nancy, Sally and Polly. Mrs. Solomon Parsons was another woman whose antecedents are lost. She came from Delaware County, N.Y., and lived but a short time after reaching Vermillion, dying in 1812. She left two boys and two girls, afterwards well known in the history of the town. They were Burton and Levi, and Sarah and Phebe. Charlotte Tuttle, wife of Frederick Sturgess, came to Vermillion from Roxbury; N.Y., in 1810, with her husband and six-weeks-old girl baby, Eunice which was carried on a pillow most of the way over the rough roads through the wilderness. They were six weeks on the way, arriving at Vermillion in October. Near the mouth of the river they found log cabin which had been built and deserted by a former settler. This they took possession of and made themselves as comfortable as possible for the winter, intending to build a more comfortable home in the spring, when the parents of Mr. Sturgess were expected to join them. For chairs they used blocks of wood and for window glass, greased paper, with many other makeshifts to get along. During the following summer they were all attacked with malaria and suffered greatly with fever and ague. The only alleviating feature of the sickness was that it was worse every other day and as some were ill one day and some the succeeding one, they could manage to take care of each other. One who never experienced the chills of ague and the burning fever that follows can have no conception of what the pioneer suffered from this disease. Nothing will bring on a relapse of it so surely as over exertion, and that was inevitable both for the husband in his rough work clearing the forest, and for the wife with a house full of little children to feed and clothe. Many a woman in those days knew what it was to work when she should have been in bed, and such a firm hold did the disease obtain that for years one would expect the miseries of chills and fever every other day, and expect it as surely as that the sun would rise. One night Mr. and Mrs. Sturgess heard their cow bellowing, and on opening the door to see what the trouble was, she rushed into the house with a pack of wolves close at her heels. Travelers on their way to Cleveland from other towns often stopped over night at the Sturgess house. Some time in 1812 some Indians murdered two men near Sandusky. They were arrested and taken to Cleveland for trial, and while on their way there the officers having them in charge remained one night at Mrs. Sturgess's. She was much afraid of the party and was greatly relieved when morning came and the savages were on their way again. Mr. Sturgess died and his widow married George Austin, again becoming a Widow in 1826. She died in 1877, aged eighty-five years. Among the earliest settlers of Vermillion was Mrs. George Sherarts, nee Margaretta Krick, who came from Pennsylvania in 1809. She was the mother of fourteen children, one of her sons being the first white child born in the town. Thirteen of these children married and had homes in and near Vermillion. The daughters were Christina, Betsey(or Elizabeth), Catherine, Polly, Rebecca, Hannah, Rachel, Barbara, and Sophia. One of them is still living, being past eighty. Sophia, wife of Wm.B. Andrews, died recently, aged seventy-seven years. There was much hard work to be done for such a family; when carding, spinning, and weaving were obligatory in every home. But the home-spun, woolen dresses did not wear out in a few months, and they were made with big tucks and wide seams to be let down or out to fit the growing child. Catherine Sherarts was the first bride in Vermillion. She married Burt Martin in 1814. It was in the spring of this year also, that the first schoolhouse was built in the township, about one and one-half miles up the lake shore; and that summer it was taught by Miss Susan Williams. There were two families by the name of Cuddeback in Vermillion that were very prominent in affairs at that early day, and have continued so until the present time, Peter married Jenny Courtright, and James, his Brother, married Hannah Courtright, a sister of Jenny. They came in 1810 from Minnisink, N. J. Mrs. Jenny Cuddeback brought several children with her, and more were added until she had eleven in all; five of these were girls. Her husband set out the first orchard in the township, and some of the trees are still standing. Aunt Jenny Cuddeback was noted for her unbounded hospitality. She became blind some years before her death, and it was a great trial for her, to give up and depend upon, other people's eye sight. Her last days were spent. with her son, James, on the old homestead, and she was ninety-four years old when she died. Her sister, Hannah, came from the same place but a year later. Their farm was nearer the river than that of the other family. A few years after their arrival James Cuddeback became insane, and Hannah was left to care for home and children alone in a new country and one can imagine her hardships and trials; but with it all she found time and strength to help her neighbors in sickness, and a little of her own stores to spare for those who were needy. After her children were grown up, married, and living in homes of their own, she sold the farm and lived with her youngest daughter, Mrs. Simpson. She died in the spring of 1896 aged 105 years. Her hearing and eyesight had become somewhat impaired but to the last she loved to receive attention from friends and welcomed all callers. Her daughters were Rhoda, Hannah, Emily, Sarah, and Paulina. Hannah married Wright Meeker of Huron, 0., and lived in a fine, large farm house on the lake shore, about a mile east of that town. She had one daughter Polly, now Mrs. Benjamin Brigsby; and several boys, dying when the youngest was a babe. Emily married Capt. George Stone and lives in Cleveland. The Cuddebacks were of Dutch stock. Horatio Perry came from Cleveland and settled