From The Front Porch Swing

Tracing Our Roots: Who were the Indians that claimed Ashtabula County as home?

October 12, 2026

Tracing our Roots: Twenty-year ownership dispute delays the organization of Hartsgrove

October 5, 2026

Tracing our Roots: Joel Thorp family settles in Dorset in 1799

September 28, 2026

Tracing Our Roots: Cherry Valley Township First Divided into Three SectionsTracing Our Roots: Cherry Valley Township First Divided into Three Sections

September 21, 2026

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From The Front Porch Swing

submitted photos The Footville School was built in 1842 and still stands today with an addition to the back of the building.

Tracing Our Roots: New Yorkers, Holly and Hannah Tanner, become first settlers of Trumbull Township in 1799

September 8, 2026

Note: All pictures were included in my schoolhouse history book, “Where Have All the Schoolhouses Gone?” and donated by Vera...

RIGHT: The Griggs Corners School of 1890 included Lida Westcott Smith and the boy in jacket, Glenn Smith, both relatives of Ruth Smith Tanner, who furnished the picture years ago.

Tracing our Roots: British deserter becomes first permanent settler of Sheffield Township

August 31, 2026

I wonder how many residents of the township of Sheffield know that their first permanent settler was a English Army...

Wade and Richmond Stone had the first post office and later added a drug store circa 1875.

Tracing Our Roots: Orwell’s first settler, A.R. Paine, came from New York

August 24, 2026

Although the land that was to become Orwell was surveyed and purchased, it was years before it was permanently settled...

Submitted photos Early settler John Brooks built a home on Munson Hill Road.

Tracing our Roots: First Settlers of Saybrook Township

by Gazette Staff

August 17, 2026

Before Saybrook was so named, it was also called Mathertown and Wrightsburg, named after the men who died before they...

Although they did not come during the pioneer era of 1800-1850, the Nelson family were early settlers, leaving many descendants in Denmark Township.

Tracing our Roots: Denmark Township

August 10, 2026

The first inhabitants of what would become Denmark Township were the Seneca Indians. In 1798, the hunting grounds were plentiful...

Rays Corners Methodist Church was once a tavern. Top row, second from left, is Lucius Waters. First row, first on right, is Preadis Waters.

Tracing Our Roots…Part Two of First Settlers in Lenox Township

August 3, 2026

When the Ashtabula County Courthouse in Jefferson burned in 1850, many documents and early township accounts were lost. The Ashtabula...

The Erastus N. House at Rays Corners has been renovated and restored many times. It is still standing. It was completed prior to 1825.

Tracing Our Roots: Lisle Asque and family settle in Lenox Township

Lisle Asque and his family left their home in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, in June of 1807 and came to Lenox...

An early Rome family reunion of the family of John Cain included the Sidley family, who sit in the buggy. John Cain came to Rome in 1863 and developed the Spring Creek Farm on Callahan Road.

Tracing our Roots: The beginnings of Rome Township, Ohio

Few Ashtabula County townships have as many historians as the township of Rome. Additionally, family photos, records, news clippings and...

Padanaram is one of three still active cemeteries in Richmond Township.

Tracing our Roots: Richmond Township’s First Settlers

The first settlers arrived in what would become Richmond Township in 1805, the same year that settlers came to the...

At the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Greenville Treaty of 1795, a new metal marker was put in place at Ft. Recovery in Ft. Recovery, Ohio.

Tracing our Roots: Indians roamed our land before the white settlers came to Ashtabula County, part two