Cuyahoga County Historical Society
We ae again under obligations to JHON BARR, Esq., Secretary of Cuyahoga County Historical Society, for the opportunity to publish the very interesting sketch of early History of the Township of Solon, formerly Miland, prepared by the Chairman of the Township Committee, L. S. BULL, Esq.
History of Solon
Miland, now Solon, was first settled by Samuel Bull and Capt. Jason Robbins in the month of November, 1820. We started in the month of July from Weathersfield, Hartford county, Connecticut. We started with two two-horse teams and covered wagons for then far West. The family of Samuel Bull consisted of himself, wife and six children mostly small.
Capt. Robbins’ family consisted of himself, wife and eight children mostly small. We had our household goods on board of our wagons. We came through the State of New York and through what was then called the Cattaraugus Woods, Which in 1820 was woods. After arriving in Buffalo, we took our children, household goods, including horses and wagons, putting all on board of a schooner commanded by Clifford Belding and set sail for Fairport, which harbor we arrived at in safety after being out six says, encountering headwinds, storm, &e, making nearly all on board sea-sick and discouraged; but when we touched our feet on land we were a happy set. From Fairport we took our teams and started for Aurora, Portage county, our place of destination, until we could select our lands and put up our log cabins, which was then in the month of November We came by the way of Euclid to Newburgh, from there to Hudson by the way of Independence, through what was called Tinker’s Creek Hollow, as that was then the only passable route from Fairport to Aurora. We arrived at the residence of Amos H. Treat, Mr. Treat being an old neighbor East, where we stayed until our log cabins were erected.
We were over four weeks on the journey from Connecticut to Ohio, which was then thought to be a quick trip. When our lands were selected and log cabins built, we all moved into Miland, now Solon. Our lands were located in the South East part of the Township known as the Williams and Ellsworth Tract, and on the old mail route from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, were the mail was carried and supplies transported from Pittsburgh to Cleveland in the last war of 1812 – and now on the direct road from Cleveland to Aurora. Our nearest neighbor for many years in the direction of Cleveland was the family of David Benjamin in the Township of Warrensville, three miles east of the village of Newburg, it being nine miles, and no passable road at that time, old mail route being grown up with bushes and obstructed with fallen timber. Our nearest neighbors were in the North-West part of Aurora, near what is called the Seward Lake or Pond, it being only about two miles.
The second family that came into the Town-ship was Mr. Oliver Wells who came in the next Fall-in the year 1821. Mr. Wells came from Hartford County, Connecticut, and from the same neighborhood Bull and Robbins.
Mr. Wells settled on the southwest corner lot in the Township, it being now on the plank road from Bedford to Twinsburgh, and near the old tavern stand of Mr. Starkweather. Mr. Wells built the first framed house that was built in the Township, which is now owned and occupied by his youngest son, Oliver Wells second, and where the widow of Mr. Oliver Wells is still living in the enjoyment of good health. The first white child was born in Mr. Wells’ family, and named Delia after the wife of Thomas S. Williams who was a large land-holder in Solon. The first pair of twins was born in the family of Mr. Wells, and further still Mr. Oliver Wells was the first Justice of Peace elected in the Township, he being elected in the year of 1827. The first marriage that took place was in the year of 1832; the parties were Mr. Baxter Clough and Miss Han-nah Gerrish from New Hampshire. The license was granted by H. Perry, Clerk. The ceremonies were performed by Capt. Jason Robbins who was the second Justice of Peace elected in the Township. The Township business was done in the Township of Orange for about four years; when Bull and Robbins change the name of the Township from Miland to Solon, When the Township first organized and at the first election, which I think was in the year 1824, there were only seven voters, namely: Capt. Jason Robbins, Samuel Bull, P. S. Bull, Oliver Wells, John C. Carver, C. M. Leach, and Thomas Marshall.
They were all Whig in politics except Thomas Marshall who was the only Democrat in the Township, and as he was the only one he concluded to go with the majority, therefore voted the Whig ticket. It was not very easy matter to obtain a Township officer in Solon as far back as 1824, as P. S. Bull I think at our first election was elected to the office of Clerk, Treasurer, Constable, Supervisor, and Overseer of the Poor. But the last office was hardly necessary, as it was hard telling which was the poorest, as all we had was our lands, good health and disposition to work, which made our Wilderness of Solon bloom and blossom like the Rose.
It was about ten years after the first settlement, or after the settlement of very few families, before it began to settle rapidly, as the lands were not inn market for some time, and were held high for some time after they came into market. But when Solon Lands were offered at reasonable prices, the lands were in few years taken up, and that to by mostly young men and young married men. Our young men, as soon as they got a little opening and a log cabin built, would break settlements for a wife who was willing to share the privations and hardships of a pioneer life; and as Aurora lay the nearest and the oldest Township, and also Aurora girls were found to make very best of housekeepers, the young men broke for that settlement. Therefore Solon is settled by more of Aurora stock of pioneers then from any other Township on the Reserve.
The first settlement made in the north part of the Township was by Elisha Willmot and Albert Pond from Mantua They settled on wat is called the Ledge. The farm settled by Willmot is now owned by A. M. Litter, and the on settled by Mr. Pond is now occupied by Mr. Miller. After Mr. Pond had moved into his cabin he was called up in the night by his sick child, when found a large yellow rattlesnake stretched out before the fire. Rattlesnakes were very plenty when the Township was first settled. The first settlement at the centre of our Township was by Freeman McClintock in the year 1830 or ‘31, as near as I remember.
Mr. McClintock built a log cabin and lived there some timebefore any other one settled near him. The first framed house built at the centre was a small one built by L. S. Treat, of Aurora. The next one was a meeting house built by the Presbyterians, which stood for several years on bolts of timber sawed off about three feet long; but since and for several years the house has been under-walled by stone and repaired, so it is very comfortable and respectable place of public worship.
[Concluded to-morrow]