on a farm west of Capt. Austin. He married Miss Prentiss, who died, leaving a daughter, Sophia. The second Mrs. Perry was a Miss Smith. Mrs. Philo Wells (Hannan Lewis) arrived in Vermillion in 1817 from White Plains, N.Y., with her husband and three young children. They were several weeks on the way. The roads through the forest were very bad; they would often get stuck in the mud. Most of the streams had to be forded. In fording Rocky River they got stuck, and Mr. Lewis Wells, only three years old at the time, remembers his father lifting him and his older brother from the wagon and carrying them to the shore, his mother and the baby having been taken across in a canoe. On reaching Vermillion they stopped over night with Capt. Wm. Austin and the next day set out for their home a few miles south of the lake The road was through the forest and the wind blowing hard, dead branches of the trees were falling all about them, one falling between the horses and wagon, not a foot from where Mrs. Wells and her children were sitting They were very much frightened and very thankful that their lives were spared. Their home was the log cabin of the new country, their door a blanket hung over an opening in the logs, and greased paper fastened over an other opening for a window. Wheat flour was a rare thing, their bread being made of rye and corn meal which was often ground in a handmill. Sometimes they had to go without a mouthful of bread for weeks at a time. Visiting in those days was not as easily done as at the present time and a family living a mile away were considered near neighbors but they were oftener three or four miles apart. A family settled on the east side of the river about three miles from Mrs. Wells. She wished to become acquainted with them and set a day in which she would visit them. Her husband went to the river with her, but finding it so swollen by the recent rain, they could not cross it on foot, and were about to return to their home when the gentleman on the east side appeared with a yoke of oxen. He got on the back of one of them and crossed to where Mrs. Wells was waiting, when she jumped on the back of the other ox and reached the east side, where she spent a very pleasant day with her new neighbors. Mrs. Deacon John Beardsley, with her husband and two or three children, came from one of the New England States in 1810. They first settled near the mouth of the river, where they stayed a couple of years, but as the location was so unhealthy, they moved three or four miles back from the lake, where the first log house was built. During that year Enoch Smith built and moved his family into house about a mile west of them. His daughters were Rebecca, Laura, and Amanda. There was a schoolhouse erected in 1813, just over the line in Florence township, and a Miss Abigail Harris taught in it. She was a high-minded, earnest Christian girl, who afterward married the Rev. John Montieth. Not content with earning her very small salary, she looked about to see what else she could do to help the children in a spiritual as well as intellectual way; so she invited them to come Sabbath days for religious instruction. Then, wishing the parent understand and approve of it, she rode alone on horseback through the forest to see them and obtain their consent. Sunday schools were not generally established in those days anywhere. One of the first persons upon whom she called was Mrs. John Beardsley. At first she did not approve of having her children attend school on the Sabbath but after Miss Harris had talked with the deacon and his wife a short time, they changed their minds and consented to allow their little ones to go. The next Sabbath morning at an early hour, Mrs. Beardsley, with a child in her arms and four by her side, knocked at the door of Miss Harris' home. They had walked two miles through the woods. She said she supposed it was rather early, but the children were anxious to get to Sunday school. The school prospered, and Mrs. Beardsley and her family were the most regular attendants, one of her little boys often reciting five and six chapters from the Bible Necessity was the mother of invention in those days, and everything was turned to some good use. Mrs. Beardsley made caps for her boys from the skins of the coon; then the hair from the opossum and coon skins she would shear off, card and spin it; and knit into stockings for her children. Her daughters were Sophia, Harriet, Maria, and Irene. About two years ago Aunt Hannah Cuddeback was telling of the fear and anxiety they endured the day of Perry's victory. Many of the settlers had left their homes for a place of safety at Black-River (now Lorain). They could see the smoke of the battle and hear the booming of cannon, and mothers clasped their little ones nearer to them as they thought of the peril the husbands and fathers were in and the fear that they might all be murdered by the Indians and British. Those who had started for Black- River got word of the victory and returned to their homes. Mrs. Jesse Ball ( Susan Gilbert ) came to Vermillion in 1816 from Herkimer, N.Y. They came as far as Buffalo with their teams, where they found a vessel ready to sail up the lake. They put their goods on board and came the rest of their journey by water. When they arrived at Vermillion, there being no wharf or dock, they were set ashore in a small boat. They settled first on the lake shore, where they stayed about four years, but finally moved about three miles back from the lake on a new place, where some of the descendants still live. There was plenty of hard work for the father and sons in clearing the land, and the mother and daughters had their share of work in the carding, spinning, and weaving of cloth to be made into clothing for the men and women. Some of the daughters were school teachers. There are three of the children living within a few miles of