Ohio had officially gained statehood in 1803, and for the following 13 years, families would come from Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts to settle in Ashtabula County until all 28 townships would be inhabited.
The Erie Indians of the Algonquin race were the first inhabitants but were wiped out by the Iroquois Indians who were in the Andover area when the first settlers arrived.
Andover saw her first settler in 1805 when Epaphras Lyman came and built a log cabin about one-fourth mile west of West Andover on the south side of the road. Lyman would marry a daughter of Stephen Brown, of Austinburg. He would become the first postmaster with the office in his home at what was called Sharon, later, West Andover.
The first man to come with his family was Zadoc Steele. Both men were from Hartford, Litchfield County, Connecticut. Steele had come in 1806 to check out the land. He traveled by foot to Albany, New York, then up the Mohawk River and finally arrived in Austinburg. He had only a pocket compass as a guide to find his lot which was the southwest corner of Route 6 West and Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road. Zadoc Steele planted the first orchard of about one hundred trees.
Returning home for his wife, Laura, and son, Walcott, they brought all their household goods, a team of horses and three neighbors. The Steeles spent their first winter in Epaphras Lyman’s log cabin until spring. They needed a large log cabin because they would have a total of ten children.
Laura Steele is credited with making the first cheese in the township in 1809 from the milk of one cow. The first cheese factory was established in 1850 by OE. & F.F Marvin. It was located 25 rods west of the square on the south side of West Main Street.
In November of 1813, a large party of families emigrated from Chester, Massachusetts, locating a short distance from each other. They were the families of Rueben Bates, Deacon Benjamin Carpenter and Alba Coleman.
Rufus Houghton moved to Andover from Harpersfield, Ohio, in 1814 with his wife and six children. That same year, Houghton completed the improvements on the grist mill begun by Issac Phelps in 1812 but abandoned. It was located on the northwest corner of Fitts Road and Stanhope-Kelloggsville Road where two streams in the gully meet to become one. This site had once been next to the home of Clare Ames Keep.
The first white child to Andover settlers was a son to Zadoc and Laura Steele in 1809. The son was actually born in the house of their nearest neighbor, Samuel Tuttle, who happened to live in Williamsfield where the parents had been staying because of the nearness of the time of birth.
The first daughter born in Andover was Miriam, born to Rufus Houghton and his wife in June of 1814. The first wedding was performed by Ezra Leonard, justice of the peace who united Polly Carpenter and Artemas Smith.
Rufus Houghton’s wife, Dorothy, was the first burial in the cemetery on Dec. 4, 1816. The cemetery had been deeded to the township in 1814 by Aristarchus Champion. The Rev. Harvey Coe from Vernon, Trumbull County performed the funeral.
Francis Lyman offered his log barn to be used as the first school with the first teacher being Dorothy Houton in the summer of 1814.
In the early 1800s there was a general store at West Andover Corners, a hardware and tin shop, shoe repair, harness repair, three blacksmiths, millinery shop, a doctor and wagon repair shop.
Sela Merrell arrived in Andover from Connecticut in November of 1822, locating about one mile south of the corners on the State Road. He brought his wife and two children, the youngest, Sela Cowles, remained at the family homestead for many years. Later it was used for a hotel purposes from 1832- 1836. The house was not log but frame, which was unusual in 1822.
The first settler east of the State Road was Roger Cadwell who established his farm in July, 1817. He and his wife came with eight children and after settling in Andover, had three more. Locating in the central and easter portions of the township about the same time were the families of Marvin, Adams, Manley, Rice, Strickland, Hillyer, Pickett, Jones, Phillips, and Case.
Daniel Strickland erected a sawmill on 1819 which was later the site of Leet’s tannery. The first frame building erected at the Andover Center and the second in the township was a schoolhouse on the square built in 1820. It was also used as a town hall and church. It was finally removed and used as a curing room for the first cheese factory in the town. Later it became the home of Cordean Sweet. Miss Emily Adams was the first teacher at this school, followed by Samuel S. Wade.
Two Revolutionary War soldiers would settle in Andover with their families, John Pickett and James Wade. Pickett served as a private in the Massachusetts Militia when he lived in Sandisfield. He married Ruth Boardman. He came to Ohio in 1819 with his three sons. They were John, Joseph and Benjamin. Pickett died in 1840 at the age of 87 and is buried in Andover.
In 1820, the three Wade brothers, Samuel S., Theodore and Charles, came unmarried to Andover. Theodore taught a three-months school in Madison for six barrels of whiskey, the common pay in those times. His brother, Charles, taught the same period in Monroe for five barrels. This was a very acceptable form of agreement.
Their father, James Wade, served in the Massachusetts militia and was in the battles of Watertown and Bunker Hill and taken prisoner to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He came with an ox team and covered wagon to Andover in 1821 with his wife, Mary Upham. Two of his sons were Benjamin Franklin Wade, who became a senator, and Edward Wade, who became a congressman. When James Wade reached Andover, he found many of the trees five feet wide and the majority three feet that he had to clear to build his log home. James Wade and his wife, Mary, both died in Andover in 1826.
In 1840, a new frame home became the Wade homestead built between huge maple trees. The old log home still stood across the drive. The beautiful two-story home was named “The Pines.” It became the setting for the wedding of Theodore’s daughter, Ellen Wade, who married Schuyler Colfax, who became Vice President after they were married. (The couple met in Washington, D.C.)
The first church organized was the Presbyterian in 1818 and was held at the house of Zadoc Steele as well as other homes until their church could be built in 1840. The first physician was Perry Pratte, who came in 1818 and served the community for many years before studying for the ministry. Dr. A. Leslie came next and resided on the Lyman tract of land at the center of Andover.
The first resident minister was Joseph Breck, who came in 1828. The first religious organization at Andover Centre was the Congregational, established in 1832. Their church was built in 1843. At the Jefferson Historical Society research room we have the original 1818 church book of the first meetings of the Congregational Church in which the Reverends Coe and Cowles were present as seen in the picture of one of the first pages.
This series takes a look at the first fifty years or so of the settlement and early development of each of our twenty-eight townships, of which Andover is thirteen on the list.
Next week, you will read of the early days of Jefferson Township.
