The famous minister Jonathan Edwards produced a son, Pierpont Edwards, who would buy almost 18,000 acres from the Connecticut Land Company in 1798 but would never live on or see his property. That property was named after Pierpont, but he, after having his purchase surveyed and roads laid out, sold it back to the state of Connecticut.
The first settler to actually live on the property was Edward Spear, who came from Vermont in 1797-98, and built a log cabin near Beaver Meadows, a short distance north of an Indian village where a little dry weather streamlet crosses the Angling Road. He then left with his wife and child after a few short years.
According to the late historian from Pierpont, Walter Jack, the Seneca Indians had been living on the land since 1653, and continued to do so until 1812 when they left upon the advice of the Seneca Chief, Cornplanter, to join the British in the War of 1812. When Edward Spear left, the Seneca Indians burned his cabin, perhaps in an effort to discourage other settlers.
The first family of settlers who came and stayed and left behind descendants who are still here today and whose remains rest today in the old cemeteries of Pierpont was the Ewins Wright family. The family consisted of the husband, Ewins, his wife, four young children and a foster son. They first made the trip west from Connecticut through thick forest with no trail in 1801, to Vernon Township in Trumbull County where they cleared land and raised corn and rye.
Wright sold his property after raising the crops and bought 284 acres in Pierpont. The distance from Vernon to Pierpont today is 13 miles. But we do not have to cut down trees, ford streams and creeks, fight off wild animals, contend with weather or disabled wagons, oxen or horses. The women were too busy to write their thoughts and occurrences during those early days of moving and settling in a new place, but it would have been so interesting to know their perspective, fears and daily life.
The Wrights were not alone for long. Shortly afterwards, the families of Wareham Grant, Harvey Rockwell and Martin Vosburg arrived in 1808 and 1809 and built cabins in the southeast corner of the township. Rockwell’s land is where the Congregational Church was built on the Richmond-Pierpont town line road. Most of the settlers came from Connecticut by way of Conneaut on a trail today known as Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road.
By 1818, Pierpont became organized and separated from Denmark and Richmond. Amos Huntley hosted the first township meeting in his home. Gathered around his simple table were the first officers: Reuben Benjamin, Sion Turner and Harvey Rockwell. Ewins Wright was chosen treasurer. Relatives of all the men were given the jobs of clerk, overseers of the poor, appraiser, fence viewers, constable, supervisor of highways and justice of the peace.
From 1810 until 1820, water power mills were built. The remains of the dams are still evident on the Wesley Knapp farm, Angling Road, known as the Howland Mill. The mill on the little stream in the southeast part of the township, a tributary stream to the east branch of Ashtabula Creek was the Ewins Wright grist mill.
A building stood on the Charles Brain farm, north of the present square house in 1954, which was known for many years as the “Hotel.” Newcomers to Pierpont were able to live in this cabin until they were able to build their own. Pretty good idea, I think.
Although the people met in their log cabins for worship, it would take until 1822 before the first church, Presbyterian, would organize with the help of Reverend Giles Cowles of Austinburg and Rev. Woodworth of Williamsfield. Next, came the Baptists organizing in 1830, the Methodists in 1840, and the Congregationalist in 1849.
In 1840, a Union meeting house was built that was open to people of all faiths. It stood on Route 7 just north of the former Pierpont School and on the site of the playground blacktop. Around 1890, the Union Church building would become the Pierpont Academy.
Schools were built long before churches were organized. The first one room log school was built in 1813. Standing before the first group of eager students was Lucy Huntley. One of the students was Lampson Wright, son of Ewins. He was the only boy in the township and surrounding area when he began school in 1810. He would later recall that he wore deerskin pants to school and the only light for the classroom came from oiled paper over the windows. Lampson Wright kept a journal and portions of it are included in the “1876 History of Ashtabula County.”
While researching for my 2004 book on early one-room schools of Ashtabula County, I learned that this first school was located directly east of the Sam Brown Cemetery on the northeast corner of Middle and Hall Roads.
Pierpont was separated by several settlements. Each had its own post office, doctor, dentist, blacksmith, sawmill and log school. At one time, there were five one room schools. The settlements were Phoenix in the northwest, Ship in the northeast, Gould in the west central, Steamburg in the south west and Penn Line in the southeast.
According to the late historian, Walter Jack, Phoenix was first known as Osbornville in the days of log schools. An Osborn store and family of M. Osborn located there. The school had a bad reputation of tough students. The pupils were half grown and some of them part Indian. They were overaged for the grade level they were causing great difficulty in getting a teacher to stay.
But never underestimate the power of a woman, in this case, Miss Nancy Trimmer, who received the title of brave of heart for accepting the position and with the help of a burly boy, conquered the situation and helped gain the school the title of best controlled in the township!
The same year that the Baptists organized in 1830, a terrible disease hit Pierpont and other areas of the nation. But its effects upon the community caused the cemetery to add to its numbers. Known as the “Sinking Typhus Fever,” Lampson Wright lost his youngest brother to the diseases on July, 11, 1831, and his father Ewins, on August 1, 1831. It spread like wildfire and not knowing the cause, no one knew the precautions to take. Symptoms were rash, fever, delirium and extreme weakness. Without treatment, the affected patient would sink into a state of collapse and death.
Doctors at the time misdiagnosed it as Typhoid Fever rather than Typhus. The difference is typhus is louse-borne that spreads rapidly in crowded, unsanitary conditions. It is usually transmitted through lice which is rampant on ships and small quarters. It is also caused by a limited access to clean water. Typhoid is food borne. Finally, not too long after Pierpont was hit with disease, a Philadelphia doctor correctly diagnosed it and a course to eradicate it.
Lampson Wright would write in his memoirs, “These were truly the days of suffering and affliction. My own health being poor and having a large harvest and haying of my own and also that of my father, and constant care of watching of the sick, all together bore so heavily upon me that I often thought I could hold out no longer.”
The oldest cemetery is located in the southeast of Pierpont and called the Sam Brown Cemetery, east of Creek Road. Under Find A Grave, this cemetery is listed as Hall Road Cemetery. It is the final resting place of most of the first settlers. The last burial at the cemetery took place in 1914. Other cemeteries are the Gould cemetery off Kelloggsville-Stanhope Road just south of Route 167, and Evergreen Cemetery on Cemetery Road.
Ewins Wright’s son, Lampson, became vice president of the Ashtabula County Historical Society nearly 70 years later. The Pierpont Pioneer Picnic had its origin in the basket picnic held by neighbors gathered in Russell Grove to honor Lampson Wright, according to the 1954 edition of the quarterly bulletin of the Ashtabula County Historical Society. He was ten years of age when his father reached Pierpont and he had the distinction of being the only male child for two or three years. Lampson also wrote down the names, facts and history of early Pierpont Township. He contributed the material to the “1876 History of Ashtabula County, Ohio.”
There are very few townships that can make the historical claim that Pierpont can. This year of 2026, they will celebrate the 136th reunion of the Pierpont Pioneer Picnic. Congratulations for promoting and maintaining the history of your settlement and the pioneers who made it possible.