the old home. Orissa Ball, one of the daughters, never married. She made bonnets for the whole town many years, bleaching the rye straw herself and braiding it. Her bonnets were considered beautiful, and for quality compare favorably with the same class of goods today. Mrs. Augustin Peltin ( Eunice Sturgiss ) [ error: Eunice was wife of Sylvester Pelton ] was an infant six weeks old in 1810, when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Sturgiss left Roxbury, N.Y. for the "Firelands" in Ohio. Her childhood passed like the rest of the children in pioneer days. Schools were kept only during the winter as a general thing, and then quite a distance from her home. The American Preceptor and Webster's spelling book were all the books she ever studied. She was married when nineteen years old, and like all other young married people of those days, moved into a log cabin. There she spun her yarn for her bed blankets and the flax for her towels and table-cloths. The hatchel they combed the flax with is still in the family, also the side-saddle which her grandmother, Mrs. Barbara Sturgiss, rode when she came to Ohio. Their furniture was all homemade, even to the broom, which was a hickory stick, one end finely splintered and bound with a strong cord. Her husband killed a good many deer, bear, and wolves. The deer skins were tanned and made into pants; the bear skins made nice rugs and were often used for the bottoms of chairs. There was a bounty given for every wolf skin, so they were sold. She often said she thought she took more comfort in her log cabin than in the new frame house which was built about the year 1835. It was considered a large, fine house at that time. She loved to entertain her friends, and always had more or less company. She died in 1873, aged sixty-three. Her husband outlived her seventeen years, dying at the age of eighty-four. Mrs. Benjamin Brooks (Asenath Van Vliet) came from Marcellus, N.Y., in 1810. She was twice married. Her first husband's name was Cuddeback. She was the mother of Peter and James Cuddeback, who also came to Vermillion in 1810 and 1811 with their families. She remembered many incidents of the Revolutionary war, which she passed through while living in the state of New York, and often told her children and grandchildren stories of that war and also of the war of 1812, which took place about two years after coming to Ohio. While east during the war, word came to them that Indians had been seen in the settlement and the people must all get to the fort. They all started, leaving everything in their hurry to get to a place of safety. Herself and a friend were overtaken by an Indian. They expected to be killed, but he contented himself by taking a string of gold beads from her neck and some of their clothing, then let them go on to the fort. At the time of the battle of Perry's victory, she and her family were in great fear and anxiety, knowing it would be almost sure death if the British and Indians gained the day. There was great rejoicing when the news of the victory came. Her son, Jonathan Brooks, about seventeen years old, and another young man, went over to the battle ground, between twenty-five and thirty miles distant, in a small open boat. Mr. Brooks cut one of the cannon shot from the side of one of the boats that was in the battle. It is now in the possession of his grand son, Herbert Loomis, of East Cleveland. Mrs. Asenath Brooks was ninety-four years old at the time of her death. Elizabeth Sherrets, daughter of Geo. and Margaretta Krick Sherrets, married Mr. Benjamin Brooks, son of Jonathan above mentioned [error: Elizabeth's husband was Jonathan Brooks]. They lived a mile west of the river on the lake shore. Her daughters were Asenath, who married Zebulon Carey; Laura, Mrs. Richard Harris; Mary, Mrs. Philander Crosier; Margretta M., Mrs. Leonard Loomis, of Cleveland; and Sarah, Mrs. Jonathan Jones. Parents were strict with their children in those days, and, as a rule, stood by the school teacher in all cases of discipline. When a very little girl, Margretta Brooks, afterward Mrs. Loomis, for some misdemeanor was shut up in a little closet near the schoolhouse chimney. Becoming impatient of her confinement, she crawled out unobserved and ran home. But, when she reached the house, dared not go in, fearing she would be punished and sent back, so she hid in the old Dutch oven and awaited developments. The teacher must have sent word after school was closed for she saw and heard the search that was made for her, and so safe was her hiding place that it long continued before she was finally discovered. Another child of Mrs. Benjamin[Jonathan] Cuddeback Brooks was Elizabeth Brooks, who married James Prentiss, a brother of Mrs. Horatio Perry. Mrs. Compton ( Christine Sherrets ), another daughter of George Sherrets, who came to Vermillion in 1809, was quite a grown-up girl at that time, and afterwards often told her nephews and nieces how afraid she used to be of the Indians. They Indians had a camping ground across a creek just east of her father's house. Sometimes quite a number of them, in the evening would get drunk. They would build a big fire and then dance around it till they would nearly fall into it. Finally, from their yelling singing and dancing, they would get tired out and would all lie down around the fire. Mrs. Compton became blind a few years after her marriage, and after her husband died she lived with her daughter, Mrs. David Sherret. She was past eighty at the time of her death. Mrs A. M. Goodell, Chairman and Historian Vermillion Committee - Mrs. Mary Titus Cahoon, aged 77; Mrs Lewis Wells. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Notice: the above material is Public Domain (no copyright)." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Ted Reising tedohio@yahoo.com Dec. 15, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------